The Star and Oshawa This Week recently published an article detailing the fate of several Camp X artifacts belonging to the Robert Stuart Aeronautical Collection housed at the Oshawa Airport. It was a follow-up to an article written in March, when it was expected that the private collection would be sold to the highest bidder, likely someone in the US. As of this week, 15 artifacts, including a suitcase radio, some clothing, trench art, and a helmet, from the Second World War spy training school near the Whitby-Oshawa border, have been purchased by the Canadian War Museum.
I think the history of Camp X, and certainly the artifacts, will be better served at the War Museum in Ottawa than they ever were in Oshawa. Lynn Phillip Hodgson, author of many *interesting* books about Camp X wrote to Oshawa This Week saying that the collection belongs to Oshawa. He goes on to say that, 'Tens of thousands of GTA school children have visited the museum over the past 33 years and now must journey to Ottawa to do so.' I was a GTA student, in fact I attended school in Oshawa, in the 1990s and I never once saw these artifacts. Even as an adult and someone who is interested in history and local history, I didn't find the Camp X artifacts to be terribly accessible, although I have seen the collection.
I don't think that the artifacts belong to Oshawa. Camp X and its history belong to all Canadians. In Ottawa, some of the artifacts will be publicly displayed and enjoyed by all Canadians and tourists and Oshawa's role in the Second World War will be featured. Similarly, the objects will receive proper care and storage at the Canadian War Museum. Isn't that better than the objects languishing in an old building that nobody knows about?
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