Durham University Officers’ Training Corps, Stobs camp, 1914, Durham University Library Special Collections, Ref: MIA 1/307

Universities at War – Lottery grant awarded to mark First World War Centenary

A new project to tell the lost stories of Newcastle and Durham University staff and students who fell during the First World War has been awarded £7,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Both universities invite anyone interested in learning more about the project to an open event at Newcastle University’s Robinson Library at 6pm on 25 June.

The Universities have received the Lottery grant for their project ‘Universities at War: Chronicling the Fallen of Newcastle and Durham Universities (1914 – 1918)’. Awarded through HLF’s First World War: then and now programme, the project focuses on expanding on the work of staff and students from both universities to tell the stories of their fallen alumni by working with volunteers across the region and beyond.

With help from heritage professionals, the information gathered by volunteers will be digitally recorded in an online memory book which everyone can access and contribute to. Research into these important stories will be promoted through public events and an exhibition in 2017 showcasing the work of the volunteers. Both Universities will also work with local schools to help young people understand the local impact of the conflict and develop the skills to research their own memorials.

Commenting on the award, Newcastle University Archivist Ian Johnson said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund to engage the public in the important aim to make these fallen more than just names on a memorial. As many of these fallen were local and the commemorations have sparked everyone’s interest nationally, we know the experts are in our communities and we want them to get in touch to make this a success through credited contributions.”

Ivor Crowther, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund North East, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. In this Centenary year we’re pleased to fund this project which will provide a truly personal link to the conflict and ensure the stories of Durham and Newcastle alumni are heard and remembered.”

The work done so far is available to view at http://memorial.ncl.ac.uk/ and https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/roll/. Volunteers are also welcome to get in touch through contact details available on these sites.

Image: Durham University Officers’ Training Corps, Stobs camp, 1914, Durham University Library Special Collections, Ref: MIA 1/307.

Your Community in the First World War: A Roadshow

8 September 2015 @ the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester

9 September 2015 @ the City Museum, Leeds

10 September 2015 @ 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. These three events, in Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, 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

At each event we will also be offering an opportunity 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 these events are 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

New Perspectives on the First World War and Its Legacies

Thursday 18 June 2015, 12pm-4.30pm @ The Birley Room, Hatfield College, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3RQ.

A one-day workshop, hosted by the Department of History at Durham University, to showcase current research in First World War Studies undertaken in the North East. This is the second event of the newly established North East Research Forum for First World War Studies. The programme and registration details for this event can be found here.

A Higher Purpose: Newcastle University at War – Exhibition Now Online

This exhibition, which reflects largely on the university buildings being requisitioned and used as the 1st Northern General Hospital during the First World War, is now available to view online here. It features a range of fascinating archival material, including photographs of the wards, operation books from a surgeon operating in the Hatton Gallery throughout the period, student admissions registers and magazines relating to the fallen, plans of the buildings, and the Rudyard Kipling letter to the Secretary of State for War.

First World War Symposia at Newcastle University

On 15 and 16 April 2015, Newcastle University hosted two very successful events showcasing First World War research, which were attended by over 70 people across the two days. The events were presented in association with Living Legacies and the AHRC, and were both generously supported by the McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural Landscape at Newcastle University, alongside the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal and the Newcastle Humanities Research Institute.

The first of the two events, on Wednesday 15 April, was a First World War Postgraduate Symposium, at which postgraduate researchers from 9 institutions across the UK presented their research on the First World War and its legacies. The speakers covered a wide range of fascinating topics, from literary and artistic responses to the First World War to the role of women in both war and pacifism, and from military technologies and empire to activities on the home front. The final programme for the event can be found here.

The second event, which took place on Thursday 16 April, was entitled ‘Connecting Communities Through Researching First World War Heritage’, and brought together community and academic researchers working on projects during the First World War centenary commemorations in the North East of England. The projects showcased at the event approached the war from a range of different perspectives, and through a variety of different methods. These included the artistic and creative responses of Applied Comics Etc. (Newcastle University), Wor War (YMCA North Tyneside), Wor Women on the Home Front (Tyneside Women’s Health & Curiosity Creative), and Decoded 1914-18 (Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums). Alongside these, several projects focused on using digital technologies to either map the impact of the First World War on the region, to digitize and preserve archival materials, to investigate and record the lives of those featured on local war memorials, and to preserve the memorials themselves. These projects included: Durham at War (Durham County Council & Record Office); Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project; Northumberland at War (Northumberland Archives); The Universities at War and the Armstrong Memory Book (Dr Jane Webster of Newcastle University); and CARE of War Memorials in North East England (Dr Myra Giesen of Newcastle University). In addition to detailed and informative presentations from representatives of these projects, the event also featured a presentation from Dr Keith Lilley and Dr Paul Ell, PI and Co-I of Living Legacies at Queen’s University Belfast, as well as a stimulating keynote on non-invasive landscape archaeology of the First World War in Flanders from Professor Veerle van Eetvelde of the University of Ghent. The event concluded with a lively roundtable discussion in which community and academic researchers developed initial plans for future collaborations. The final programme for this event is available here.

First World War – Postgraduate Symposium

15 April 2015 @ Research Beehive, Newcastle University

The centenary of the First World War has prompted an immense amount of research investigating the events of 1914-1918 and the legacies of the War. Postgraduate research in particular is at the forefront of new and exciting directions in First World War studies. This interdisciplinary symposium showcases some of the fascinating work being undertaken by postgraduate researchers  on the First World War and its aftermath.

This event contributes to the AHRC-funded Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre programme, in which Newcastle University is a partner organisation. The Newcastle event is supported by the McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural Landscape (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mccordcentre/), and the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal/).

Please find a draft programme for the event here: First World War PG Symposium – Draft Programme. Attendance at this event is free, and a complementary lunch will be provided. Please register here by Tuesday 7 April 2015.

Connecting Communities Through Researching First World War Heritage

16 April 2015 @ Research Beehive & Great North Museum, Newcastle University

A one-day symposium to be held at Newcastle University on Thursday 16 April 2015. This event brings together community projects and academic researchers working across the North East, and features a keynote address from Professor Veerle Van Eetvelde on her work on First World War landscapes in Belgium.

We invite anyone interested in the First World War and its heritage to join us at the event. Attendance is free, and lunch and refreshments will be provided. To register, please contact Emma Short by Tuesday 31 March 2015.

This event contributes to the AHRC-funded Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre programme, in which Newcastle University is a partner organisation. The event is supported by the McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural Landscape, and the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal.

Please find a draft programme for the event here: Connecting Communities – Draft Programme.

The Visual Heritage of the Losing Side: Orphaned Souvenirs of the First World War

Research Seminar – Professor Mike Robinson, University of Birmingham

Wednesday 11 March 2015,  1-2pm @ Room 1.06, 18 Windsor Terrace – All welcome

Within the context of revived public interest in the First World War as part of the ongoing centennial of the event there is much co-remembrance being performed in the collective realm. The memorials and cemeteries of the dead provide the material prompts and emotional signposts for commemoration. In addition there are countless personal objects – medals, letters etc. – that now help construct the narratives of the Great War Event. Drawing from a collection of vernacular photographs, this presentation examines images and objects from German soldiers and problematises them as dis-connected heritage of the First World War; objects with historical meaning but that exist outside of collective memory or at least a different conception of collective memory.

Mike Robinson is Professor of Cultural Heritage at the University of Birmingham UK. He is also Director of the Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage and Trustee of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and World Heritage Site.

For more information, visit the ICCHS Research Blog.

A Higher Purpose: Newcastle University at War

Don’t miss the last few weeks of this fantastic exhibition on the 2nd floor of Newcastle University’s Robinson Library. The exhibition reflects largely on the university buildings being requisitioned and used as the 1st Northern General Hospital during the First World War, and includes a range of fascinating archival material, including photographs of the wards, operation books from a surgeon operating in the Hatton Gallery throughout the period, student admissions registers and magazines relating to the fallen, plans of the buildings, and the Rudyard Kipling letter to the Secretary of State for War. The exhibition is open to members of the public, and runs until the end of February 2015.

Decoded, 1914-1918

Decoded 1914-18 is a two-week programme of AV installations and events across 16-28 February 2015 that explores the First World War and its effect on those living in Tyne & Wear. Seven artists have taken inspiration from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collections to create artworks and performances which examine and interpret Tyne and Wear in the First World War in innovative ways. From recreated soundscapes of civic life to a reinvention of communications technologies. The installations and performances explore a range of themes including the role of women in the First World War economy; Wartime communications technologies, particularly radio; the impact of War on folk traditions in the region, and Armed Forces recruitment.

The project is a collaboration between Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and the Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice, a contemporary hub for the creative arts at Newcastle University with a remit to explore ideas and challenge perceived boundaries between academic disciplines.

Details of the events (along with opportunities to meet the artists) are as follows:

Sing and Dance for King and Country: An audio-visual installation exploring the experiences of the people of Tyneside during the First World War, through the lens of local folk traditions and practices. It will explore how various folk practices – including rapper dancing, clog dancing, and folksong – can be used to investigate the experiences of war of three groups of people: the rapper dancers of the North East, female munitions workers, and children. Move through the installation in the footsteps of the singers and dancers of 100 years ago, uncovering forgotten and untold stories of how the ordinary people of Tyneside danced and sang their way through the First World War.

The artist, Rachael Hales, is a sound artist, composer and performer, currently studying for a PhD by composition at Newcastle University. Her work investigates ways in which environmental and everyday sounds can interact with musics of place, particularly folk and traditional music, to perform, represent or portray a sense of place.

Venue and date of installation: Discovery Museum – 2nd Floor Balcony: Monday 16 – Saturday 28 February 2015.

Meet the Artist: Wednesday 18 February, 2-4pm and Saturday 21 February, 2-4pm (installation space).

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Shiver the Flowers Like Fear: A sound installation of spoken word, music and sound design framed around the wartime diaries of Gateshead author, playwright and social activist Ruth Dodds. The piece offers insight into Dodds’ experience of the First World War, from working twelve-hour shifts at Armstrong’s munitions factory to finding solace in literature and the Northumbrian countryside. The installation aims to provide a fragmentary portrayal of the everyday struggle to come to terms with senseless, unthinkable circumstance, and the crucial efforts to maintain some semblance of everyday life on Tyneside in such turbulent times.

The artist, Phil Begg, is a musician/composer from Newcastle, who since 2007 has predominantly recorded and performed under the moniker Hapsburg Braganza. He also oversees the genre-defying Tyneside big-band studio project ‘Midnight Doctors’ – with which he has worked with over 30 musicians to date. His music spans and bridges a range of styles including instrumental guitar pieces, electroacoustic composition and improvisation, scored works for instrumentalists, sound collage, ambient music and sound design.

Venue and date of installation: Shipley Art Gallery – Lounge: Wednesday 18 – Saturday 28 February 2015.

Meet the Artist: Thursday 19 February, 2-4pm (installation space).

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Parade Ground: A digital artwork referencing traditional regimental photos on a very large scale. The piece attempts to bring home to the viewer both the terrifying scale of the region’s contribution to the war and the very human and individual nature of this contribution.

The artist, Guy Schofield, is an artist and researcher based at Newcastle University’s Culture Lab working mainly with video, game technology and 3D graphics and animation. He has a BA and MA in Fine Art. His work involves examining the relationship between space and narrative in time-based media: a concern which explored in a number of interactive and video art works, exhibited both in the UK and internationally.

Venue and date of installation: Parade Ground is on display at 3 different venues:

Discovery Museum – When the Lights Went Out Exhibition: Monday 16 – Saturday 28 February 2015.

Gateshead Interchange: Monday 16 – Friday 20 February 2015.

King’s Gate, Newcastle University: Friday 20 – Saturday 28 February 2015.

Meet the Artist: Friday 20 February, 2-4pm (Discovery Museum, When the Lamps Went Out exhibition).

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The Handmaidens of Death: An audiovisual experience which focuses on the role of women in Tyneside’s First World War industrial economy and how these changing roles affected their lives and their perception of themselves. An intimate performance, The Handmaidens of Death uses archival images of female munitions workers on Tyneside from the First World War, archival dramatic and documentary text along with current creative writing to create a looped audio-visual experience that will be projected onto walls and floor to surround the observers.

The artist, Tracy Gillman, is an actor, writer and director currently engaged in doctoral studies in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Her PhD work-in-progress The Disappearance of Spoons has been given readings, funded by Newcastle University Institute of Creative Arts Practice, at Live Theatre, Culture Lab and Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts. Elements of this work will be used in The Handmaidens of Death.

Venue and date of installation: Tyne & Wear Archives – Education Room: Friday 20 – Monday 23 February 2015.

Meet the Artist: Saturday 21 February 2015, 2-4pm (installation space).

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Tuning In – Listening Back in Time: A reconstruction of time distant voices and personal accounts of events on Tyneside during the First World War. The work will be presented using period audio technology in a science and technology basement store. Listening stations which were based on our North East coast during the First World War were designed to pick up long distant sounds and communications to understand what might happen in the immediate future. These stone and concrete structures may also have recorded powerful memories and events. Tuning In – Listening Back in Time is a reconstruction of those time distant voices and personal accounts of events on Tyneside during that traumatic period. The work will be diffused and realised through the period technology within a Discovery Museum basement tour.

Please note this is a 15 minute tour running on the hour 11am-3pm. Meet at Discovery Museum reception desk. Due to limited places we ask that you arrive early to avoid disappointment.

The artists are Chris Watson and Tim Shaw. Chris Watson is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, TV & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post-production. Tim Shaw has worked internationally as a professional composer, performer, sound designer and researcher. His practice incorporates diverse approaches to sound capture and processing, and includes creating immersive and site responsive sonic installations. His compositional methods include field recordings, synthesized sounds and live electronics, providing a wide scope for creative diversity. At the heart of his work lies a concern with the auditory reflection and mirroring of real world environments through sound and technology. He is currently studying a PhD in Digital Media at Culture Lab, Newcastle University, alongside managing record label Triptik.

Venue and date of installation: Discovery Museum – Arcs and Sparks Store (basement): Monday 16 – Sunday 22 February 2015.

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War Workings: Drawing on museum and archive material, Shaw and Bowers will build a sound installation, starting from nothing. The duo invites the public to participate in making, listening to and re-inventing communications technologies from the First World War. Many contemporary technologies have their ancestry in innovations developed to support military activity in the First World War: communications and signalling systems, listening and timekeeping devices. Inspired by artefacts from the Tyne & Wear Archives, Shaw and Bowers will build a sound installation on site over a two-day period. The artists’ process will be publicly open. Starting from nothing, the duo will build, create and install the work inviting the public to join them in making, listening and re-inventing war technology.

The artists are Tim Shaw and John Bowers. Tim Shaw has worked internationally as a professional composer, performer, sound designer and researcher. His practice incorporates diverse approaches to sound capture and processing, and includes creating immersive and site responsive sonic installations. His compositional methods include field recordings, synthesized sounds and live electronics, providing a wide scope for creative diversity. At the heart of his work lies a concern with the auditory reflection and mirroring of real world environments through sound and technology. He is currently studying a PhD in Digital Media at Culture Lab, Newcastle University, alongside managing record label Triptik. John Bowers is an artist-researcher working within Culture Lab with a particular interest in the use of art and design-led methods to explore digital technologies and novel interaction concepts. He also works as a sound artist improvising with electronic, digital, acoustic and electro-mechanical devices and self-made instruments in performance and installation settings, typically accompanied by live digital image.

Venue and date of installation: Discovery Museum – Science Maze: Wednesday 25 – Thursday 26 February 2015.

Meet the Artist: Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 February, 2-4pm (installation space).

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Sound Mirrors: A durational sound performance which re-imagines the acoustic experience of war and connects, in an act of two-way mirroring, the sonic experience of war with contemporary local soundscapes. Dotted along the east coast of England, large concrete structures were built, sound mirrors, which enabled enemy aircraft and Zeppelin airships to be heard before they were seen, providing early warning of potential attack. Many of these survive and still stand, listening to the contemporary world. Sound Mirrors is a durational sound performance which re-imagines the acoustic experience of war and connects, in an act of two-way mirroring, the sonic experience of war with contemporary local soundscapes.

The artists are Tim Shaw and John Bowers (see details for War Workings above).

Venue and date of installation: Discovery Museum – Great Hall: Friday 27 February, 2-4pm.