Films From The Front
Last updated: 10/07/2007 - 09:26
A new website: Films From The Home Front - featuring films of British life on the home front during the Second World War has been launched.
Screen Archive South East, at the University of Brighton, in partnership with six other English Regional Film Archives, is launching the site as part of a £225,000 film archive project which forms part of the Big Lottery Fund’s £10 million Their Past Your Future (TPYF) programme, and was created with funding distributed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
Pictured (left): 'Mine Camp' (1939-1945) Wessex Film and Sound Archive.
The site, ‘Films from the Home Front’, offers free public access to these selected films, the majority of which are being made available to the public for the very first time.
Lifelong Learning
This new lifelong learning resource is dedicated to giving people of all ages the opportunity to discover more about the impact of the Second World War and the immediate post-war period on everyday life. It offers a unique perspective on the lives of ordinary people in Britain on the home front as seen through amateur films and home movies and alongside more ‘official’ sources such as newsreels and government films.
Margaret Cooney Big Lottery Fund Deputy Director Policy and Partnerships said: "This last strand of funding will bring about a new and enhanced dimension to the way in which we view our recent history. The quality and accessibility of the new digitisation project will provide a highly effective tool for learning, both inside and out of the classroom, to help people of all ages to understand and recognise the importance of sacrifices that people made during the Second World War."
Pictured (right): 'Hunshelf Gunsite' (1940-1945) Yorkshire Film Archive.
Justin Cavernelis-Frost, the MLA’s Head of Archive Development, said: "This website connects us to our past and to our involvement in the Second World War. The MLA is pleased to have contributed to its creation and that these archives stand strongly alongside traditional educational resources."
The site is organised into major themes, which explore issues characterising life during the war. These include: Children in War-time, Civil Defence, Community Life, Displaced People, Home and Family Life, Women's Role on the Home Front and Victory Celebrations in 1945.
They explain how the films reveal many dramatic changes that took place in the country during this period. In addition, each of the archives has its own section on the site highlighting how the films fit into the story of their region during the Second World War. Films from the Home Front is part of the wider ‘Moving History’ website which presents other films from UK archives on all subjects and aspects of film history across the twentieth century.
Pictured (left): 'Start a Land Club' (1942), Screen Archive South East.
Over the last year all of these archives have researched and digitised significant World War Two films from their collections for integration into this new online historical resource:
Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. Established in 1992 at the University of Brighton as the South East Film & Video Archive, the function of this regional screen archive is to locate, collect, preserve, provide access to and promote screen material related to the South East and of general relevance to screen history.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) works with the nine regional agencies in the MLA Partnership to improve people’s lives by building knowledge, supporting learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. The Partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the sector and the public, leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future.
Veterans Reunited
In 2004 the Big Lottery fund launched its Veterans Reunited programme to provide funding to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the events leading up to the end of the Second World War. The programme comprised three different schemes: Heroes Return, Their Past Your Future, and Home Front Recall. Taken together, these three schemes helped ensure that all generations of UK residents commemorated the 60th anniversary together, both at home and abroad. £9.6 million was awarded to Their Past Your Future - a UK-wide schools and education scheme. The Big Lottery Fund worked closely with the Imperial War Museum, the museums, libraries and archives sector UK-wide, and local education authorities to help young people learn about the personal experiences and roles played by forces personnel and civilians.
‘Films from the Home Front’ can be visited at: www.movinghistory.ac.uk/homefront/
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