The Harry Creagen Fonds of Canadian RFC and RNAS Airmen

During my visit to the Library and Archives at the Ingenium Centre in Ottawa to look at the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company Records, the archivist, Adele Torrance, mentioned that part of a collection held by the Library and Archives at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM) in Ottawa had been digitized by Ancestry. Just a note, this is not the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) that we often use in our Canadian research.

The Harry Creagen Fonds were pulled together by Mr. Creagen between 1938 and the 1990s. Mr. Creagen had a life long interest in aviation and he created a collection mainly concerning Canadians who served during the First World War in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and also the Royal Air Force which was created by merging the RFC and RNAS in 1918.

McKinlay, Ken, Stack one of three of banker boxes of the Harry Creagen Collection, Photograph, 10 Oct 2024, Canada Aviation and Space Museum Library and Archives.

What the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Library and Archives received were a number of files organized by subjects and placed in bankers boxes. The files are still in those boxes at the archives and haven't been added into their catalogue...yet. It's a long process and there is limited staff to do all that work. 

I had the fun and pleasure of actually looking through those boxes when I visited the Library and Archives at the CASM when I was looking for information about the Royal Naval Air Service Wing No. 3 and one of their pilots, Gordon Stuart Harrower, a Canadian from the Montreal area. 

Honestly, it really was fun!

It's not often that one gets to explore a collection with no idea of what may be found. With the aid of the archivist, Adele, we spent about an hour looking in the boxes and file folders to understand how the material was filed and finding material of specific interest to my research task for the day. Remember, this material hasn't been entered into the CASM catalogue and all we had to go on were the labels on the boxes and a subject matter list of the material that is organized by Mr. Creagen's filing cabinet drawers. 

McKinlay, Ken, File folders found in one box from the Harry Creagen Collection, Photograph, 10 Oct 2024, Canada Aviation and Space Museum Library and Archives.

One sort of offbeat file I came across was what I'm guessing is an English transcription or abstract of the Jagdgeschwader Nr. 1 Victory Log. You might be asking why this might be of interest. This is the German squadron sometimes referred to as "The Flying Circus" that was led by Manfred von Richthofen, AKA the Red Baron. These pages list the date, pilot, the type of allied aircraft shot down, where it happened and the kill number for that pilot. It also records when a German pilot of JG 1 was wounded or killed. As with any collection, until you start to dive into the records, you just never know what you will come across.

Then there are the boxes of the index cards created by Mr. Creagen.

McKinlay, Ken, Boxes of index cards from the Harry Creagen Collection, Photograph, 10 Oct 2024, Canada Aviation and Space Museum Library and Archives.

It is this part of the collection that has been digitized by Ancestry.

Before rushing over to Ancestry to look for these digitized index cards, they aren't on Ancestry. Instead you will find them on Fold3 or Forces War Records. These two sites hold many of the military collections digitized by Ancestry and they may be pointed to from indexes on Ancestry. Where you will find the digitized index cards online is in the Canada, WWI, RCAF Pilot Cards on Forces War Records. You will also find it on Fold3 in their Canada, WWI, RCAF Pilot Cards collection. Basically, the same collection but on two different Ancestry owned sites.

So what will you possibly find written on those index cards?

As I mentioned, I was curious about Gordon Stuart Harrower of Montreal. One of his daughters married into a branch in my family tree. I had stumbled across a mention of Mr. Harrower serving in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War and the research itch took hold.

Here are the cards I found by searching for his name in that collection on Forces War Records.

If I didn't already know the date of his death, I now have it. But the index cards for Mr. Harrower held other clues such as the squadrons he served in, when he left the service, and even that he trained in Texas. I also found out that he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War. Maybe some day I'll do a blog post about Mr. Harrower since, in addition to his service, he was trained at Wright Brothers Field and is mentioned on a plaque at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Dayton, Ohio, USA.

Along with looking at the Harry Creagen Fonds, the archivist also took the time to look through the CASM catalogue of books for material that may have shed light into the Royal Naval Air Service and Canadians aviators in the First World War.

McKinlay, Ken, A selection of books from the CASM Library concerning the RNAS and other topics of interest, Photograph, 10 Oct 2024, Canada Aviation and Space Museum Library and Archives.

They have a wonderful library in addition to their archives and I know I could easily spend a full afternoon just perusing the books on the shelves. They even have a flight log book copy collection of log books that have been donated to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Archives of military and civilian pilots.

I really can't thank Adele Torrance enough for taking the time out of her day to show me the Harry Creagen Fonds in the CASM vault and also searching the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Library and Archives catalogue for additional books and material. 

If you are looking to visit the Library and Archives at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, check out their page at https://ingeniumcanada.org/aviation/library-and-archives for the opening hours, location, and contact information. Don't forget to get an admission ticket to explore all the neat exhibits after you finish your research!