The Swords and Ploughshares Museum is a private

military museum Military Museum may refer to museums of military and war, or specific museums including: * Aldershot Military Museum, in Aldershot, England * Athens War Museum, in Athens, Greece * Base Borden Military Museum, Borden, Ontario, Canada * California ...

located south of the village of

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

, Ontario, Canada. The Museum is focused on a specific aspect of Canadian

military history Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

: the Citizen Soldier (the Militiaman and Reservist) at peace and at war. The Museum uses vehicles and artifacts to demonstrate how they could be adapted and used by Citizen Soldiers for both military and civilian purposes. For example, a Ram tank from World War II that was modified after the war to serve as a snowplow was a featured display at the Museum for many years. Amongst the artifacts and equipment that the Museum displays is a 1942

Bofors 40 mm Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

Light Anti-Aircraft Gun which is maintained as a living monument and memorial for Canadian

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

gunners.

History

The Museum was originally formed in 1987 by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

(now

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

) M.T. Calnan and Captain M.J. Hilash,

enthusiasts and private collectors of militaria. The two combined their efforts and collections to form the Swords and Ploughshares Museum so that they could display their artifacts and further public knowledge of Canadian

. Land was purchased south of

, Ontario in the late 1980s with construction of a steel building to house the vehicles following in the summer of 1991. Colonel Michael David Calnan, CD served as the Honorary Chairman of the Museum from its founding in 1987 until he died in 2018.

Outreach program

The Museum does not have a large number of fixed displays and prefers to use living history practices to provide interactive displays and demonstrations. This includes participating along with

historical re-enactors Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or ...

in special commemorative events such as the 50th Anniversary of

D-day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

Parade held in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

in 1994 and the 64th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain held at the National Aviation Museum in 2004. The Museum regularly coordinates

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

parades in nearby communities such as Kemptville and Merrickville as well as in other events such as the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Fair and the

Fair. Historic military vehicle owners from Eastern Ontario volunteer their time and vehicles for the parades.

Media appearances

A brief interview and video segment on the Museum was featured in the December 15th, 2008 edition of the '' Canadian Army News''.

References

External links

The Swords and Ploughshares Museum

The Swords and Ploughshares Museum Facebook Page
{{coord, 45.09166, N, 75.642635, W, display=title Museums in Ottawa Military and war museums in Canada