Tag Archives: Archives

Major Miss Bell: Gertrude Bell and the First World War – Exhibition Now Online

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The exhibition on Gertrude Bell’s First World War work, previously on display in Newcastle University’s Robinson Library, is now available to view online here. Cartographer, archaeologist, interpreter, photographer, Gertrude Bell (born 1868 at Washington New Hall, County Durham) is perhaps best known as a central figure in British political movements in the Middle East during the early twentieth century. Appointed the appointed Oriental Secretary in 1917, her expertise in the geography of the Middle East led to her involvement in the Cairo Conference of 1921, in which she played a central role in the formation of Iraq. Often overlooked, however, is the range and extent of the work Bell undertook during the First World War, which took her from Boulogne to Baghdad. Curated by Dr Emma Short (School of English, Newcastle University & Living Legacies 1914-1918), this exhibition of material from the Gertrude Bell Papers, held in Newcastle University Robinson Library Special Collections, explores the impact of the First World War on Bell’s life and legacy.

Major Miss Bell: Gertrude Bell and the First World War

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Exhibition @ Level 2, Newcastle University Robinson Library, November 2015 – January 2016. 

Cartographer, archaeologist, interpreter, photographer, Gertrude Bell (born 1868 at Washington New Hall, County Durham) is perhaps best known as a central figure in British political movements in the Middle East during the early twentieth century. Appointed the appointed Oriental Secretary in 1917, her expertise in the geography of the Middle East led to her involvement in the Cairo Conference of 1921, in which she played a central role in the formation of Iraq. Often overlooked, however, is the range and extent of the work Bell undertook during the First World War, which took her from Boulogne to Baghdad. Curated by Dr Emma Short (School of English, Newcastle University & Living Legacies 1914-1918), this exhibition of material from the Gertrude Bell Papers, held in Newcastle University Robinson Library Special Collections, explores the impact of the First World War on Bell’s life and legacy.

The exhibition can be seen on Level 2 of the Robinson Library, Newcastle University, and all are welcome to visit. Staff on reception will be happy to admit on request visitors who wish to view the exhibition without a Newcastle University Library card.

Dr Short will be speaking on Gertrude Bell and the First World War at the Robinson Library to Friends of the Robinson Library at 6pm on 1 December 2015, and at the Newcastle City Library (as part of the Gender Research Group Evening Lecture Series) at 5.15pm on Wednesday 13 January 2016.  

Photograph courtesy of Newcastle University Robinson Library Special Collections. 

Thomas Baker Brown FWW Comic and Anthology

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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 & the First World War (1910-1930) – Call for Papers

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17 September 2015 @ Newcastle University

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

This interdisciplinary symposium will showcase research on any aspect of women’s history in relation to the First World War. We welcome papers on the role and place of girls and women both during the war and also in the years leading up to the outbreak of hostilities and in the decade after. For example, how did literature for girls before the war prepare children for war? How were women involved in pacifist groups? What kinds of work did women do during the war? How were women and girls involved in memorialisation activities? What is the relationship between spiritualism, war and gender politics? Do new transnational paradigms complicate our understanding of women and war? What role did women play in journalism during the war? These are indicative questions only – the symposium is intended to share and develop research on women and the First World War. Papers from a range of fields – including Literature, History, Archaeology, Geography, Politics, Film and Media, Modern Languages, History of Medicine, and Law – are encouraged.

Please send abstracts of 150 words for 20-minute papers to fww@ncl.ac.uk by 15 July 2015.

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 the Military, War & Security Research Group (Newcastle).

Conference Organisers: Stacy Gillis & Emma Short

Download a PDF version of the Call for Papers here.

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

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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.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

A Higher Purpose: Newcastle University at War

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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.