The Greater Vernon Museum & Archives’ first presentation of the 2017 Speaker Series is to be given by UBC Okanagan history professor Dr. Jim Wood.
Wood has taught history at several post-secondary institutions across Canada and is a well-published military history writer, as well as an Army reserve officer in the British Columbia Dragoons.
His talk, “Soldiers and Settlers: Early History of the Canadian Militia in the Okanagan Valley,” will touch on the organization of new militia regiments in B.C. in the first decade of the 20th century, including the Okanagan’s own British Columbia Dragoons.
“He will explain how the difficulties of raising new regiments in B.C. were overcome by the efforts of local communities, and how citizen soldiering became a prominent feature of the Okanagan’s social landscape in the years before the First World War,” said Denise Marsh, marketing and communications coordinator at the museum.
With articles published in the Canadian Military History, The Journal of Military History, The American Review of Canadian Studies and BC Studies, as well as a number of books including Militia Myths: Ideas of the Canadian Citizen Soldier 1896-1921 to his name, Wood is a well-respected, authoritative figure on local military history.
The talk, followed by a Q&A session, will take place at the Greater Vernon Museum & Archives Jan. 19 from 7 to 8 p.m. As space is limited, please call 250-542-3142 to pre-register. Admission is by donation.
