Series 4 - Correspondence

While to correspondence in this series covers the years 1943 to 1989, most of it centres on seven seminal years in the life of Ruth Church, beginning with her military service as a base librarian with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRENS) in 1943, through her post-war employment as head librarian at Canada House in London, her marriage to Robert Spencer in June 1948, and her activities up to his receiving his B.Litt from and being accepted for his doctorate at the University of Oxford in 1950. The scattered post-1950 letters are from Ruth Spencer to her parents, letters received from Professor Robert Finch at the University of Toronto, and miscellaneous letters received from friends and relatives.

Ruth Church’s correspondence documents in considerable detail her life and activities (with a careful eye for what the censors might not like during the War). The letters received from her parents, siblings, and friends (including those in the Armed Forces) and relatives document civilian life in Canada while providing some insights on life elsewhere in the WRENS.