In this second year Sociology of the Family course we discussed the changing nature of families which impact past and present issues affecting family life. The second half of the course was devoted to exploring the socio-historical family life of nurses serving in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC). Using official CAMC nursing files and a database created specifically for entering the nurse profile information, students were able to populate this database and capturing the untold stories of nurses who served in CAMC while learning more about family life and nursing conditions in WW1.

Throughout the project, students uncovered similarities and differences in family relations and delved into the socio-economic, cultural, race, gender and epidemic issues impacting nurses and their families during the first half of the Twentieth Century. The historical information explored through primary evidence collecting can assist historians and archival researchers interested in Canadian nursing profiles from WW1.

This archival project was in collaboration with community partner, Big Ideas Group Consulting, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and with course support and content expertise from Dr. Dominique Marshall, Department of History at Carleton University, and Jessica McIntyre (Department Head of World Studies and Social Science at Glebe Collegiate Institute) and her Grade 10 history class.“The Nursing Sisters’ project was an opportunity to bring a Real-World Learning experience into a second year classroom, where sociology students were able to be historians, archivists, and researchers by learning together, teaching together and leading together. As an instructor, I was amazed at the calibre of writing and creativity that came from this multidisciplinary project. This project developed a partnership that reached across the socio-historical continuum and became a model for interdisciplinary collaboration in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences”.

Dr. Kathleen Moss