Digital First World War archive secures National Lottery grant

The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF) has been awarded £87,800 by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards a project to create a digital archive of First World War artefacts in collaboration with Oxford University. The UK-wide 'Lest We Forget: Keep Their Stories Alive' initiative will include public roadshows across the country where people can present objects stored in their bedrooms and attics to find out more about them and have them digitised for the archive. The project has received the funding through the Heritage Lottery Fund's 'First World War Then and Now' programme. The funding builds on donations raised through Oxford University's crowdfunding platform, OxReach. Dr Stuart Lee, Deputy CIO of IT Services at Oxford and a member of the Faculty of English, said: 'Lest We Forget began as an idea in 2017, building on ten years of successful projects around crowdsourcing First World War material. We want to support schools and local communities to run their own digital collection days to allow them to record those stories, objects and memories from the First World War that survive - not in museum collections or history books but in the hearts and homes of the very many families and individuals affected. 'After a successful crowdsourcing project we were able to launch the initial project in October 2017, and this collaboration with the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation will enable us grow even further as we approach the Armistice anniversary.' The CWGF is the charitable arm of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).