SWE Highlight: Edmund Oliver Papers

This letter and postcard come from a collection of letters from the University of Saskatchewan Archives "Oliver Papers" fond. Dr. Edmund H. Oliver was a History and Economics professor at the University of Saskatchewan. During WWI he was Chaplain of the 196th Battalion and in 1917 launched the University of Vimy Ridge, a university for soldiers during the war. The University of Vimy Ridge focused on vocational training that would help soldiers get a job upon their return home.




Dr. Edmund H. Oliver wrote to his wife Rita and his boys every day while he was away. This postcard, sent from France, depicts the prospective victory only a few months away. The Letter displayed here is one written after he was learned of the end of the war. Dr. Oliver often talks about the topic of his sermons for the week, current events of the war, his desire to be back home, and his desire to be closer to the men in the trenches.