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1940-1945 (Creation)
- Creator
- Harrison, K.A.
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1940-1945 (Creation)
- Creator
- Harrison, Peg
Physical description area
Physical description
39 cm of textual records (3 boxes).
79 photographs: b&w, negatives; 12 x 17 cm or smaller.
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Name of creator
Biographical history
Major Kenneth “Ken” Archibald Harrison (1901-1991), Second World War veteran and plant pathologist, was born March 11, 1901 in Maugerville, New Brunswick to Charles Ashley Harrison (1868-1918), farmer, and Clarissa S. Roach (b.1873). He studied horticulture and plant pathology at the Ontario Agriculture College and Macdonald College and in 1926 started work at the Kentville Research Station, Plant Pathology unit in Kentville, Nova Scotia. His military career began in 1927 in the Canadian Reserves, as part of the 6th Machine Gun Battalion which became the King’s Canadian Hussars in 1936, then converted to artillery (87th and 88th Field Batteries), August 15, 1939. He married Margaret Lambert Outhit on October 17, 1931 in Kentville, NS. On July 1, 1940 he enlisted to serve overseas, received training in Nova Scotia and Ontario, and on September 19, 1941 left Halifax on the ship “Pasteur” to work on England’s coastal defence with the 88th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Army Overseas. In 1942 he was promoted to Major and moved to the 4th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. He returned to Nova Scotia April 8, 1944, was stationed at Halifax until the end of the War September 2, 1945, then resumed his civilian post as assistant plant pathologist with the Kentville Experimental Station as well as a business growing certified seed potatoes for export to Bermuda. He retired from the militia in 1954 with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and from the Research Station in 1966. He died on November 5, 1991 in Kentville.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Margaret “Peg” Lambert Outhit Harrison (1908-2004), comptometer operator then full time housewife and mother, was born September 8, 1908 in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, to James Francis Outhit (1868-1957), lawyer, and Jennie Lambert (1871-1937). Margaret L. Outhit worked as a comptometer operator, an early mechanical adding machine, until she married Kenneth A. Harrison on October 17, 1931 in Kentville, NS. She had two children: William Ashley Harrison and Jennie Harrison. While Ken was overseas during World War 2, she managed the family’s potatoe seed export business and took in boarders while raising their children and caring for her widowed father. She died on March 13, 2004 in Wolfville, NS.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Consists of correspondence, photographs, and military ephemera from the Second World War. Arranged chronologically by the donor, the correspondence includes Ken’s letters from Peg (1940-1945) and Peg’s letters from Ken (1940-1945); a few letters to Peg from the Department of National Defence (1941, 1944) including a certificate of military qualification; a few letters to son Ashley from Ken; telegrams, airgraphs, and military ephemera such as a ship’s berthing card, victory bond receipts, and soap ration coupons (1941-1945 and undated); and photographs of Ken and other officers while on training at Officers’ Training Centre in Brockville, ON and the Canadian Artillery Training Centre in Petewawa, ON, and when serving overseas in England (1941-1944).
Ken’s letters from Peg are full of details about her daily life: children’s growth & hopes for their future, birthday celebrations, school activities, clothes, feeding; a woman’s daily routine managing house, family farm and caring for boarders; war news, names & activities of neighbours; and financial details. Peg’s letters from Ken describe his living conditions, rationing, travel restrictions, politics around getting promoted, German planes overhead, the blackouts and bombings at night. The letters were numbered by Ken and Peg to identify if any were lost in transit. This numbering system was used by their daughter Jennie in her book.
Photographs include images of Ken in uniform, soldiers standing at attention or marching, officers in conference in the field, military trucks, guns and scenery of England in Surrey and Sussex. Also includes photographs Peg sent to Ken, of herself, their two children Ashley and Jennie, and other family members. Also includes research notes for a book by their daughter Jennie Harrison Sheito (published 2015). Documents social and family life in Nova Scotia during World War 2 and the experiences of a Canadian officer serving in England, U.K.
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Donated by Jennie Sheito, daughter, in 2017.
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Correspondence and some photographs were reproduced in a book: War Letters 1941-1944: A Chronicle of Life During World War 2: From Home and Overseas by Jennie Sheito (self-published 2015 and 2016). Letters were selected and edited for brevity.