Abstract/Details

Marching as to war: The Canadian Red Cross Society, 1885–1939

Glassford, Sarah Carlene.   York University (Canada) ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2007. NR32048.

Abstract (summary)

This study is an institutional history of one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious voluntary organizations, and its role in Canadian society during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Between 1885 and 1939 the Canadian Red Cross Society underwent a series of important transformations: establishment as a branch of the British Red Cross Society, temporary growth during the South African War, near-death after 1902, reorganization and incorporation in 1909, national expansion and overseas accomplishment during the Great War, and expansion into public health work after 1918. While the organization changed as an institution during this period, so did its relationship with Canadians and its role in Canadian society.

Through a qualitative analysis of Canadian Red Cross Society records, supplemented by memoirs, journals, personal papers, contemporary newspapers, and government records, it becomes clear that the Canadian Red Cross Society did not become the country's leading humanitarian organization and one of its most enduring charities purely by chance. The Society's survival and successful adaptation prior to the Second World War rested variously upon its ability to tap into contemporary currents of militarism, patriotism, and maternalism; to mobilize first military and medical men, then middle- and upper-class white women, and eventually as wide a swath of the Canadian population as possible; to construct and exploit openings for itself in military medicine, women's wartime service, and Canadian health and welfare provision; and to both nationalize and regionalize, creating a nation-building mission for itself in the broadly defined health realm and entrusting the future of the national organization to the initiative and activity of local and provincial branches. The Society's adaptability and elastic interpretations of its mandate eventually came to annoy and infuriate individuals in government and other voluntary and charitable organizations, but they proved crucial to the Society's longevity.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Canadian history
Classification
0334: Canadian history
Identifier / keyword
Social sciences; Canadian Red Cross Society; Red Cross; Voluntary organization
Title
Marching as to war: The Canadian Red Cross Society, 1885–1939
Author
Glassford, Sarah Carlene
Number of pages
421
Degree date
2007
School code
0267
Source
DAI-A 68/10, Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
Country of publication
United States
ISBN
978-0-494-32048-8
University/institution
York University (Canada)
University location
Canada -- Ontario, CA
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
NR32048
ProQuest document ID
304786397
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/304786397