29th June 2015
During the Home of our Delight project we will be researching across a variety of both local and national archives including the Asquith archive held in Mells, the Munnings collection, Dedham, Lutyens letters held in the RIBA archive, alongside newly discovered material at Frome Museum and Somerset Heritage Centre.
The first phase is underway, with Mells archivist John D’Arcy collating all material which refers to the time period 1910 – 25. We are looking at this span in order to cover correspondence which leads up to war breaking out in 1914, and to follow through to the commissioning of the memorials which often did not reach fruition until the early 1920s. After an initial review of this material we will work with the Asquiths and other relevant families and archives to identify and agree a core number of documents to photograph and transcribe. These will focus on the experience at home rather than the details of the Front. Extracts from these will be made available to a wider public in 2016.
It is often said that it is a great pity we are no longer letter writers; we are certainly uncovering a fascinating amount of correspondence, sometimes daily, between home and the front. What is becoming very apparent though is the challenge of reading handwriting from a century ago, often written rapidly, and on whatever paper was to hand.
We are looking forward to training and working with a core number of skilled volunteers to transcribe approved documents. If you are interested in getting involved with this fascinating aspect of the project, please get in contact.
