a WWI soldier from the collection of the Annan photographer Fred Gibbs
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As we approach the final year of commemorating the World War One centenary, a new “Records of War” project at Dumfries and Annan Museums has received £16,000 of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland.
Focussing on the legacy of World War One, “Records of War” will seek to explore what people considered important to remember at the time, what we now understand from their pictures and writing and what we think may be important in another 100 years.
Private Robert Jackson (1897-1918), a bobbin maker from Lockerbie. Jackson enlisted in 1916 and joined the King’s Own Scottish Borderers before serving in the 12th, 16th and then 2nd Highland Light Infantry Battalions. He was gassed in 1917 but returned to the front before being killed a year later.
Explaining the importance of the HLF support, the head of the HLF in Scotland, Lucy Casot, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already invested more than £15million in projects – large and small – that are marking this global Centenary; with our new small grants programme, we are enabling even more communities like those involved in ‘Records of War’ to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”
Councillor Andy Ferguson, Chairman of Communities, said; “We have been raising awareness of the impact of World War One on our local community and this project is a welcome addition to the commemorative events planned for the final year of the World War One centenary”.
Exhibitions focusing on First World War photography and letters are planned for Annan Museum in autumn 2017 and Dumfries Museum in winter 2018. For each exhibition the museums are asking for help from their local communities. Volunteers, school classes, young people’s groups and veterans can all be involved in creating elements for the exhibitions or on-line resource.
Councillor Stephen Thompson, Chairman of Annandale and Eskdale Area Committee said; “The Annan Museum exhibition, ‘Recording War’, 16 September – 31 October 2017, is inspired by a collection of photographs gathered by local photographer Fred Gibbs during his War service. Museum staff would like to hear from you if you have photographs or letters relating to World War One. These could be official press photographs, studio portraits or soldier photographs and Home Front amateur photographs, personal letters or postcards sent home or messages in photograph albums. The exhibition will consider how these different ways of communicating have influenced how people today view the experiences of people who were involved in World War One on the front line or home front. Photographs from the Museum archives and from the local community will be displayed.”
Councillor Thompson continues; “We are making a short film for the Annan Museum exhibition about some of the men who lived around Annan and who went to war 1914 – 1918. We are looking for 12 volunteers from the Annan area to read short voice-over scripts to accompany images relating to each of the men featured in the film. The scripts will be about their lives, their return home or where they died and will be written from different perspectives – the man himself, their son or daughter, wife, father or mother, so we are looking for a variety of voices and ages.”
