Contributions
The Canadian Letters and Images Project is a non-profit project and relies extensively on the generosity and support of Canadians to remain operational. More than 85% of all contributions go directly into supporting student research assistants, which provides an invaluable educational experience for the students and ensures the continued inclusion of new materials into the project site. All contributions are tax deductible through The VIU Foundation.
The Project is seeking any previously unpublished correspondence, letters or postcards, single or in collections, connected to any aspect of the Canadian wartime experience in any period. We are also seeking any previously unpublished photographs or other personal materials connected to Canada at war. These materials will then be made available to everyone interested in Canada's wartime experience through a searchable online archive to be maintained at this site.
We do not keep any originals submitted to us. The Project borrows the materials for copying and scanning and then returns the materials. If you have any materials that you would like to share with the Project, we will arrange, at our expense, to have the materials picked up and returned to you by courier. This will ensure the safe delivery and return of the materials. It will be necessary to allow time for the copying and scanning of materials before their return, and that time can vary according to number of collections currently being processed.
We will be happy to accept materials that you may have already transcribed, such as family letters or diaries. Please consult the format information on the Homepage under the Transcription link before submitting materials. A clean typed copy is acceptable, but an electronic copy would be preferred. Transcriptions can be sent either in a hard format such as a disk or cd, or they can sent as attachments in an email to the address at the bottom of the page. We would prefer transcriptions in Word format. If you have scanned images of the original materials, we would appreciate having copies of those as well. If you are sending scanned materials to the Project, please check the scanning specifications below. If there are any questions of any type concerning transcriptions or scans, please contact the Project Director below.
If you are forwarding scanned images such as photographs or images of letters, they should be sent as a "jpg". Images should be scanned at a resolution of 150 dpi. and individual file size should be approximately 1.5mb to 2.0mb . We prefer to have larger images to work with to preserve as much detail as possible when they are transferred to the site. Scanned materials can be sent either on a disk or as an attachment.
If you have materials but are uncomfortable in sending the originals to us, we would welcome photocopies of the originals to work with for transcribing. If you are forwarding photocopies please ensure that the copy is of good quality in order to ensure that transcribing will be possible. Whenever possible please include any biographical information about the author of the letter (such as when and where born, etc), and if possible any other information which might be useful in providing meaning and context to the materials.
Contributions to the Project of any type, or any questions concerning the Project, can be directed to:
Dr. Stephen Davies
Project Director
The Canadian Letters and Images Project
Vancouver Island University
900 Fifth Street
Nanaimo, British Columbia
V9R 5S5
Email: letters@viu.ca
Telephone: (250) 753-3245 ext. 2131