NEWS

A digital archive of the Welsh Experience of the First World War developed by the National Library of Wales has been nominated for a prestigious international digital humanities award.

Cymru1914.org was launched in November 2013. It brings together a freely accessible digital collection of archives and special collections of Wales that relate to the impact of the First World War in Wales: tribunal records, archives of the Welsh Army Corps established by Lloyd George, and the manuscripts of the Welsh War poets, including Hedd Wynn and David Jones are all part of the collection of 220,000 digital items, much of it relating to the unseen histories of the War.

It has been nominated for The Digital Humanities Award for “best use of Digital Humanities for Public Engagement”. The Digital Humanities awards are an international initiative to recognize excellence in the digital humanities. The nomination of Cymru1914.org acknowledges its use by a wide audience, and its re-use for commemoration and education. Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library of Wales, Dr. Aled Gruffydd Jones, said “We are delighted at this nomination, which recognizes the community engagement aspects of this important collaboration especially in the provision of content by communities and local organisations. This is especially gratifying for the National Library, as our new strategy, Knowledge for All, emphasizes community engagement around documentary heritage”.

Project Director, Professor Lorna Hughes (now at the School of Advanced Study, University of London) said: “Since its launch, Cymru1914.org has been used extensively for research, teaching, and public engagement, and this nomination recognizes this impact. Images of unknown conscripts and recruits from the digital archive were part of artist Bedwyr Williams sound and video installation Traw, presented at the site of the North Wales Memorial Arch, Bangor in August 2014. The digital archive is also helping schoolchildren in Wales to develop digital skills and literacy in the Wales at War project (walesatwar.org)”.

The digital collection was developed thanks to a £500,000 grant from Jisc, the UK funder of digital infrastructure and resources, and by Welsh Government funding. The project was led by the National Library of Wales in collaboration with Swansea University, Cardiff University, Bangor University, Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St Davids, the local archives of Conwy, Flintshire, Glamorgan, and Gwent, BBC Cymru Wales Archive and community content developed with The People’s Collection Wales

The award also acknowledges the hard work put in by many people in developing the resource: staff at the partner organisation, and the collections, systems and IT staff at NLW. Thanks to their input, the resource was delivered on time and within budget.

Voting for the Digital Humanities awards closes on February 28^th. Vote at

http://dhawards.org/dhawards2014/voting/