Perth & Kinross Remembers: new heritage project will create First World War legacy collection

Culture Perth & Kinross has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £32,500 for a new heritage project, Perth & Kinross Remembers. 

The project will collect, conserve, catalogue, and make accessible the wide variety of outputs from First World War memorialisation projects which have taken place in Perth and Kinross from 2014 to date.

During this time, Perth and Kinross Archive and the Local and Family History Department at the AK Bell Library in Perth have supported around thirty community projects which have collectively documented the lives of thousands of local soldiers, the communities which they came from and the contributions which they made to the war.

Remembering the First World War

These projects have produced a variety of outputs including research, publications, art work, film and sound recordings, digital and original collections of First World War records - also, records of the commemorative events themselves, such as posters, booklets, orders of service and photos.

To ensure its safe-keeping, Culture Perth & Kinross will bring all this material together into a Legacy Collection that will be permanently preserved in Perth and Kinross Archive, and made available for researchers in the future.

The funding will allow Culture Perth & Kinross to employ a project officer for twelve months who will work closely with contributing groups to sort and arrange their collections prior to deposit, and then to catalogue the collections with the help of volunteers.

How to get involved

A varied programme of events will run throughout the year, celebrating the achievements of local memorialisation groups and sharing information about Perth & Kinross’ First World War heritage. There will be opportunities for local people, schools and groups to get involved through volunteering, hosting talks and displays, and contributing their own stories and collections. 

The project has also received partnership funding from three local organisations, the Friends of Perth & Kinross Archive, Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust and Perth Common Good Fund.

A lasting legacy

Commenting on the award, Ishbel Mackinnon, Senior Officer for Archives and Local & Family History, said: “We are thrilled to have received this support thanks to National Lottery players and our local funders, and are confident that the project will allow Culture Perth & Kinross to create a lasting legacy with befits the incredible work undertaken by memorialisation groups in honouring the memories of many thousands of local people who lost their lives in the Great War. 

I would urge anyone who has undertaken a memorialisation project – however modest it may be – to please get in touch so that we can add your work to the Legacy Collection. Should any families have their own treasured personal collections of First World War memorabilia please do also let us know, as we will be holding digitisation days where we will digitise letters, photographs and other papers so that they can be more widely shared with family, friends and researchers. We can also offer these valuable collections a permanent home in the archive, for safekeeping”.

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(images copyright Culture Perth & Kinross)