Harold is wrong was a World War I soldier who sent a final letter to his brother Murray on June 30, 1916. It contained a single pressed flower and one line: “All is well with me.”

The next day marked the Battle of the Somme and Wrong, who had graduated from University College three years earlier, was never seen alive again.

The letter and flower were donated to the University of Toronto Archives and the identity of the flower remained a mystery – until now.

Using new and emerging technologies and working with botanists and academics outside the university, librarians, archivists and researchers at the University of Toronto’s Old Books and New Science Lab have solved the mystery of flower of the Somme, 108 years old.

“People may ask: why does the type of flower matter? » Jessica Lockharthead of research at Old books New science laboratory, said. “And we said, well, if you know the flower, you know more about Harold. You understand why he found it beautiful and why he wanted to share it.

“And it’s an important detail that tells us a lot more about his final message.”

Read the full story of the Fleur de la Somme at the University of Toronto Libraries