Chalmers, Peggy: my British Intelligence recollections (January 14, 2013)

An interview/narrative of Peggy Chalmers's experiences during World War II. Chalmers served with British Intelligence. Interview took place on January 14, 2013.

Interviewer: Stewart, Meghan

Interviewee: Chalmers, Marguerite Agnes

ABSTRACT: Mrs. Chalmers was hired in 1940 to work under William Stephenson, aka "A Man Called Intrepid". She worked in the office in Rockefeller Center, New York which was responsible for the decoding and re-encoding of all the messages that were coming from overseas. Her specific duties included monitoring and graphing how many messages came in on each shift. Working in shift work, Mrs. Chalmers was also able to experience New York at the time, and gives an in-depth picture of what it was like to work and socialize in New York at this time. 00:00-04:49 - Background and how Mrs. Chalmers ended up working in New York 04:49-11:01 - Secrecy 11:01-16:14 -Working in the office and finding out after the War 16:14-24:24 - Social Life 24:24-27:34 - Impressions of William Stephenson and the post-War 27:34-40:28 - Social Life, getting married, the security risk of being married 40:28-43:03 - Being in New York at the end of the War, Pearl Harbour 43:03-48:36 - Other women in the office, the post-War return to Canada 48:36-50:37 - Signing the release form/discussion of archival material

In Collection:

• Canadian Military Oral Histories

Contributor

• Stewart, Meghan
• Chalmers, Marguerite Agnes

Subject

• Military history
• World War (1939-1945)
• World War (1914-1918)
• Personal narratives--Canadian

Language

• eng

Date created

• January 14, 2013

Relation

• Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews.

Resource type

• Sound

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 1 sound recording (MP3)

Geographic coverage

• New York (State)--New York

Coordinates

• 40.71427, -74.00597

Additional physical characteristics

• Original sound recording (MP3) also available.

Physical repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Canadian Military Oral History Collection

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• sound recordings
• interviews
• oral histories (literary genre)
• reminiscences

Archival item identifier

• CP_770

Fonds title

• Military oral history collection

Fonds identifier

• SC141

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection

Date digitized

• August 4, 2013

Technical note

• Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 192 kbps and 44 kHz. Recorded in digital format by interviewer, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2013. Migration metadata by KD and MT.

Rights

• This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/k5fp-2571

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