First World War Portal

This first module brings together primary source material from multiple archives, including but not limited to; War Reserve Collection in Cambridge University Library; the Liddle Collection in the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; the First World War collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.

These sources offer a rich seam of information on the lives and personal experiences of men and women during the Great War, not through official publications or newspaper accounts, but diaries, autograph books, candid snapshots, souvenirs, sketches and jottings, and other artefacts. It explores subjects such as daily life and routines in the army and auxiliary services, the trenches, food and supplies, warfare, training, discipline, camaraderie and friendship, violence and death, health and medicine and thoughts on the enemy.

Module II contains materials on recruitment, training, morale, public opinion, censorship and the development of different forms of propaganda during the First World War. This primary source material is drawn from multiple archives, including but not limited to; the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University, the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte and the Hauptstaatsarchiv in Stuttgart and Cambridge University Library.

The content in this module ranges from aerial leaflets and atrocity propaganda to international posters, postcards, cartoons and political pamphlets. Themes of recruitment, training and morale are also examined through items such as tribunal case files, Kitchener's papers, recruitment listings, training manuals and minute books of both parliamentary and local recruiting committees.

This module is drawn entirely from the unparalleled holdings of the Imperial War Museum. There is a major emphasis on visual sources – photographs, artwork, posters, film clips and museum objects. Also included are substantial documentary materials – manuscript, rare printed and ephemeral sources – which help to contextualise dominant themes covered by the visual sources, such as the international dimensions of the conflict, the Home Front and the role of women in the war.

The fourth module of The First World War portal is drawn from British, American and Canadian archives. It contains collections of correspondence, diaries, ephemera, posters, artwork, government records, photographs and museum artefacts that provide insights into the experiences and deployment of troops from around the world. It brings together personal collections and official papers to highlight the significant impact of the conflict on all corners of the world, far beyond the Western Front.

The primary sources focus on the global nature of the war, in and beyond the European theatres. The material covers the contribution of soldiers who took part from all corners of the world, including colonial territories, and documents events and battles that occurred internationally, in the Middle East, Africa and Russia. Sources from 1918 onwards also offer an insight into the peace negotiations, post-war relief work and regeneration in Europe.