Library receives grant to develop website on peace and war

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/WWI-poster.jpg” caption=”The website on Peace and War in the Twentieth Century will feature diaries, letters and photographs as well as recruiting posters, peace bulletins and popular songs. Photo courtesy of Kathy Garay.”]The Division of Archives and Research Collections at Mills Memorial Library has been awarded almost $100,000 to develop a state of the art website on Peace and War in the Twentieth Century. The grant was provided by the Canadian Memory Fund through the Department of Canadian Heritage's Canadian Culture Online Programme.

The project will take about 12 months to complete. Partnering with Special Collections at Hamilton Public Library and with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, visitors will be invited to this virtual environment to explore these two formative aspects of twentieth century culture.

The project will highlight McMaster's extensive and world-renowned archival collections, incorporate advice from the best subject experts in the field and utilize innovative digital technology.

Using unique and hitherto unpublished materials, the site will tell the compelling story of how the contrary impulses of peace and war have shaped our country and our world.

Organized into compact thematic modules, constructed to appeal to a wide range of users, content presented in digital form will range from wrenchingly personal diaries, letters and photographs to the powerful public propaganda of recruiting posters, peace bulletins and popular songs.

With the addition of interactive features such as discussion forums, the website will provide a lively virtual space for a wide variety of users.

Kathy Garay and Carl Spadoni, who are heading the project, will be assisted by a number of library staff members as well as some additional contract employees.

For further information, please contact garay@mcmaster.ca or spadon@mcmaster.ca.