Four handwritten copies of John McCrae’s internationally celebrated In Flanders Fields have been added to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCUNESCO)’s Canada Memory of the World Register, part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.
More than a century after it was first published, the First World War poem is still read and performed around the globe during Remembrance Day ceremonies.
“In Flanders Fields continues to move hearts around the world, reminding us of the human cost of war and the enduring power of compassion,” said Deep Saini, President and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University.
“McCrae, a McGill professor and physician, and his colleagues from No. 3 Canadian General Hospital organized by the University, cared for thousands of soldiers with skill and humanity. The inclusion of these manuscripts in CCUNESCO’s Memory of the World Register honours both McCrae’s legacy and McGill’s lasting contributions to medical innovation and care.”
All four manuscripts are held in McGill’s Osler Library of the History of Medicine; one is in McCrae’s own hand and includes a textual variant, and two predate the poem’s initial publication.
“The handwritten copies of In Flanders Fields are among the most meaningful treasures in McGill’s collections,” said Guylaine Beaudry, Trenholme Dean of Libraries at the University.