IWM Blog

  • Members of the WVS serve tea to crews in the aftermath of an air raid in London, 1941.
    © IWM D 2168
    Blog

    Rethinking Wartime Citizenship through the Women’s Voluntary Services

    Guest author: Dr Charlotte Tomlinson, 28 February 2023
    During the Second World War, the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) played a key role in supporting the war effort in Britain by running communal kitchens, providing first aid, distributing gas masks, caring for evacuees, and driving mobile canteens. However, despite their size and importance to Britain’s ‘home front’, historians have rarely talked in-depth about the WVS. Dr Charlotte Tomlinson, historian of gender and citizenship in Second World War Britain and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Lincoln, shares her research into the WVS, and her reflections on rethinking wartime citizenship.
  • Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Mottram, being interviewed by ITN in the aftermath of Operation Motorman, carried out on 31 July 1972
    IWM
    Blog: Film

    Reporting and remembering the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland

    Ella Roberts , 2 December 2022
    CDP student Ella Roberts discusses how the BBC played a key role in reporting the events of the Trouble to audiences in Northern Ireland, Britain and beyond.
  • Projection of First World War soldiers on the walls of Folkestone train station
    Courtesy of Gateways, University of Kent
    Blog: Arts and Culture

    Walking With Ghosts

    Lula Rappoport, IWM Communications and Marketing Officer, 29 November 2022
    A little over two weeks ago, on 11 November 2022, the first IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund commission from a War and Conflict Subject Specialist Network (SSN) member launched. This commission was Walking With Ghosts, created in partnership with The Gateways Partnership, based in the Schools of Arts and History at The University of Kent. Lula Rappoport, Communications and Marketing Officer at IWM, shares her experiences of the commission.
  • Andy Nicholson at Eastriggs MOD, next to a concrete pillbox from the Second World War
    Courtesy of Rosie Shackleton
    Blog: Home Front

    Scottish Archaeology Month and Beyond

    Guest author: Rosie Shackleton, 31 October 2022
    Throughout September, Archaeology Scotland organises the yearly Scottish Archaeology Month (SAM) to showcase the richness and range of archaeological sites across Scotland. As part of the IWM Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme (SWWHPP), the theme ‘Landscapes of War’ emerged to look deeper into the lasting effects of WW2 on the Scottish landscape and through this its people. Rosie Shackleton, SWWHPP Digital Intern at Industrial Museums Scotland, shares her experiences.
  • A map of divided postwar Germany depicting the position of Berlin within the Easter zone, displayed at IWM, London in the Peace & Security gallery
    Courtesy of Jessica Douthwaite
    Blog: Cold War

    Viewing museum objects through a Cold War lens – eye-opening possibilities

    Guest author: Dr Jessica Douthwaite, 10 October 2022
    In museums, Cold War history is often hidden in plain sight. Coupled with the false but detrimental view by visitors themselves that they know very little about the Cold War, the camouflaged character of this historical topic is both a museological challenge and an opportunity. Dr Jessica Douthwaite, Postdoctoral-Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, discusses how the collaborative project Materialising the Cold War addresses these issues.
  • Fiver young boys stand in their house with musical instruments
    IWM
    Blog: Film

    Deadline Video Letter: the transformative force of music and friendship

    Michelle Kirby, 8 August 2022
    IWM Film Curator Michelle Kirby reflects on one of the most memorable films produced by United Nations Television in the mid-1990s, that uncovers the transformative force of music and friendship. She reveals how a single email, serendipitously received from someone who originally appeared in the film over 25 years ago, has deepened her understanding of this powerful footage.
  • A screenshot of UNTV video: UNT 414. It shows children sat on a low wall with the caption "we don't talk about any kind of war themes".
    IWM
    Blog: Bosnia

    United Nations Television in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina: Reflections from Peace and Conflict Studies

    Dr Catherine Baker, 27 July 2022
    Dr Catherine Baker explores the UNTV project from Peace and Conflict Studies.
  • Blog: Bosnia

    Reflections on UNTV

    Roy Head, former Head of UNTV (1994-96), 27 July 2022
    Roy Head reflects on his time as the former head of UNTV.
  • An image of the corner of the Forced to Flee exhibition with a screen on the walling showing clips of the UNTV archive
    Blog: Bosnia

    The Choices Made for the IWM’s Forced to Flee Exhibition and the Use of First-Person Accounts

    Simon Offord, 27 July 2022
    IWM Curator Simon Offord reflects on IWM’s Forced to Flee Exhibition and the use of first-person accounts.
  • Map of the Falkland Islands, with land masses in white and the sea in blue
    © IWM FKD 2306 Map of the Falkland Islands
    Blog

    D-Day in the Falklands

    John Beales, 23 May 2022
    What was it like for British troops involved in the seaborne landings to retake the Falklands Islands? John Beales, an AHRC funded PhD researcher at Keele University and IWM, shares some of his research.
  • A composite graphic featuring various artworks, used as the promotional image used for the ‘Art Produced During Times of Conflict’ event
    © IWM
    Blog

    Reflecting on my time as a Partnerships assistant at IWM

    Oliver Scurrah, 28 April 2022
    Partnerships Assistant Oliver Scurrah reflects on his time at IWM.
  • © IWM COL 168 Grenadiers march past a Russian church on the Eastern Front, probably Spring 1942. Photograph taken by German Kriegsberichter (War Correspondents) of a Propagandakompanie (Propaganda Company) and published in 1942 for the OKW (German Forces High Command) by Förster und Borries in Zwickau, Germany.
    © IWM COL 168
    Blog

    Victory Through Faith – the Political Activation of the Wehrmacht

    Guest author: Katherine Quinlan-Flatter, 29 March 2022
    As the tide of the Second World War changed decisively against Nazi Germany, the Reich Propaganda Ministry and the military believed that the war could still be won if the ultimate weapon was deployed – the fanatical belief in the ideology of the Third Reich. German researcher and journalist Katherine Quinlan-Flatter shares insights from her research into this secret scheme.

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