Main Page
Contents
In their own words: collecting experiences of the First World War
This project aims provide context for an individual's experience of WWI by linking to personal narratives written by people in the same situation. By the end of this project, someone who wants to research a soldier in WWI but doesn't know a thing about how armies were structured should be able to find a personal account from someone in a similar role written at about the same time and place. We'll never really know what it was like for those who experienced the First World War, but we can come closer to understanding it by collecting the words they left behind.
Find out more about this project.
How you can help
In this phase of the project, the aim is find a personal narrative - a diary, letters, memoirs or images - for each military unit in the British Army. Populating the lists of battalions and linking the numerous personal and official diaries, letters, memoirs, etc already online is a huge task and it can only be done with your help. Help us share the soldiers' experiences of WWI in their own words by adding links to their diaries or letters to their battalion or regiment's page.
Anyone can sign up to this wiki (but not you, spam bots!) to help out. If you get stuck, just drop me a line; I'm @mia_out on twitter.
- There is an excellent page of Infantry Battalion War Diary Transcript Links (WW1) containing 'links to transcripts of First World War British Army infantry battalion war diaries from WO 95 which have already been published on other sites'. These official unit diaries should be added to the relevant battalion pages.
- Add to the lists of personal diaries, letters, memoirs already online
See Frequently asked questions and site help and How you can help for more information.
You can see the difference that contributors so far have made on pages like Battalions with personal narratives.
This project is part of a Transnational Research Fellowship with the CENDARI project at Trinity College Dublin's Long Room Hub. Further information is available on the 'about' page of this wiki.
