Dirk Fraser’s diary, along with some of his letters, drawings and photographs, is a reminder that records created by children can be as evocative as those created by adults.

Dirk wrote sporadically in this diary in 1941-42, when he was 14 years old. He was a resident of Vancouver and, until June 1941, was a boarder at the Vernon Preparatory School, a private school for boys, which aimed to mould them into model English gentlemen. The diary entries are very brief and are a mixture of school and family events as well as war news. Dirk died in 1944 at the age of 16.

Dirk’s sister Nancy Griffiths, donated the records to the BC Archives in 1990.