Report to The Pilgrim Trust on progress made in preparing
Imperial War Museums’ war memorials data to support
events marking the centenary of the First World War
February 2013
Imperial War Museums
Project Report - summary
Following a generous grant from The Pilgrim Trust in April 2012, we are delighted to be able to report that the
two posts funded by the grant have enabled IWM to make significant inroads into the backlog of data held at
IWM’s War Memorials Archive (formerly the UK National Inventory of War Memorials).
As intended, the Assistants focused on priority records: older data and data that relates to geographical areas
with fewer inputted records. The following pages provide more detail on the vital work undertaken by the post
holders, Mike Gordon and Ashley Garber, during the second half of the funding period and complement the
interim report provided in November 2012. The project’s overall achievements can be summarised as follows:
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During the period of funding over 14,000 records were processed and catalogued. This breaks down
into over 6,000 records edited or catalogued and over 7,000 records processed into the system. During
the funding period 95 per cent of the backlog of records to be processed was cleared and
approximately 57 per cent of these records catalogued.
Two members of staff were trained to cataloguing competency;
Improved data standards on First World War-related memorials;
Enabled IWM to deal more effectively and more efficiently with public enquiries;
Provided extra support and assistance to the office and fieldworker volunteer teams.
Whilst the contributions of Mike and Ashley have been invaluable, IWM still has much to do to ensure that our
war memorials data is ready for the centenary. The museum has begun transferring the data onto our Adlib
database which will provide greater interoperability and support centenary-inspired projects. It is hoped that
this will include our exciting ‘Lives of The First World War Project’, an ambitious initiative which will create a
permanent digital memorial to those who fought and died during the conflict and encourage individuals from
throughout the UK to engage in First World War-related research.
The integrity of IWM’s war memorials data is therefore of considerable importance, not only because of the
need to present historical accuracy but also because of the central role this information will play in
commemorating the centenary of the First World War. For this reason, following IWM’s concerns about the
unmediated editing of data, it was decided that in the interests of compiling and protecting the national register
which is under the museum’s care, IWM would withdraw from War Memorials Online – a project partnership
with War Memorials Trust.
IWM is committed to creating a sustainable, accessible and historically accurate online database of UK war
memorials, and the museum is very grateful for the support provided by the Pilgrim Trust as we prepare to
commemorate the centenary of the First World War.
Page 2
Imperial War Museums
Project Report - summary
Month 3 (Oct 13-Nov12) - Month 6 (beg Jan 13th)1: The target cataloguing competency has been reached
and both Mike and Ashley are cataloguing live records, with periodic checks.
We are now up to work in progress for the processing of information. This means that information has been
sorted and filed in the relevant part of the cataloguing system and is ready for full or complex cataloguing. Both
Assistants are fully competent in processing information and in cataloguing, and for the period NovemberJanuary they have:
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Carried out complex cataloguing (priority records: ’red dots’2)
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Assisted volunteers with cataloguing
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Responded to enquiries
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Carried out centenary related data standards cataloguing projects. Most recently, these include
standardising the terminology in all Battlefield Cross3 records to data standards. 142 Battlefield Cross
memorial records have been completed to date, out of 531 known Crosses or Markers. It also includes
cross referencing the collection of postcards of First World memorials (Carter Postcard Collection)4.
1,056 memorial records have now been updated with reference to the Carter Collection.
Summary of Processing Figures April 2012-January 2013 (table)
The table figures on page six show the number of records processed into the system as well as the quantity of
records catalogued and edited. They cover the period February 2012 to January 2013. I have broken down the
totals to show a comparison between the period February – July 2012 and August 2012 – January 2013, as
the latter period covers the Pilgrim Trust funded posts.
The figures for February-March 2012 need qualification as they present the processing activity of the two posts
seconded from HMS Belfast during this time, hence the higher processing figure. The reduced cataloguing
figures for November and December also need to be contextualised. These relate to the project focus on
sorting outstanding query records (the ‘red dots’), which are priority records which take longer to catalogue due
to their complexity (see the project summary below by Ashley Garber for details of this work). We also focused
on data standardisation work during the November-January period, so this would affect the figures for records
edited rather than records catalogued. With the anomalies taken into account, enormous progress can be seen
1
2
This summary follows on from the mid-project summary.
See Qualitative Summary in this document by Ashley and Mike
3
Battlefield Crosses are temporary grave markers which marked the graves of battlefield casualties until a more permanent memorial
could be erected. When a headstone was erected, the crosses were frequently acquired by family and friends or by visitors to the
battlefields and brought back to the UK to convert into memorials. They are most commonly made of wood, and as such are usually
fragile.
4
The Carter Postcard Collection is a reference collection, donated in the early 1990s, and it consists of c. 4,000 postcards depicting
war memorials. This figure is currently an estimate as we are making an exact quantification as we list them and relate the postcards to
war memorial records. 86 of the postcards depict Boer War memorials, with the remainder showing First World War memorials. The
latter cards date to c. 1920-1930. The Carter Collection is a very useful resource as the postcards can show war memorials during
unveiling ceremonies or shortly afterwards; inscriptions; original features (e.g. railings); and original locations. They are also of interest
because they show war memorials before the addition of Second World War features. Relating the postcards to the war memorial
records will mean that the information that they hold can be referred to and the profile of the collection is raised.
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Imperial War Museums
Project Report - summary
by the processing figures table. This table shows a dramatic increase in productivity across all aspects of our
processing and cataloguing work.
Qualitative Summary: Mike Gordon and Ashley Garber give details of the work they have carried out as
part of this project
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Assisting with public enquiries (Mike Gordon)
63414 Drighlington - WW1 and WW2 Cross:
http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.63414/fromUkniwmSearch/1
There was a lot of information submitted for this detailed record, and I corresponded with the enquirer by post,
email and phone. This is an example of a community project where a Council, Royal British Legion (RBL) and
the public sought to restore a weathered memorial in advance of the centenary. The communication between
myself and the RBL member ensured that the record was documented to its full potential and this has assisted
in bringing attention to the memorial.
Registering an artefact as a memorial:
Ian Hughes, Chairman of The War Office Locomotive Trust, requested guidance for recognising a narrow
gauge steam locomotive in their collection as a war memorial. It was built in Leeds in 1916 to the specification
and order of the British War Department for use on the light railways supporting the trenches of the British
sectors of the Western Front. Most parts of the loco retain the WD stamp and there is a photograph in the IWM
collection of it in France in 1917. I worked with office volunteer Richard Graham to research the answer for
this, providing examples of artefacts that we have registered as memorials, and showing that a ceremony and
plaque was required for this to qualify as a war memorial. The Locomotive Trust is now considering the options
and will notify us when it has been decided what action to take.
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Assisting volunteers with cataloguing (Mike Gordon)
David Kerney (First World War memorial names inputting volunteer) encountered difficulties with a record that
was a combination of one Cross and three Rolls of Honour at the same Church, so names were being
duplicated between the different memorials. The original record (20841) was used solely for the Cross, and
three new records were created for the three Rolls (63770, 63986, 63987). I made contact with the Vicar of the
Church, who sent us photos of the Rolls so that we could decipher the names lists in our records, which had
not been recorded very clearly.
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Sorting the ‘Red Dot’ records (Ashley Garber)
In order for us to catalogue a memorial, we need to have the location information, a description and at least
some of the inscription on file. When a submission is received that does not have all of these details, further
research must be conducted to determine whether we can find enough information to allow us to catalogue the
memorial to basic requirements. If not, the matter must be passed on as a query to one of our fieldworkers in
the area. These records comprise the ‘red dots’ as they are marked until resolved.
Red dots are often complicated cases that require unpicking. I have catalogued approximately 23 ‘Red Dot’
records since August. 8 further records have been given to volunteers for cataloguing, once I found the
information for them. I have also added at least 11 queries to our lists for fieldworkers to investigate. Two
examples of successfully resolved ‘red dots’ are:
 63773 (Confusion: Unclear if it qualified as a war memorial due to confusing inscription)
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63545 (Confusion: Memorial moved from multiple locations over the years)
Imperial War Museums

Project Report - summary
Working with volunteers (Ashley Garber)
The Lincolnshire memorials project:
 Project details: In the course of processing the back log of records awaiting processing, it was
discovered that some outstanding RAI (Records Awaiting Inputting) remain from some of our most
prolific fieldworkers. Accordingly, Charles Anderson, our Lincolnshire volunteer fieldworker, supplied us
with a spreadsheet of his outstanding submissions and I undertook to locate each in order to prioritise
their cataloguing.
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Process: Working in chronological order from the oldest submission, I conducted a search of the
database and reviewed any records that appeared similar to those referenced by our fieldworker. For
those cases which were not recorded on the database, I conducted a thorough review of our Records
Awaiting Inputting, email system, computer files and post submissions to locate the information. This
information was then collated and prepared for cataloguing. I kept detailed notes on all of my findings in
order to keep Charles updated, and I corresponded with him with queries when the need arose.
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Progress: The list contained over 500 entries of outstanding submissions. As of 23 January I have
reviewed 139 of these entries using the process described above and 80 appear on the database. A
standardised methodology for addressing the remaining entries has been developed, ensuring that the
entire review will continue to be conducted systematically.
Page 5
Month
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
TOTAL
Total Feb 2012July 2012
Total Aug 2012Jan 2013
email records processed into Email enquiries processed into
the system
the system
139
53
460
44
37
54
79
79
64
36
8
25
542
123
1042
102
888
73
620
94
253
41
387
67
3920
694
Records sorted into the
system
34
44
31
26
25
72
71
72
733
1124
701
728
3661
Records
Records
catalogued edited
147
682
202
783
128
614
180
720
95
359
185
523
135
886
194
1036
166
1001
57
1339
57
453
154
1098
1553
9494
787
291
232
937
3681
TOTAL records processed
and catalogued
Total for Feb 2012-July
2012
3732
500
3429
763
5813
Total for Aug 2012-Jan 2013
TOTALS
19322
5928
14237
Feb 2012-July 2012
Processed into the system
1310
Aug 2012-Jan 2013
Processed into the system
7661
Feb 2012-July 2012 Edited
and catalogued
Aug 2012-Jan 2013 Edited
and catalogued
4618
6576