While the Second World War winded to completion in 1945, a local committee was struck in Halifax. This committee of prominent gentlemen, charged with commemorating the city’s war effort over the last six years, decided at the same time to memorialize an older generation of Haligonians who had fought during the First World War. Their deliberations resulted in an unconventional decision. Operating under the avant-garde assumption that a living, useable monument was much preferred to more traditional inanimate objects, the committee decided that a new central library should act as the city’s crowning commemorative monument. A library, according to the committee, would stand as a testimony to the freedoms of speech and thought, the very concepts that were under threat by the darkness that had enveloped the European continent for six long years.
Halifax Memorial Library Committee's petition letter to approve the idea of a Library as a War Memorial.
Credit: Halifax Public Libraries, History/
On November 11 1949, the first cornerstone was laid. The library opened to the public in 1951. The building amassed military memorabilia over the years. Military flags and standards adorned the Spring Garden entrance while a replica Silver Cross, presented by the Canadian government to all mothers and widows of those who died overseas, hung in the library. Not far away were two books of remembrance, each listing the names of the Haligonians who perished overseas during the World Wars. The library commissioned three murals from local artist and veteran Commander Donald MacKay, and these were prominently displayed within the library until they were donated to the Maritime Command Museum in 1974.
The World War I, World War II and Korean War Books of Rememberance on display in the Library.
Credit: Halifax Public Libraries, Artifacts/
In 2014, a newer library was built across the street, one that still retains its predecessor’s commemorative function. Many of the same memorabilia found in the original library have been transferred, and the library holds military exhibitions in an effort to continue to preserve the memory of those who perished overseas for, among other things, the freedoms of speech and thought.
Sources:
1. “War Memorial Recommendation: the Halifax Central Library”. September 2011. Found on the library’s website.
2. Halifax Public Libraries. History and Artifacts.
Featured Image: Credit: Halifax Public Libraries, Artifacts/