Film screening of ’66 Men of Grandpont 1914-18′, Brasenose College, 22 November, 5:30pm – 6:30pm

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Tuesday 22 November, 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Brasenose College, Lecture Room XI

Free screening of ’66 Men of Grandpont 1914-18′, a 40-minute documentary film produced as part of an innovative community history project commemorating the 66 men named on the First World War memorial in St Matthew’s Church in Grandpont, South Oxford. The film outlines men’s experiences at the front and explores the impact of the First World War on one small and ordinary suburban community. It also describes Oxford during the period and emphasises the links between local and international history.

“Terrific; a very powerful piece of local history and some remarkable stories.”
Tom Buchanan, Professor of Modern British and European History, University of Oxford, May 2016

For more information on the project see:
http://www.southoxford.org/local-history-in-south-oxford/66-men-of-grandpont-1914-18

Watch a trailer of the film here:
https://vimeo.com/182242782

An exhibition about the 66 Men of Grandpont continues in the Cathedral at Christ Church until 25 November.

New article: ‘Frederick Coates: First World War Facial Architect’

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‘Frederick Coates: First World War Facial Architect’ by Dr. Marjorie Gehrhardt and Dr Suzanne Steele has just been published online in the Journal of War & Culture Studies. It will appear in print in January 2017.

The role of artists in the First World War is often understood only in terms of their artistic response to the conflict in paint, music, or sculpture. In fact, artists’ contributions were also engaged at an applied level, for example in the areas of propaganda, camouflage, and map-making. Beyond this, a small number participated in repairing the damage caused by the conflict. Frederick Coates, a British-born sculptor who emigrated to Canada in 1913, enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and worked alongside surgeons and other artists to try and help give new features to facially injured combatants. Drawing upon unpublished photographs and scrapbooks, this article investigates Coates’s war experience and his contribution to the reconstruction of broken faces. Through a close examination of this ‘facial architect’, as Coates was called, this article gives an insight into the work performed in maxillofacial hospitals and underlines the importance of cross-national, multi-disciplinary collaboration.

The authors hope that the article will promote a far greater understanding of the artist’s engagement with the war effort beyond camouflage, map making, and other more conventional war artist roles, and will broaden the field from one that, until this research, has primarily focussed on Harold Gillies, Tonks, and Derwent Wood et al. The research has revealed networks of collaboration, influence, and convergence within the artistic and surgical operations during the Great War.

Graduate Scholarship on the United States and World War One

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One scholarship (2017-2020) is available for applicants who are ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland and who are applying to a D.Phil. in History, specialising in the United States and the First World War.

The scholarship will provide at least £18,000 per annum to cover course fees, college fees and a grant for living costs. Awards are made for the full duration of fee liability for the course. The scholarship is funded by the Rothermere American Institute (RAI) in association with the Faculty of History’s Globalising and Localising the Great War (GLGW) programme and Pembroke College, and is made possible thanks to a generous donation from the Rothermere Foundation.

The scholarship will be known as the Captain Hon. Harold Alfred Vyvyan St. George Harmsworth Graduate Scholarship on the United States and World War One.

The holder of the scholarship will be part of the RAI’s and GLGW’s community of scholars, working alongside leading academics and graduate students exploring various aspects of the United States in the early 20th century and the First World War.

We wish to encourage applications for proposed doctoral theses to be based in the History Faculty that focus on the United States and the genesis or implications of the First World War. The time period can encompass the long durée of 1900-1930.

Application – via University application form for graduate study by 12 noon UK time (midday) on Friday 20 January 2017

Advert: harmsworth-graduate-scholarship-advert-final

For more information on The RAI’s American History page, visit http://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/oxcrush
For more information on Pembroke College, visit http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/
For more information on the Faculty of History, visit http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/home
For more information on GLGW, visit http://greatwar.history.ox.ac.uk/
To apply, visit the University of Oxford Application Guide: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/applying-to-oxford/application-guide?wssl=1

Event: The Men who went to War, Sunday 20 November, 14.30-18.00

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The Men who went to War from the Parishes of St Margaret’s, St Giles’ and St Matthew’s, 1914-1919.

A free event will take place at the St Margaret’s Institute on Polstead Road in North Oxford this coming Sunday afternoon, 20th November, from 14.30-18.00, to commemorate the end of the Battle of the Somme.

Poster: the-men-who-went-to-war-poster

The event includes a showing of the 1916 film ‘The Battle of the Somme’ (with original score) plus exhibitions and short talks about three community history projects to do with WWI in Oxford. There will also be a showing the documentary film ’66 men of Grandpont 1914-18′.

For further information contact Liz Woolley, 01865 242760, liz@lizwoolley.co.uk

Please pass this information on to anyone else who you think might be interested.

Remembering a Democratic Legacy of the Great War in Interwar India

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A blog by Stephen Legg, Professor of Historical Geography, University of Nottingham, has been published on the Imperial and Global Forum. The blog is based upon his article, ‘Dyarchy’, which was recently published in the journal Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

In 2019, India will embark upon a uniquely postcolonial set of centenaries. During the Great War the Defence of India Act (1915) had given the Government of India exceptional powers to silence dissent and crush any nascent “terrorist” or “revolutionary” movement. So effective had the powers proven, against both radical and moderate nationalists, that there were many within the colonial state who sought their extension into peace time. The “Rowlatt” (Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes) Act of 1919 attempted this, and the resistance against the act was led by the ex-lawyer and future-Mahatma, Mr MK Gandhi. The centenary of the Rowlatt “Satyagraha” (the name for Gandhi’s non-violent, political “truth-force”, protest movement) will doubtless be commemorated by the Congress party and many others in India.

Full blog here.

CfP: WWI and its Immediate Aftermath: The Tenth Blount Postal History Symposium

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November 1-2, 2018
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Washington DC

Theme of the Symposium: WWI and its Immediate Aftermath
Sponsored by
the American Philatelic Society,
the American Philatelic Research Library,
and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum

On Monday, November 11, 1918, World War I came to an end. Wrought from militarism, nationalism and imperialism, the Great War broke empires, challenged established gender and race relations, and destroyed millions of lives. Mail became the critical link for the families separated and desperate for news. Governments responded to these developments and the disruption of communication networks, and struggled to determine who should be able to communicate with whom and about what.

Deadlines for proposals:
One-page proposal and CV due June 15, 2017. In addition to a one-page proposal, each individual should submit a one-page curriculum vitae with contact information (e-mail, phone, address).

Send proposals or questions to: NPMResearchChair@si.edu

Notification of acceptance will be mailed on or about August 1, 2017.

Papers due by September 1, 2018. Accepted proposals must result in papers of 4500-5500 words, including bibliographic material, citations, and image titles. The articles must be formatted according to the guidelines of the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. Images should be placed and discussed within the text and image permissions must be acquired. Writers will have the opportunity to revise their papers after the symposium and before the papers are considered for publication.

For more information on formatting and permissions, please see the call for papers for 2018 at http://postalmuseum.si.edu/research/symposiums-and-lectures/

Possible topics include:
Disruptions and shifts in mail transportation systems
Communication alternatives to the mail
Censorship of and by postal systems
War-saving and thrift-saving stamp programs
War propaganda and the mail
War-time supply issues (inks, papers, etc.)
Changing demographics and policies towards postal employees
Postal systems in occupied territories
Rise of airmail
Stamps of the new countries

South Oxford Remembrance Day event, Friday 11 November, 6-8pm

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Please come to an evening of music, poetry and film to commemorate the men from South Oxford who fought in the First World War, with poets Alan Buckley and Mark Wilkinson, musician Bruno Guastalla, and a showing of the 40-minute documentary film 66 Men of Grandpont 1914-18.

Friday 11 November, 6-8pm
South Oxford Community Centre, Lake Street, OX1 4RP

Free entry; all welcome

Doors open 6:00pm, refreshments available and an exhibition about the men from New Hinksey and South Oxford who went to fight.

Performance programme starts at 6:30pm

For more information contact:
enquiries@southoxford.org, 01865 242666
www.southoxford.org