Librarian of the Shire
What you need to know
Mildenhall and District Museum
Forgotten Soldiers: The Diverse Roles of Women and Black Men in World War One
This is the museum where I learned a great deal about World War 1. When at that museum, I took part in a presentation called Discover Reflections, and Memories of the Great War (Mildenhall Museum Staff, 2014) in which we performed poems, letters, and sketches when at that museum. I wanted to add some diversity in the presentation by adding women and black men. In that presentation and this project I wanted to show people who were not commended by the public for different reasons.
Descriptive Metadata and the Dublin Core
Two soup cans walk into an archive...
What i
Title:
Photograph of black* war nurses, ca. 1919
Description:
Capturing the 9 black nurses working at the Camp Sherman Base Hospital: Clara A. Rollins, Sophia A. Hill, Marion H. Brown, Lillian F. Ball, S. Milward Boulding; N. Jeannette Minnis, Lillian Spears, Aileen B. Cole, and C. Jeannet West.
Type:
Sepia Photo
Source:
The David Graham Du Bois Trust
Coverage:
Camp Sherman (Ohio), United States
Creator:
Mattie McGhee
Rights:
All rights for this document are held by the David Graham Du Bois Trust. Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Date:
1919
Format:
One photograph ; 12.7 x 17.78 cm
Provenance:
The nurses were not allowed by the Red Cross because they were black.
(*This was not the term on the website, the word was vile to me. So, until this changes at the Trust I am leaving it.)
Photograph of Black Women war nurses
Title:
Postcard - Tom to Molly, 'Souvenir of the Great War', Embroidered, World War I, 1914-1918
Description:
Embroidered in turquoise Gothic text on the front of the postcard: 'Souvenir of the Great War' Printed in purple ink on the back of the postcard in the centre: 'CARTE POSTALE / POST CARD ; POSTKAART / CORRESPONDANCE ; ADDRESS' Hand-written, in pencil on the back of the postcard: 'Dear Molly / Just a line to let you know / I am well & in the best of health / Hoping you are the same. Hoping / you will like this card. I will remain / XXXX Your Loving Cousin Tom' Printed in black ink on the front of an attached rectangular card: 'Souvenir / from France'
Type:
Embroidered Postcard, Image
Source:
Museum Victoria Collection
Coverage:
France
Creator:
"Tom"to "Molly"
Rights:
N/A
Date:
1914 - 1918
Format:
Embroidered Postcard
Provenance:
According to the Australian War Memorial, the popularity of embroidered postcards (first made for the Paris Exposition in 1900) peaked during World War I. Many were 'embroidered by French women in their homes and then sent to the factories for cutting and mounting on postcards'. Common themes included family, remembrance, liberty, unity and war souvenirs.
Tom to Molly, 'Souvenir of the Great War
Title:
Perhaps --
Creator:
Brittain, Vera (1893-1970)
Description:
Poem
Type:
Folio
Source:
The Vera Brittain Digital Fonds
Coverage: World War One, The Front
Rights:
The digitised Vera Brittain material may be used for educational purposes only and remains the copyright at all times of the Literary Executors for the Vera Brittain Estate, 1970 and The Vera Brittain Fonds, McMaster University Library. In any distribution or display of the material this acknowledgment must be clearly indicated.
Date:
1918
Format:
Paper
Provenance:
Ms. Britton decided to go over and become a volunteer nurse because her brother and her fiancée went. Even though she was high class in her birth, she didn't care.
Perhaps
Title:
Shipbuilding during the First World War
Description:
Female workers heat rivets in a portable furnace at the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding yard at Govan along the River Clyde in Scotland during the First World War.
Type:
Photograph
Source:
http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//57/media-57021/large.jpg
Coverage:
Glasgow Shipyards, Scotland
Creator:
Nicholls Horace
Rights:
This image was created and released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non-Commercial License. The photograph was taken by a member of the forces during their active service duties in the First World War, and became covered by Crown Copyright provisions and so faithful reproductions may be reused under that licence, which is considered expired after 50 years.
Date:
1914
Format:
Photograph
Provenance:
Imperial War Museum Photograph Archive Collection
The Shipbuilding Industry during the First World War
Title:
A French World War I Croix de Guerre medal
Description:
A World War I Croix de Guerre medal awarded to the 369th Infantry Regiment. The medal consists of a Florentine bronze cross patée, with two crossed swords between the arms. The center of the front side shows the profile of a young woman wearing a Phrygian cap. The words "République française" encircle the portrait. Embossed on the back of the medal is “1914 / 1918.” The cross shaped medal is attached to a green ribbon with seven vertical red stripes.
Type:
Medals
Source:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd54bd2b64a-6376-48da-a328-0b8adcf8c632
Coverage:
France, Europe
Creator:
Albert Bartholomé, French, 1848 - 1928
Rights:
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Date:
1918
Format:
Bronze and Ribbon
Provenance:
First person(s) to receive a French medal
Exceeding Expectations
Title:
Suffragette stands tall with her banner
Description:
Suffragette banner. One of the banners, the women who picketed the White House .
Type:
Photo
Source:
The National Archives
Coverage:
White House, Washington D.C.., United States
Creator:
Harris and Ewing
Rights:
Restricted - Possibly
Specific Use Restriction: Copyright
Note: Photographs taken by commercial sources may be copyrighted.
Date:
1917 - 1918
Format:
Photographic Print
Provenance:
Suffragettes reminding the President what is happening in the world.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Title:
English women munition workers
Description:
Photograph shows a group portrait of English women who worked in munitions factories during World War I. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2012)
Type:
Glass Negatives
Source:
Bain News Service photograph collection
Coverage:
England
Creator:
Bain News Service
Rights:
No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see George Grantham Bain Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/274_bain.html
Date:
1914 and ca. 1915
Format:
One negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Provenance:
On the Jeremy Paxum clip, he tells us the munitions women were doing a dangous job working with unexploded bombs.
Committed to Quality
Title:
Miss Cavell fusillée par les Allemands à Bruxelles le 12 octobre 1915
Description:
Print shows an angel kneeling beside picture of Edith Louisa Cavell, an English nurse, who was executed by the Germans in WWI for protecting and hiding Allied soldiers in a Brussels' hospital.
Type:
Poster
Source:
French World War I posters
Coverage:
France
Creator:
Paris : Société des Etablts, Minot
Rights:
No known restrictions on publication. For information see "World War I Posters" https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/243_wwipos.html
Date:
1915
Format:
One print (poster) : lithograph, color ; 60 x 40 cm.
Provenance:
Ms. Cavell actual healed every soldier that came to her.
Exceeding Expectations
Title:
Scars Upon My Heart
Description:
Selection of Poems written by women during the First World War.
Type:
Text
Source:
Paperbook
Coverage:
France, Europe
Creator:
Catherine Reilly
Rights:
Virago Press
Date:
1981
Format:
Poems
Provenance:
The First World War. was hard on everybody who was in it. People think of the boys walking into the gas. That is horrid, however, the nurses and the volunteer nurses had to deal with this everyday..
(Highly recommend this compilation)
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Title:
WOMEN OF IRELAND
Description:
whole: the title and text are positioned across the whole, in brown, set against a white background, and held within a decorative brown and blue border. image: text only. text: WOMEN OF IRELAND YOUR POWER IS GREAT YOU MANAGE THE HOUSEHOLD If you want to shorten the WAR and escape excessive taxation I. AVOID WASTE II. SAVE MONEY III. BUY WAR LOAN, OR LODGE SAVINGS IN BANK POSTER No. 3. ISSUED BY THE IRISH WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE.
Type:
Poster.
Source:
PRINTED BY BROWNE and NOLAN, LTD. Dublin
Coverage:
World War One
Creator:
Unknown
Rights:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/31602
Date:
World War One
Format:
Letterpress
Provenance:
Presented by H.M. Stationery Office, Dublin
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Dive into the Repository!
In the Bury St. Edmunds Record Office
Name and Position?
The Bury St. Edmunds Record Office is a branch of the Suffolk Records Office. The staff are in charge of maps, local Suffolk history and paths to genealogy which are some of the many services the office provides("Bury St Edmunds Branch", 2020).
Where is the Bury St. Edmunds Record Office(BRO)?
The Bury St. Edmunds Record Office (BRO) is close to the center of Bury St. Edmunds and its Cathedral. In fact, people can take a lovely stroll in the smaller Rose Garden in the Abbey Gardens which is adjacent to the Cathedral. The Rose Garden was commemorated to the Allies who fought in World War One and Two. There are benches that are made from remnants of planes which memorialise the sacrifices that the men and women paid in their service(Wright, 2020). Most importantly, there is a tree dedicated to the Women’s Land Army just outside of the Rose Garden.
The BRO does not appear not huge at first glance. It has two floors in total. Offices for staff and the reading room take up the first floor and the repository is on the ground floor.
However, BRO and Lowestoft have all the pamphlets and information patrons need. I have always found their repository like the TARDIS of Doctor Who. It may seem small on the exterior, yet it contains so much valuable information on the inside!
Are the presences lacking on one side or the other?
Though they have on excellent volunteer web-presence, they are lacking with their patron outreach on the web. I believe that with a restructuring of their website it would get the BRO more patrons. However, the parent headquarters, Suffolk Record Office, have ordered BRO to move some of their archives to the bigger repository in Ipswich which is now under refurbishment to make the Ipswich office a better practicality to patrons. This huge overhaul due to the generous funding of National Lottery Heritage isFund("The Hold", 2020)
Reading and Studing: is this what brings people in?
While a reading and/or study area has major objectives, there is only one point I would like to reference. Yes, it is a great reading/study area and it has enough space to browse and study the huge material supply, which BRO houses. Whether it is parish records, maps of local villages, diary’s, etc., it is available. Yet, I find after my courses, especially the Library Management course, it is because of the friendly environment, especially the librarians and archivist staff that make it special. I feel patrons will put up with a lot just as long as they have a safe and warm working environment. A friendly staff doesn’t seem much, but I promise, it works. It works for the Bury Record Office.
To Access or not Access?
The access is restricted only if the patron is not registered in the system. Still, there is a difference between access to digital archival collections or that patrons have to pay to see the physical archival objects. BRO does have downable digital images for the patrons. It depends on which image the patron selects if they have to pay.
("Reader Registration", 2020)
("How to download digital images", 2020)
Policy or Service?
For the BRO, copying is not policy, it is service. I do not know why because this is usually a policy. Policies are basic guidelines, and services are a skill and assistance that the BRO offers in its facilities. The Suffolk Record Office has created a table which has all the price list for copying online("Copying service", 2020).
Hard Copy?
Yes, the polices are made available both cases. However, a patron must ask for whichever policy he/she wants if they need it on paper("Copying service", 2020).
Three Clipboards!
Yes, the staff are very strict on that. There are three sign-in clipboards. Two downstairs and one upstairs. The two downstairs' clipboards are relatively easy. The first, the patron just signs-in and out. The other clipboard that is downstairs is for the microfiche. BRO has many microfiche machines and they are used constantly.
On the upstairs clipboard, the patron must register to get the reader card if he/she wants to pull materials, including the digital materials. To register the patron must bring and show to the head librarian proof that the patron has residency or is staying somewhere if living out of state or country, such as a driver’s ID or passport. Also, a person must hand over a bank or utility statement to register to get a reader’s card("Reader Registration", 2020).
Women's Voices 1914 - 1918
By: Dublin City Libraries and Archives | March 22, 2018|
Although the Irish were fighting a guerilla war with the British, many Irish men went and fought for the the British Empire. This affected the women on both sides of the political spectrum in Ireland on the home front. Specifically, on this podcast, four very different women.
(Dublin City Libraries & Archives, 2018)
The Crimson Field’s Karl Davies on the return of Corporal Lawrence Prentiss
By: Suzannah Lazarus|April 27th, 2014|
The Crimson Field was a World War 1 period show. Its main characters were nurses.
..."He’s a young soldier who’s gone to the front line to do his duty for his country but wasn’t prepared enough to deal with what he was going to be faced with which has obviously affected him hugely on a psychological level and left him with combat fatigue and shell shock, as it was called back then. He’s just a young man who was doing his duty and has found himself, as many of them did, in an incredible situation he’s unable to cope with"...
(Lazarus, 2017)