Maclean’s prints thousands of different covers for 100th anniversary of WWI’s end
Posted Oct 11, 2018 7:50 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Next month’s Remembrance Day marks a century since World War I ended, and Maclean’s Magazine has put together an ambitious project to honour each Canadian killed in the fighting.
The latest issue has 66,349 different covers — each one with a name and a story, plus one for the Unknown Soldier.
Maclean’s Editor-in-Chief Alison Uncles was inspired by the War Museum in Ottawa, moved by a Vimy Ridge display with a wall of lights, each representing a soldier who died.
“When you walked closer to the wall, your presence could make the light shine brighter, and that concept just took my breath away. I found it so moving. The idea of the present illuminating the past, and the present interacting in some way with the past,” she said.
An online database allows readers to look up the attestation papers of the person whose name is on their cover.
“The name that I have is Edgar Charles Drury. He’s the magazine that’s on my desk, and he died April 1, 1916, and he was 26 years old,” Uncles said.
“He was born in Wales, he was a farmer, he lists his mother as his next of kin. His mother’s name is Jane, and it’s just so — so personal. Those details are so granular, and moving.”
Canadians can also request a special copy be printed, honouring a family member.
Uncles said this year, more than ever, it is important to remember and take that moment of silence.
“Really take the time to say some names, and understand what a sacrifice it was, and the degree to which that has helped form and shape the Canada that we are honoured to live in today,” she said.
“I’ve made that connection with someone who died 100 years ago, and that’s a pretty incredible thing.”
Listen to 660’s Audrey Whelan’s full interview with Alison Uncles, Editor-in-Chief of Maclean’s Magazine:
