Monthly Archives: August 2015

Thomas Baker Brown FWW Comic and Anthology

Newcastle University Library Education Outreach Team have teamed up with comic artist Terry Wiley, Lydia Wysocki from Applied Comics Etc and local secondary school students to explore the true war story of Thomas Baker Brown from North Shields, Tyne & Wear, who served as a signaller in the First World War. Wiley used the letters, documents, artefacts and other material in Baker Brown’s Archive, which was donated to Newcastle University by his family, to create a comic telling Tommy’s wartime story. The comic follows Baker Brown’s experiences as a soldier on the Western Front and in Prisoner of War camps, as a ‘typical Tommy’ from our local area.  

Students from four local schools (St John’s Catholic School, Monkseaton High School, Benfield School, and St Aidan’s Catholic Academy) then visited Newcastle University to work with the Baker Brown archive. They handled primary sources to understand how to use archives and how to be an historian. They also focused on how to plan, make, and read old and new comics. The students were given copies of True War Stories No.1: Thomas Baker Brown, both to share Thomas’ story and to start a discussion on how to write and draw an historical story. Then each group of students was given a resources pack (reproductions) of extracts from materials from the archive and instructions on how to use these to plan, pencil, and ink a one-page comic of their own. All students completed the task to a high standard and their comics are published in an anthology of all comics from this project, entitled ‘Draw More Comics: The Thomas Baker Brown World War One Comics Anthology’.  All students will receive a free printed copy of the book in the new academic year. The students’ comics and Wiley’s comic are  all available to view online here, along with free resources to use and share.

Women and the First World War Symposium – Programme, Registration and Website

17 September 2015 @ Newcastle University

Keynote Address: Professor Alison Fell (Leeds), ‘Back to the Front: French and British Female Veteran Groups in the 1920s’

Registration is now open for this interdisciplinary symposium on women’s history in relation to the First World War. This event is supported by the North East Research Forum for First World War Studies, the Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre, the Gender Research Group (Newcastle) and theMilitary, War & Security Research Group (Newcastle).

Further details on the event, including information on how to register, and the latest programme, are available on the Women and the First World War Symposium website. 

Your Community in the First World War: A Roadshow

10 September 2015 @ Lindisfarne Room, Newcastle University

How did the First World War affect your community? Do you know where the people named on your war memorial fought and died? What was life like for those who went away to fight? What happened to those who stayed at home? Did the First World War change things for women? Industry? Social welfare? What was its global impact and how did colonial troops experience it?

We invite you to explore your community’s connection with the First World War and meet up with others already doing so. This event will bring together community groups and other organisations who are working on projects around the heritage of the First World War, or who are interested in developing such a project. There will be an opportunity to share experiences, explore possible sources of funding (especially the Heritage Lottery Fund), exchange ideas, and learn about free support and resources, including how and where you can showcase your findings online.

This roadshow is co-hosted by the five First World War engagement centres funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Each centre represents a network of academic support and has various areas of expertise regarding First World War research. You can access their support when developing your own projects. For further information on these centres see here: http://ww1engage.org.uk

We will also be offering an opportunity at this event to learn how to digitise, record and preserve your community’s stories and memorabilia. The availability of this opportunity will be based on demand, so if you are interested in taking part in this digitisation workshop, please register for this when booking the event. You will be asked to submit a short statement of what materials (photographs, letters, diaries etc.) you would like to have digitised and how it would benefit you and/or your community group.

Places at this event is free, but limited, so book early to ensure a place.
Go to: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/first-world-war-engagement-centres-8220847914

For more information or to book a place on a digitisation workshop after booking an event contact Dr Sam Carroll, Community Heritage Researcher, Gateways to the First World War. Email: S.J.Carroll@kent.ac.uk

Download the flyer for the Roadshow here.