St. Marys Museum to open ‘Between the Lines: Stories & Signals of World War I’ Nov. 11

Exhibit to highlight local wartime letters and other methods of communication from the battlefront

A wartime letter written to a colleague by Lt. William Jonathan Wright, who was principal of St. Marys Collegiate Institute at the time he enlisted to serve overseas in the First World War. The letter offers a glimpse of what it was like to be on the front lines in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The St. Marys Museum will unveil a brand-new exhibit in its military gallery on Remembrance Day focused on communication during the First World War, both from the battle front and the home front.

Called “Between the Lines: Stories & Signals of World War I,” the exhibit was adapted for the local museum from an exhibit created by Western University history student Bailey Ashton called St. Marys and the Great War in 10 Objects, which featured archival materials from the Western history department’s Ley and Lois Smith Collection.

“We adapted the work that Bailey had done to kind of fit the military gallery space a little bit better, as well as include some materials from our own collection such as additional letters and post cards, telegraph keys, signal corps training materials, radios and telephones,” said museum curatorial and programming assistant Abigail Parsons, who put the exhibit together for the museum.

According to Parsons, the wartime letters and postcards to and from residents of St. Marys and the surrounding area were vital to the war effort in a way that isn’t always understood. They offered a link between the frontlines and home and offered some peace of mind for both the soldiers fighting overseas and those waiting for them back home.

“It’s important for museums, especially, to preserve these letters because they provide an intimate glimpse into the lives of soldiers and their families, and the realities of war,” Parsons said.

Between the postcards sent to the museum by Ashton and those letters already preserved and protected in the local museum’s collection, Parsons said she chose a small selection – some written by people with very recognizable family names – to reproduce for display purposes in the exhibit, allowing visitors to read about the war effort and life back home in the words of those who lived through it.

One such series of letters is correspondence from Lt. William Jonathan Wright of West Zorra, who was principal of St. Marys Collegiate Institute at the time of his enlistment. His collection of letters show his connection to his community, as well as the deep care and concern he had for his students and staff, while he was fighting on the front lines in France.

“ … Canada is a hard country to govern and that applies to St. Marys town. I hope that you will see that education gets it share of support,” Wright wrote to his colleague, who may or may not have taken over as principal after Wright’s enlisted.

“In regard to the Collegiate I wish you would keep an eye on the developments there. The Board has stopped the teaching of agriculture, domestic science, and manual training, all of which are very desirable. Classical scholars do not wish to force the classic on every one. That the chieftain of education is to develop natural (powers) and at the same time to give the boy or girl that general knowledge of society and human nature. … I would very much like to see the above branches taught in St. Marys Coll. Inst.”

Wright’s letters also provide great detail about his experiences fighting in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and how his battalion contributed to the battle’s success, though the former principal was killed in action shortly after the capture of Hill 70 – a significant Canadian victory in the First World War. Yet despite the horrors of war, Wright remained concerned for the wellbeing and education of his students back home in St. Marys.

Parsons said the exhibit will also include letters from a soldier the museum was unable to identify.

“I know it was sent to Jane Kittmer, and all I have is a first name; I just have ‘Ernie,’ ” Parsons said. “There’s no Ernest in her family. There’s some mention of one of the battalions he served in, and I was able to research that battalion – there’s like 12 Ernests who were in there. So, it’s hard to track some of these soldiers sometimes. It’s very interesting because you get very clear stories and history from letters like from Wright’s letter, and then you get lost histories.

“Sometimes that’s the really interesting thing about war, too, because you do have a lot of soldiers and their stories never really get told and they get forgotten about. So, showcasing a letter like Ernie’s letter is just an attempt to kind of remember him in a different way. Even though we don’t know who every soldier is, necessarily, we’re still remembering all of the soldiers.”

With letters sometimes taking weeks at time to arrive in Europe or Canada, Parsons says the exhibit will help put communication between home and the war front into context for those of us who have become so used to instant communication via email and text messaging.

The exhibit will also give visitors a hands-on opportunity to learn and try to decipher morse code using telegraph keys, as well as help them understand the danger and effort involved for the Canadian Signal Corps in setting up the necessary communications infrastructure – both wired and wireless – on the front lines well before defences were built and the soldiers were in the trenches.

“Between the Lines: Stories & Signals of World War I” will remain on display at the St. Marys Museum until Nov. 11, 2026.