Healing - WAR Flowers

I believe that to heal, we must accept our wounds.

Georges Vanier was one of Canada’s most celebrated warriors. He was a founding member of the 22nd (French-Canadian) Infantry Battalion, one of the battalions established for French-speaking soldiers, known in English Canada as the “Van Doos.”

Vanier lost his right leg to amputation in 1918 after being hit by a shell. He lived with his wounds. In a lifetime dedicated to the service of Canada in the military, as a diplomat and finally as governor general, his infirmity appeared to become his strength.

– Viveka Melki

Georges Vanier (1888-1867)

Georges Vanier ended his life in the highest office in the land – as Canada’s Governor General. He was a young lawyer when the First World War was declared in 1914, with a freshly minted degree from the Université Laval. He enlisted as an officer and helped to organize the 22^nd (French-Canadian) Infantry Battalion, the regiment established for French-speaking soldiers.

Vanier was twice decorated with the Military Cross and earned the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) for bravery. After the failure of the spring German offensive in August 1918, the Allies mounted a counteroffensive. Vanier was with the Canadian Corps that contributed to the victories east of Amiens in France. But his battalion was decimated during the capture of Chérisy. He took command when the regiment’s commanding officer was wounded on the first day of the attack, but was himself wounded the following day, shot in the chest and both legs. His right leg was later amputated. Vanier remained in France to recuperate, refusing to be removed to Great Britain while his men were still in battle. His August 1914 diary, one of thousands of such diaries kept by Canadian soldiers during the war, offers a unique insight into the exhaustion and excessive heat that afflicted Vanier during his convalescence from his wartime wounds and the camaraderie that kept his spirits high.

The First World War shaped his life. Vanier came to personify the participation of Quebec in the war. With his bravery and leadership, he was marked for success. Vanier had both a military and a diplomatic career, serving as both a major-general and an ambassador. He was the first French-Canadian appointed to a number of positions, including Canada’s first Ambassador to France. Vanier was also known for his extraordinary commitment to his faith and family, building a chapel at Rideau Hall so that he could worship daily.

He was Governor General at the start of Canada’s centennial celebrations but did not live to see their end, dying in office in March, 1967.

Learn more about Georges Vanier:

Vanier’s wartime letters are published in Georges Vanier: Soldier. The Wartime Letters and Diaries: 1915-1919 (2000). He is the subject of a biography by his son, Jean Vanier, In Weakness, Strength, The Spiritual Sources of Georges P. Vanier (1975) and Mary Frances Coady, Georges and Pauline Vanier: Portrait of a Couple (2011). A 1960 National Film Board documentary, Georges P. Vanier: Soldier, Diplomat, Governor General offers a brief portrait of Vanier’s life and interviews on his wartime experiences.

Press on the pictures below to show content:

Optical crystal

“The shattered soldier – his mind and body, tormented forever in the aftermath of war.”
– Mark Raynes Roberts

Olfactory Memory

“In a military hospital, odours of camphor and antiseptic float in the air and give way to healing of the body and the mind.”
– Alexandra Bachand

Georges Vanier (1888-1867)

“Georges Vanier ended his life in the highest office in the land – as Canada’s Governor General. He was a young lawyer when the First World War was declared in 1914, with a freshly minted degree from the Université Laval. He enlisted as an officer and helped to organize the 22nd (French-Canadian) Infantry Battalion, the regiment established for French-speaking soldiers.”
– Alexander Reford

Cantlie’s Letter

Conservation

See the letter

Cantlie's Letter

Botanical Approach

Conservation issues for George Stephen Cantlie’s botanical specimens to be displayed in the WAR Flowers exhibit

Contractual expertise by Céline Arseneault, botanist and archivist (retired botanist and librarian at the Montréal Botanical Garden) May 2016

Conservation assessment

The dried flowers specimens had been conserved pressed in the original letters/papers/envelopes for nearly 100 years, with one exception where a later envelope included a flower.
Some flowers had pieces of fabrics or textiles attached to them.
Some flowers had rubbed off or left their print on the papers.
The flowers were dry, brittle and in some cases very fragile and broken in pieces (included in the paper/envelopes).
Some envelopes included more than one specimen and more than one plant species.
The flowers hold historical value but no biodiversity value like scientific herbarium pieces because they were not documented as such.
Botanical identification has been made in accordance with the letters’ indications (dates, locations) and material available (mostly flowers only, visual colours, few leaves) for tentative scientific genus identification.
The flowers have historical significance in the context of Cantlie’s archives, as a part of the correspondence addressed mainly to his daughter Celia (or exceptionally wife/other daughters). They are seen as item “objects” in the scope of the Rules for Archival Description by the Canadian Council of Archives:
http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca /RAD/RAD_Chapter11_Dec2002.pdf
The primary purpose of the present assessment was to avoid altering the integrity of these objects.
The accompanying papers, letters and envelopes bring major significant value (dates, paper headings, postal stamps, annotations, writings, etc.) to the objects. See link above.

Original plan for the exhibit: Inclusion of flowers into resin pastilles

The original exhibit proposal included stand‐alone encasing flowers into transparent polymer‐type resin (“pastilles”), each one to be temporarily encased in a crystal sculpture for display purposes.

Conservation issues regarding acrylic resin encasing

Transparent acrylic‐type or polymer‐type resin can be used successfully for fresh botanical specimens, however:

Dried botanical specimens are organic and brittle.The brittleness accentuates with dryness, age and manipulation. Humidity and change of environment can cause rapid deterioration by moulds, dust mites or otherwise. Older pigments and botanical specimens themselves are also more fragile to heat and light. https://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/01‐03.pdf — http://conservation.myspecies.info/node/35
Encasing in acrylic‐type resin implies a heating process which creates static energy as well as thermal energy. Statics augments brittleness and specimens risk “exploding” into the resin.
Because of their historical value, there were no available sample specimens that could be used as an experiment to validate the previous statement.
At this point, where flowers have already been subjected to change of colours due to time, we can assume that polymer encasing would accelerate the discolouration.
No studies are available regarding the long‐term conservation (discolouration, deterioration) of the acrylic resin itself.
This type of encasing is not generally recommended for archival or historical conservation as it alters the specimens.
This type of encasing is NOT recommended in the conservation literature for older, organic material, such as botanical specimens and papyrus (references available on request).

For these reasons and in regard to further deterioration of the specimens, encasing in acrylic resin was not recommended for the Cantlie’s flowers.

Conservation issues regarding stand‐alone two‐glass panes encasing

Even pressed, the dried flowers have thickness, some more than others, and may not be encased easily in two panes of glass (or acrylic) with a frame moulding, particularly because of their brittleness and for practical and esthetic concerns (e.g type of transparent glue applied on the glass, type of moulding, etc.).

Mounting

As stated above, the dried flowers seen as objects have no significant historical value when separated from the archival fonds and their accompanying pieces.
Archival conversation aims to preserve all parts of an item (or a historical record) together.
Producing a series of botanical specimens in stand-alone frames would contradict archival conversation.
Float mounting thus included a non-acid paper in an off-white texture and colour.
Stable polymer archival glue was recommended by the Marie Victorin Herbarium of Université de Montréal to be used both on flowers, which we use also for the papers records.
High-standard museum-recommended frame acrylic, in a non glare acrylic glazing matte finish, was used instaid of glass after studying the travel requirements of the exhibit and to minimize reflection for glare-free viewing.
The pre-layouts were realized by Céline Arseneault and Viveka Melki in the Spring of 2016 and each layout was documented: botanical identification, measurements and text transcription of each record in a preliminary archival description of the Cantlie Fonds.
17 final layouts (including 19 pieces) werw then frames by the experienced framer at « Au Coin des Artistes » in Montreal under the supervision of Céline Arseneault for the purpose of conservation and to be included as the main raison d’être of the War Flowers exhibit.