In this excellent post, our 2022 summer intern Alice Wilson shares a thoughtful account of her ephemera research journey from an obscure First World War object to investigating newspaper coverage of the Falklands War 40th anniversary.
I imagine the title of this blog post has you visualising adventurous archaeological expeditions; stumbling over a hidden and priceless treasure from the trenches that will be added to a museum collection, and add to the glory of those that discovered it and added it to the historical memory of warfare… well, not exactly. However, the excitement and discovery described above during the research process for my internship has certainly increased my understanding of what ephemera is, and how it is studied, quantified, and presented, within the modern age.
Applying for the internship did resemble an intriguing dig into the past, as I was asked to submit a creative response to a small, wooden trinket as part of the application process. This item, a memento brought back to Britain by a British officer who had been a Prisoner of War in Russia (held in the Imperial War Museum), was one which most likely, most people would not consider a traditional surviving item of the Great War. As I explored the item, discovered locations, dates, names, and strung together my recollection of world history during this particular period, I was able to gather valuable information about the item and to enact my own creative license upon the little carved box in the original photograph. I envisioned a soldier, incarcerated within a Prisoner of War camp. And outside the high walls, the Russian Revolution was afoot, and the names of political renegades and their powerful words, being shouted in unison… although vague and most likely horribly historically inaccurate upon my part, I was able to utilise the skills of many writers who write historical fiction about war. Not all of my internship brief was creative, however, and I also needed to apply academic research methods to the larger project I was to be a part of.
Tackling the Falklands War
Although the word ‘war’ can evoke different conflicts to different people, certain wars are often not a headlining national memory, and only recollected by a select few communities that were directly affected by it. Most notably, in Britain this is the case with the Falklands War. The conflict was short and before my time, and I possessed limited knowledge as to the events that created armed tension between Britain and Argentina (I also have family links to the ports where the Royal Navy disembarked from as war was declared). Yet, despite Britain’s perennial commemorative motto ‘lest we forget’, we seem to have largely forgotten the Falklands – at least, across mainstream media outlets. The sentiment of eternal recollection of those fallen in combat appears largely and understandably to apply the two world wars, yet generations of veterans from modern conflicts are not treated with the same level of respect or memorialisation by the largest newspapers within the United Kingdom.
My research began by reading up on the Falklands, selecting books from the university library and sharing my findings for future reference. Then, I was trawling through hundreds of online articles from selected media sources, using key words, names, or politicians involved in the Falklands. Alas, the research demonstrated little interest of the upcoming 40th anniversary of the conflict. I was surprised by the paradox of the chorus of ‘we shall remember them’, which usually echoes around Britain when discussing military personnel, as it seems we simultaneously recall only certain wars, and forgot others. Research was a team effort between myself, another intern, and guidance from the internship programme leaders, discussing ideas, our results, and feeling largely that we had failed to find any newspaper giant that would recognise the anniversary of the Falklands War as worthy of news coverage.
Turning from national to local news
However, our perceived failure was to metaphorically close a door, and open a window; the joy of this internship, was our ability to think outside of the box, consider other resources and explore the new avenues. Research had purely consisted of four newspapers that dominate British media, and we had not considered the smaller, much more local newspapers of different locations. As the South-East coast is a hub of Royal Navy activity, it was suggested we look to Hampshire Live, local Portsmouth and Southampton news outlets, and other areas such as Havant, Plymouth, and the isles. Success was our reward, as the South-East’s collective memorialisation of the Falklands War was staggeringly obvious and welcomed. The information we turned over was vast: ranging from obituaries, local community remembrance events, interviews of veterans and their families, ephemera consisting of never-before-seen photographs and war journalists’ accounts, to stories of LGBTQ Navy servicemen and women.
What was my take-away from all this?
Each story we uncovered demonstrated an enduring determination of the human spirit and acknowledgement of societal issues, progressions, and lasting experiences. The research methods we adopted demonstrated creative thinking and critical analysis as essential, and as we considered options previously overlooked, it revealed a deeper recollection than any textbook could provide. Local newspapers as war ephemera can be easily overlooked but are a treasure trove of documenting how war is being remembered then, and how it being recollected now, by other generations.