IWM Blog

  • Dancers performing on stage
    Courtesy of Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries
    Blog: Arts and Culture

    The Mother of Tension: An IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund commission

    Guest author: Ruth Imeson, Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries, 24 October 2023
    Inspired by collections at Nottinghamshire Archives and Imperial War Museum, The Mother of Tension featured a group of talented young dancers from across the Midlands in a ground-breaking new Hip Hop dance theatre performance exploring themes of conflict through lived experiences. In this guest post, Ruth Imeson from Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries shares details of the historical collections that shaped the performance.
  • image: stylised depictions of two lions, one based on the coat of arms of Great Britain, the other based on the coat of arm of Ceylon. On the left, the British lion stand before a Union Flag; and on the right, the Ceylon lion wears a headdress, holds a knife in its paw, and stands before a Ceylon flag.
    © IWM Art.IWM PST 15957
    Blog: Second World War

    Framing Partnership by moving ‘Forward Together’: Ceylon in British Propaganda during the Second World War

    Guest authors: Nihara De Alwis and Lara Wijesuriya, 24 October 2023
    Britain’s entry into the Second World War in 1939 affected not only the island nation but also the many areas of the globe that formed its empire. In order to urge all her colonial subjects to contribute towards the war effort, colonial authorities used propaganda in the form of posters, films, and more. In this guest blog post, researchers Nihara De Alwis and Lara Wijesuriya share how posters were adapted and framed according to the colony and area in which they were to be used, to sell the ‘product’ of empire most successfully.
  • Survivors and their descendants at the Nowogrudek memorial, 1993
    Survivors and their descendants at the Nowogrudek memorial, 1993. Courtesy of the Kagan family
    Blog: Holocaust

    80 years on: the escape of Jack Kagan (BEM) during the Holocaust

    On 26 September 1943, 250 Jewish prisoners escaped from a tunnel that they had dug to escape the Novogrudok Ghetto and Labour Camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. 170 survivors of the escape went on to fight with Jewish partisans in the forests, made famous in the film Defiance. In this blog post, we share the story of one of the men who escaped that day - the late Jack Kagan BEM (born Idel Kagan in 1929).
  • USAF Bunker at Alconbury with items from the former runway
    Blog: Cold War

    Learning to Remember The Cold War

    Guest author: Dr Peter Robinson, Leeds Beckett University, 1 September 2023
    In recent years, there has been a remarkable surge in interest surrounding the preservation and exploration of Cold War heritage in the UK, the US, and Western Europe. Dr Peter Robinson of Leeds Beckett University shares details of a project to explore the curatorship and memory of Cold War heritage in both Eastern and Western Europe, focusing on visitor engagement and experience.
  • Historical Unit of Southern California members (Shelby second from left) representing the American Women's Army Corps
    Blog

    Historical Reenactment and Living History: a guide for teachers

    Guest author: Shelby Anderson , 29 August 2023
    Shelby Anderson is a 5th year social science teacher at Laguna Beach High School in California, USA, teaching U.S. History and Human Geography. Additionally, she serves as the Educational Outreach Coordinator Board of Directors for the Historical Unit of Southern California and represents the Women’s Army Corps when participating in living history activities. In this post, Shelby shares some of her advice on bringing history to life through engaging reenactors.
  • Advert for The Gold Kimono serial, 1930
    Blog: Literature

    Being Vigilant: Fighting the Red Shadow (1932), Spy Writers and Confronting the ‘Red Menace’ in Inter-War Britain

    Guest author: Dr Alan Burton, Brunel University, 22 August 2023
    Dr Alan Burton shares some of his research as part of the AHRC-funded 'Writers in Intelligence' project. The project focuses on writers of spy fiction who also served in the real world of espionage, and this post focuses on the inter-war years in Britain.
  • War Memorial at Athens War Museum, Taken by Author with Museum’s Permission in July 2023
    Blog

    Help From Afar: The Greek Contribution in the Korean War and How it Has Been Remembered

    Guest author: Konstantina Vardavoulia, IWM War Memorials Register Volunteer, 4 August 2023
    July 2023 marked 70 years since the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953, an armistice which ended direct hostilities between North Korea and South Korea. In this post, IWM War Memorials Register Volunteer Konstantina Vardavoulia reflects on the Greek involvement in the conflict, and how it is remembered today.
  • Russian soldiers in uniform walking away from the camera, some glancing in the direction of the photographer
    © IWM (4071_90_0027)
    Blog: Photography

    One millionth photo digitised as part of the Digital Futures

    Margaret Weller, Head of Visual Resources and Michelle Kirby, Curator, 3 August 2023
    IWM is celebrating the 1 millionth photograph digitised by its mass preservation project, Digital Futures.
  • USS TEXAS at Brooklyn Navy Yard, during the First World War
    © IWM Q 20267
    Blog: Second World War

    (Re)Lighting the Torch: Commemorating USS Texas’s role in the North African Landings

    Guest author: Professor Jonathan Rayner, 25 July 2023
    The museum ship USS Texas is unique: not a word to use lightly, but appropriate in this case, as the first US Navy battleship to be gifted to her namesake state, the last dreadnought left anywhere in the world, and perhaps the only extant ship which served in both World Wars, and in both Atlantic and Pacific theatres in the Second World War. Professor Jonathan Rayner, from the School of English at the University of Sheffield, shares details of how a new online exhibition tells the story of USS Texas in Operation ‘Torch’, the Allied invasion of French North Africa in the autumn of 1942.
  • From War to Windrush 75 - image
    © Alamy
    Blog: Second World War

    The Rise of the Windrush Narrative

    Guest author: Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future and author of How To Be A Patriot, 22 June 2023
    No account of the history of post-war migration and the making of modern Britain would today omit the Windrush.  Yet that was not always the case, writes Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future.
  • From War to Windrush 75 - image
    © Alamy
    Blog

    Why the Windrush still matters today

    Guest author: Steve Ballinger, British Future, 30 May 2023
    22 June 2023 sees the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush arriving in the UK, with over 800 men and women from the Caribbean responding to Britain's call for more workers. But what does the Windrush mean to the public today? Steve Ballinger from British Future shares his reflections, and details of a recent study on public attitudes to Windrush.

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