The National Archives and the British Library are creating a computer
catalogue of Home Front experiences which will be available on the A2A
database at www.a2a.org.uk. The press release below gives the details.
If you would like further information or you would like to interview
someone please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes,
Siobhan Wakely
Press and Publicity Officer
The National Archives
020 83925277
Embargoed until 00.01, 31 May 2004
Press Release
25 May 2004
D-DAY DOCUMENTS FROM THE HOME FRONT
"By the spring of 1944, in Britain, one had to be an idiot not to know
something 'big' was going to happen - soon"
A 12-year old boy's account of the Home Front preparations for D-Day is one
of a collection of documents about the Second World War which will form an
online catalogue - thanks to a new project to be delivered by The National
Archives at Kew, west London.
The Second World War Experience Centre in Leeds is working with Access to
Archives (A2A), an initiative led by The National Archives and the British
Library, to create a computer catalogue of its Home Front collection which
will be available on the A2A database at www.a2a.org.uk. The catalogue
will allow archive users to search the collection at home before viewing
the documents at the Second World War Experience Centre. Some extracts
from letters and diaries, audio clips from recorded interviews and
photographs will also be available online.
Other original documentation in the collection includes the memoirs of
Keith Nurse, an ordinary man from Kent whose experience as a 7-year old in
north Wales in 1944 inspired him to research billeting to the area. He
describes the day that the four billeted US soldiers left his family home
in north Wales for the Normandy beaches:
"Then, when the time came, our four Yanks suddenly disappeared, almost
without trace or warning, in the middle of the night - bunks and all....
Deep down we feared the worst."
George Kieffer, Chairman of the Trustees of the Second World War Experience
Centre, said
"Five years spent gathering the memories and memorabilia of those who have
first hand experience of the Second World War has resulted in donations of
material from over 5000 individuals. A Heritage Lottery Fund grant will
soon allow us to take an all-important step forward in making this material
accessible to everyone. The timing could not be better - 2004, when we are
commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day."
Louise Craven, A2A Programme Manager at The National Archives in Kew,
said "We are delighted that yet another fantastic project will be available
on the Access to Archives (A2A) database. This free service is an
invaluable tool for new and experienced archive users to track hundreds of
archives from the comfort of their own home."
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