We hosted a conference entirely on Twitter!
On 28 September 2018 we held out first Twitter conference, which included twenty-five papers from around the world. We are indebted to the Underpinnings Museum for the inspiration, and also for giving us some extremely useful advice. Thank you to everyone who gave a paper, asked a question, or just followed along!
Note: due to the large number of tweets on this page it often takes a few minutes for it to fully load.
WTOS Twitter Conference Format:
The conference starts at 0830BST.
We have 25 presenters who each have 20 mins to deliver 6-12 tweets within a single thread on their own Twitter accounts.
Our programme includes the Twitter handles for each presenter and their timeslot. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/KiBrMeBL7c
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
We began the day by giving an introductory paper that discussed what War Through Other Stuff actually refers to, which included introducing our new mission statement.
2| The WTOS Team is @LucieWhitmore (fashion & textiles), @laurasharrison (commemorations & memory), & @catbateson (songs & identity), @hannamsmyth (graves & memorials), @MarkB7612 (veterans & trauma) & @matilda_greig (books & writing) & @richmondbridge (gender & race) #WTOStc
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
4| As a society we've been working to refine our remit and goals. This is our current mission statement ⬇️, but we also want to adapt, evolve & respond to our network. We plan to refine this following the discussion today. #WTOStc pic.twitter.com/A04t5PO7hy
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
6| So what do we mean by 'other stuff'? We are interested in the way that war impacts society, culture and the environment around the globe, past, present and future; everything and anything that can be affected by war but is not strictly military. #WTOStc pic.twitter.com/FSjiy3fr3O
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
8| What are the benefits of looking ‘beyond the cannon’? Do the myriad definitions of ‘other stuff’ limit our ability to delineate what we learn about war, or is this our strength? We believe a variety of approaches enhances our understanding of war & its consequences. #WTOStc
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
10| Our hope for today is that the papers will help define the scope and possibilities of the WTOS approach. We will use the ensuing discussions to evaluate our role and feed into our future plans. #WTOStc
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
12| Our hope for WTOS is that it provides us with a better understanding of the ways in which war affects the non-military world, past, present and future. The papers today are great examples of this, ranging from medieval marsh-moss to contemporary medical research. #WTOStc
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 28, 2018
Our next paper was from Hattie Hearn, a first year PhD at the University of East Anglia, entitled ‘Painting Little America: The role of wall art at American air bases in East Anglia during the Second World War’
2 #WTOStc First, a bit of history. The US 8th Army Air Force was activated in January 1942 to carry out bombing raids over occupied Germany as part of the ‘Europe First’ strategy. The 'Mighty Eighth' would become the largest air combat organisation the world had ever seen. pic.twitter.com/1OMntVMNXI
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
3 #WTOStc East Anglia was chosen as the location for over 70 US airfields. The rural landscape was drastically altered. Land was recquisitioned, houses demolished & trees cut down. A typical base was built to a standardised design and divided between living & technical areas. pic.twitter.com/LDzJ6fgZUP
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc This expanse of concrete provided a canvas for individual and group expression. The art ranged from officially sanctioned murals in communal areas to small bedside doodlings. In most cases, art served as a way of claiming and defining an otherwise alien space. pic.twitter.com/RnyXuV3dvq
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Most of the wall art’s subject matter adhered to certain themes. Common subjects included quasi-historical images of ‘Merry Old England’. Paintings of Robin Hood & medieval knights reflected an idealised view of England that was largely informed by Hollywood. pic.twitter.com/XnZ7aRJAmp
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc While the excitement of being in England was evident in wall art, home was never far away. Personnel would often pinpoint their hometowns on large maps of the USA, while US culture was evoked in the reproduction of popular images, from Disney characters to cowboys. pic.twitter.com/cghi3BbAUr
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc In living quarters, wall art was unsanctioned and often took the form of personal graffiti, such as name and date inscriptions. The life expectancy of air crew was short (15 missions) and as a result, many felt the need to leave a tangible reminder of their existence. pic.twitter.com/D7g4oC4pKP
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
11 #WTOStc After the war, most airfield buildings (and their wall art) were destroyed. Despite this loss, the agency of the sites remains. Historian Sam Edwards believes these sites are ‘invested with the ghosts of memory', aided by the survival of 'artefacts of popular culture'. pic.twitter.com/d1vhgPa06c
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc So, what do we learn about war when we look at wall art? Where to start! The importance of common images & shared symbols in promoting group identity emerges, as does the desire for groups & individuals to carve out their own tangible space in a world of uncertainty.
— Hattie Hearn (@hattie_hearn) September 28, 2018
We then heard from Tim Peacock, a lecturer in History at the University of Glasgow. His paper was called ‘Toys & Troop Tins: Japanese Toymakers in the postwar American Occupation.’
2 #WTOStc #WW2 significantly affected Japan toy makers, whose businesses had thrived in 1920s/30s: mechanical toy factories converted to military production (sample clip); export markets closed; & turmoil/destruction of Conflict made raw materials scarce. https://t.co/lThQGHsDzd
— Tim Peacock (@DrTimPeacock) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc This raises questions: How to view an occupation's material/materiel culture? What is unforeseen impact reuse/refuse #materiel on natural, economic & social #environment (new/altered industries)? How far extension war scrap/recycling? #WW2 clip: https://t.co/mNRTae6Mbz
— Tim Peacock (@DrTimPeacock) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc While such toy jeeps popular & initially sold at 10 Yen, how did they reconceptualise legacies of conflict? How did children play with them? Assimilating dominant Occupation images (film), or, psychologically towering over toy-sized 'occupiers'? https://t.co/d2169VcGng
— Tim Peacock (@DrTimPeacock) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc American soldiers also appreciated the toy jeeps, a 1947 agreement allowing export & US sale (imprint “made in Occupied Japan”). How far did aesthetics shape such cultural impacts of commodity diplomacy? & later products? Clip of later toy jeep: https://t.co/PCC5jLQa5r
— Tim Peacock (@DrTimPeacock) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc When considering reuse US Occupation food tins as Japanese-made toy jeeps & exports, questions also raised about what ways other cases of small & large #materiel impact aspects ranging from local economies to children & diplomacy. Image tank destroyed Syrian Civil War. pic.twitter.com/ouxdE7Qkaf
— Tim Peacock (@DrTimPeacock) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Many thanks for reading & for @stuffofwar hosting a fascinating conference. Films @BritishPathe, sample clips Critical Past, #WW2 newsreel markdcatlin, & jessie brannan. Photos Public & <DK>, World Imaging, https://t.co/ceYdDWpgPF, & Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan.
— Tim Peacock (@DrTimPeacock) September 28, 2018
Next up was Rachel Caines, an MPhil candidate at the University of Adelaide. Her paper was entitled ‘Commemorating Indigenous Anzacs in Australia & New Zealand.’
2 #WTOStc For much of the past century, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers have been excluded from the Anzac Legend. This is despite the fact that approximately 1,100 Indigenous men enlisted during the #FWW, with at least 800 serving overseas in the AIF.
— Rachel Caines (@RachelBCaines) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc Indigenous soldiers returned home from the First World War to continued discrimination and oppression. Veterans were unable to drink with mates on Anzac Day, frequently turned away from marches or memorial services, and isolated from the mainstream, white Anzac Legend.
— Rachel Caines (@RachelBCaines) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc In the 1990s a growing awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history among Australians and a resurgence in support for Anzac Day and the role of the Anzac Legend saw increasing efforts to include Indigenous veterans in mainstream Anzac commemorations.
— Rachel Caines (@RachelBCaines) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Since the early 2000s, Indigenous veterans have participated in and led commemorative marches in Australian capital cities. Additionally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorials have been unveiled in most capital cities to recognise Indigenous service.
— Rachel Caines (@RachelBCaines) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOS Mainstream, explicit commemoration of Indigenous Australian soldiers remains limited, particularly when dealing with the First World War. However, recent Centenary commemorations have featured pamphlets, services, and exhibitions focusing on Indigenous service.
— Rachel Caines (@RachelBCaines) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc However, the growth of commemorative days and events for Indigenous veterans suggests that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers can be celebrated alongside non-Indigenous Australian soldiers in our national days of commemoration and our national identity.
— Rachel Caines (@RachelBCaines) September 28, 2018
The final speaker in our first session was Emma Butcher, a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the University of Leicester, who spoke on ‘A History of War Through Children’s Eyes’.
2 #WTOStc – Even in our current media, children in war zones are often silenced. Yet, more interviews are emerging where we hear directly from them. We are beginning to realise that *yes* children are victims, but they also possess agency and insight: https://t.co/FacOCZ9hPE
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc – It has been difficult finding authentic voices of children in the archives, but I want to share with you some of my favourite child voices, which are helping me map a new military history through children’s ‘stuff’
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Marjory Fleming – a child prodigy, died at 8yrs old. Her diary reflects upon the emotions and traumas of the Napoleonic Wars: ‘at this moment some noble Colnel[…]sinks to the ground without breath;& in convulsive pangs dies; a melancholy consideration (@nlsarchives) pic.twitter.com/SpJW2VpNOH
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Esther Betts – a teenage memoir of the Indian Uprising (1857). Filled with emotion, loss, and reflects on the cost of Britain’s empire building. Occasionally slips into fantasy, comparing her escape from Calcutta to the story of Noah’s Ark. (Held at @NAM_London) pic.twitter.com/EDoVFD1X88
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Iris Vaughan – Wrote a diary aged 7 during the 2nd Anglo-Boer War. Talks of the trauma of conflict, of hiding her family's possessions as Boers invade their home, and following her father after he has been taken hostage. pic.twitter.com/6q8thM7WoC
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc These letters, memoirs, portraits, fantasy worlds show that children are importance voices and agents in the history of war. We can learn new details about important battles/emotions relating to war through their ‘stuff’. We should listen to them. pic.twitter.com/e51UAfMS3i
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
Following a brief break to allow for questions, we welcomed Isobel Clarke, a PhD student at the Royal College of Music London. She spoke on ‘The contribution of European emigre musicians to the developing Early Music movement in the UK (1939-1973).’
2 #WTOStc Firstly, a quick explanation of what I mean by Early Music, or ‘HIP’ (historically informed performance). These terms are used to describe music from previous eras, performed in a historically informed or ‘inspired’ way.
— Isobel Clarke (@isobeljclarke) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc HIP remained a ‘fringe’ classical music movt until the mid C20th. 2 years ago, I was involved in a project @RCMLondon, called Singing a Song in a Foreign Land, which investigated the impact of WW2 émigrés on British musical life & culture: https://t.co/tepayjRWiF
— Isobel Clarke (@isobeljclarke) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Goehr (1903–1960) was a composer and conductor, who was headhunted for a job @bbcmusic as early as 1933. Interviewing his son, Alexander, about his father’s work, we learned that Goehr had also played a pioneering role in performances of 17th-c choral music. pic.twitter.com/42qY6o5m5E
— Isobel Clarke (@isobeljclarke) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc I was fascinated to realise what an impact #WW2 emigration had potentially had on UK HIP & started to research other figures. Walter Bergmann (1902–1988) was v different to Goehr, in that he came to the UK as an ‘amateur’. He later worked in publishing @SchottMusicLDN pic.twitter.com/6TcF3QRUwV
— Isobel Clarke (@isobeljclarke) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc These two musicians give us just a small insight into the huge influence of émigré musicians on the development of HIP / Early Music in the UK.
— Isobel Clarke (@isobeljclarke) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Thank you very much @stuffofwar for the opportunity to present this. Please do take a look at https://t.co/tepayjRWiF to find out more #RCMResearch
— Isobel Clarke (@isobeljclarke) September 28, 2018
Next up was Rhona Ramsay, a PhD student at the University of Stirling, whose paper looked at ‘War & its cultural impact on Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland.’
2 #WTOStc Occupations changed: ‘there was a demand in these times, just before the Second World War and after the 1914 war for [my father’s baskets and tinware]…[but] before the end of the Second World War my father buried all his tinmaking tools’ (Williamson 1994: 18-19). pic.twitter.com/1obACKIiR4
— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
3 (image) #WTOStc pic.twitter.com/0zm7FGpQRA
— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
5 #WTOStc Other changes came through restricted movement: ‘During the war years 1939-45 my father could not take us away for the summer months, because of the restrictions on camp fires at night. So we lived all year round in the barricade’ (Williamson 1994: 35).
— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
7 #WTOStc In 1946 Gypsy/Traveller families in Perthshire identified for assimilation were housed in huts, previously used for prisoners of war. This was supposed to provide a steppingstone to ‘normalised’ housing. pic.twitter.com/nXR4V4UEZ8
— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
9 #WTOStc These very significant changes to the way in which Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland were able to live their lives were, in multiple ways, linked to the war. They are in stark contrast to romanticised public opinion in which Gypsy/Travellers were timeless and unaffected.
— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
11 #WTOStc McPhee, S. (2015), Heroes…or Raj Hantle? Perth:Perth&Kinross Council
Taylor, B. (2013), A Minority and the State. Manchester:Manchester University
Whyte, B. (1979), The Yellow on the Broom. Edinburgh:Chambers
Williamson, D. (1994), The Horsieman. Edinburgh:Canongate pic.twitter.com/npN4JNx7mC— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc With many thanks to artist, Shamus McPhee, and to @HighlandFolk for permission to use images featured here. And thank you to @stuffofwar for organising this conference. Thank you for reading and looking forward to any questions
— Rhona Ramsay (@rhona_ramsay) September 28, 2018
We then heard from Tim Galsworthy, a first-year PhD student at Sussex University, who spoke about ‘Refighting the Battle of Gettysburg: Civil War memory, civil rights, and political rhetoric.’
2 #WTOStc The importance of the July 1863 battle, combined with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of November 1863, affords Gettysburg an incredible degree of magnitude in American consciousness. Thus, the battlefield has become a key site for political battles over America's future pic.twitter.com/WgoprlfmuP
— Tim Galsworthy (@TimGalsworthy) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc My own research focuses on Civil War memory in the long civil rights era. Therefore, I am particularly interested in exploring how politicians of differing stripes used the space and memory of Gettysburg to intervene in debates over racial inequality in the 1960s
— Tim Galsworthy (@TimGalsworthy) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc LBJ stated: “One hundred years ago, the slave was freed. One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the colour of his skin. The Negro today asks justice…we do not answer those who lie beneath this soil when we reply to the Negro by asking, ‘Patience.’” pic.twitter.com/y7nomCfokh
— Tim Galsworthy (@TimGalsworthy) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Scranton declared: “We are come [to Gettysburg] to find increased devotion for the unfinished cause of human freedom. We are come to take comfort in the victories of the past because we know that for liberty there lie fierce battles in the future” pic.twitter.com/vkE3WMCr51
— Tim Galsworthy (@TimGalsworthy) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Wallace proclaimed, “the descendants of both sides of the Civil War will soon be united in a common fight to end the growing power of a central government”, employing a reconciliatory narrative to champion united (white) antagonism to civil rights pic.twitter.com/PfZPpjI16q
— Tim Galsworthy (@TimGalsworthy) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc My paper underscores how studying Civil War memory, and non-traditional narratives of war more generally, illuminates various contours of politics, race, and society in America. In the United States, the past is far from being a “foreign country.”
Thank you
— Tim Galsworthy (@TimGalsworthy) September 28, 2018
It was then Rachel Pistol’s turn, who is a research associate at Kings College London. Her paper was entitled ‘WW2 internment art in Great Britain.’
2 #WTOStc Fearful for their future and stuck behind barbed wire the internees did what they could to improve their situation. Most were taken to transit camps on the UK mainland before travelling to the Isle of Man. Conditions in camp varied greatly.
— Dr Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc The largest transit camp was Huyton, an unfinished housing estate in Liverpool. Hugo Dachinger painted on whatever scraps he could find. The frustration and boredom of thousands of men trapped behind barbed wire & watched by armed guards is clear in ‘Empty Days’. pic.twitter.com/10rNm6zGOP
— Dr Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Once on the Isle of Man, internees made the camps more attractive through art. Hutchinson Camp’s ‘poisonous blue’ blackout painted windows had images etched into them with razors. Each house had a different theme, like this example from @Tate collection. pic.twitter.com/Ec7iJHosWv
— Dr Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Some internees were sent abroad. 3 ships arrived in Canada & 1 in Australia before the scheme was halted. The Arandora Star never made it to Canada with c.800 men lost. The trauma of the dramatic rescue operation was captured by POW Henry Kriete. pic.twitter.com/jnepwj9kbY
— Dr Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc This only represents a fraction of art produced in UK #WW2 internment camps but there are many common themes. Recognising the significance of internee art the Isle of Man Post Office released colourful commemorative stamps in 2010, with hardly a trace of barbed wire. pic.twitter.com/ZH7OXbaPR2
— Dr Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc This snapshot of UK #WW2 internment art highlights some of the privations & perseverance of the internees. The creation of beauty in desolation during a desperate time shows their determination to thrive, not just survive. FMOT & see https://t.co/fmm7ItucoV
— Dr Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) September 28, 2018
Next was Holly Furneaux, who dusted off her Twitter account just for us! She is a Professor of English at Cardiff University and she spoke about ‘Enemy exchanges: The truces of Mafeking.’
2 #WTOStc The enemy was held at a distance through British formulations of the Boer as lazy, dirty, cowardly, unchivalrous, brutal, and brought close through regular exchanges enabled by Sunday ceasefire.
— Holly Furneaux (@FurneauxHolly) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc The regular pattern of reliable temporary peace allowed for R&R and programmes of entertainments in the besieged towns, led with particular flair by the British commander of Mafeking, Robert Baden-Powell. pic.twitter.com/CeMUbQZGby
— Holly Furneaux (@FurneauxHolly) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Sunday culture and these ruses against the enemy were widely celebrated in the British press as examples of resourcefulness – making a little go a long way. The Boers, though, gifted the British the means to preserve morale through weekly peace.
— Holly Furneaux (@FurneauxHolly) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc These gifts embody a recognition of shared needs, comforts, and values, flagging common cultures and humanity across sides. WTOS gives an insight into material and emotional rather than military engagement with enemy. pic.twitter.com/ClLXC0VSgm
— Holly Furneaux (@FurneauxHolly) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc The strangeness of cross-lines conviviality is a staple of first hand accounts of the famous ceasefires of Christmas 1914 – “the curious pleasure of chatting with men who had been doing their best to kill us, and we them”. pic.twitter.com/VZHIGY5q9n
— Holly Furneaux (@FurneauxHolly) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Understandings of truce expose our preferred rationales for war violence as illusory. WW1 Xmas truces are therefore presented as isolated moment – glimmer of light in darkness – rather than part of long history of fellowship with an enemy who is killed just the same.
— Holly Furneaux (@FurneauxHolly) September 28, 2018
The final paper in our second session was from Louise Heren, on ‘What Nanny saw in the Great War.’ She is a final year PhD at the University of St Andrews and a history documentary producer.
2 #WTOStc Hidden for 100yrs the letters of Norland’s Edwardian children’s nurses offer a new voice. Because of their class, education & position often working for enemy royals, their eyewitness accounts of escape & war work are opinionated & track the war’s events & moods pic.twitter.com/4uwu4YOhAD
— Louise Heren (@LouiseHeren) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc Society ladies’ war effort included charity donations. Working for the Russian Imperial family Nurse Marian watched aristocrats buy a Red X train. Assuming their grandeur, she urged her 600 sister nurses to donate £1 each. They raised £38 11s 4d
— Louise Heren (@LouiseHeren) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc As anti-Hun propaganda accelerated, formerly placid nannies took their children on ‘fascinating’ afternoon walks to view captured German guns. Yet war fever competed with debates on the responsibility for the war & peace plans in the nursery
— Louise Heren (@LouiseHeren) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Nurse Kate exchanged letters with her former Greek royal employer via diplomatic bags without censorship, the latter revealing the Greek king’s position on Allied v Central Powers allegiance, while swapping European royal gossip in their dislocated privileged world
— Louise Heren (@LouiseHeren) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Quietly hidden behind nursery doors, these letters reveal astonishing accounts of female bravery, contradictory opinions on #FWW & the complexities of employer/servant relations when innocent children were their mutual bond in the stiff atmosphere of early C20th pic.twitter.com/VGfaTXcER7
— Louise Heren (@LouiseHeren) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Thank you @stuffofwar for hosting this conference & if you wish to know more about Norland Institute’s nannies & their #FWW #WW1 exploits, visit @penswordbooks British Nannies & The Great War @GreatWar100 thank you @CHUArchives for permission Wanstall passport pic pic.twitter.com/dtyOsbP88d
— Louise Heren (@LouiseHeren) September 28, 2018
The first paper in our third session came from Pip Gregory, who completed her PhD on visual representations of wartime humour & their lasting impact & memory in 2017. Her paper was on ‘Learning from Wartime Cartoon Characters.’
2 #WTOStc wartimes identify particular characteristics generally, 19th century British soldiers wear red; 20th century, western soldiers wear variations of khaki. More specific characters also appear; FWW brings ‘DORA’, Defence of the Realm Act personified.
— Pip Gregory (@FWWcartoonPip) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc Poy’s ‘And so to bed’ provides insight to the Act specifically alongside the personification. The wall clock hints at curfew, & the ‘toys’ John is taken away from, identify lesser controls implemented in society & idealised public restrictions pic.twitter.com/HaNYIWXHBI
— Pip Gregory (@FWWcartoonPip) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Cuthbert, however, is a different creature entirely, going on to far ‘greater’ things. He represents those in parliament, those not called up through conscription, or those hiding as cowards; indeed, he takes his place in the OED as such. pic.twitter.com/LUwtmy4S1L
— Pip Gregory (@FWWcartoonPip) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc other characters also appear out of FWW inspiration & a need to identify or correct something in society, e.g. William Haselden’s Colonel Dugout & Joy Flapperton representing misplaced tradition, & female irreverence serve these ends
— Pip Gregory (@FWWcartoonPip) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc 1915, Flapperton is ‘Joy’ful & flighty doing her bit for the war by not buying herself flowers. 1916, she makes more effort entertaining wounded soldiers who ultimately think themselves safer in France, see @BritishCartoonA @UniKentArchives pic.twitter.com/UPP9wV9r8O
— Pip Gregory (@FWWcartoonPip) September 28, 2018
12#WTOStc So what we can learn from cartoon ‘stuff of war’? Analysis of visual representation informs historians more broadly provoking further questions, identifying members of society & demonstrating their ability to laugh through it all.
— Pip Gregory (@FWWcartoonPip) September 28, 2018
We then had Chris Kempshall speaking on ‘Star Wars on Terror.’ Chris is a historian of First World Entente relations, #FWW computer games, and Star Wars.
2 #WTOStc To begin with it's necessary to say that some of the Star Wars material that appeared before and after 9/11 may seem prophetic but the intended understanding of some of the things I'll discuss was different to how it can now be read.
— Chris Kempshall (@ChrisKempshall) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc Faced with a war he himself had secretly started, Palpatine began suspending democratic norms. The original Star Wars trilogy focused on Nixon, but for the prequels Lucas said: 'I didn't think it was going to get quite this close,' when comparing Nixon & Bush's actions. pic.twitter.com/6y91kod5Kb
— Chris Kempshall (@ChrisKempshall) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc The implication that Bush used 9/11 to erode American democracy can to a degree be seen through Palpatine using the war & crisis with the Jedi to dissolve the Republic & declare an Empire, though there are also comparisons with Caesar and Hitler. https://t.co/CAqsl3PzVV pic.twitter.com/TvNcKCaoyc
— Chris Kempshall (@ChrisKempshall) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc They were set after the original Galactic Civil War. Now the Galaxy was under attack by alien religious fanatics who scarred their own bodies, and praised their gods as they killed 'infidels' and eschewed 'modern' technology and customs.
— Chris Kempshall (@ChrisKempshall) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc How to deal with this threat dominated these books. Was it right to wage a war of annihilation against enemies who wish you annihilated? Can you do good by using 'evil' methods? In Star Wars the morality of the Jedi was again at risk & they were split over a response
— Chris Kempshall (@ChrisKempshall) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc The areas I've discussed here will appear in greater detail in my 2020ca book 'History and Politics in the Star Wars Universe' with @RoutledgeHist. Sadly I have to run and teach soon but ask any questions and I'll happily answer them all in great depth when I return! pic.twitter.com/MoZzz6DZcR
— Chris Kempshall (@ChrisKempshall) September 28, 2018
Next up was Shirley Wajda, who is currently a curator and holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Her paper was called ‘Rolling Reliquaries: American Liberty Loan Trophy Trains in World War I, 1918-1919.’
1 #WTOStc It’s an honor to offer “Rolling Reliquaries: American Liberty Loan Trophy Trains in World War I, 1918-1919.” Local and military bands often played at trophy trains’ stops so, to set the mood to read by, here’s a representative march: https://t.co/yZflkkyOq6 pic.twitter.com/e3vgbgVRFk
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
2 #WTOStc Dubbed “trophy,” “war relic” or “war exhibition” trains, these rolling museums crisscrossed the nation in the government’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th Liberty Loan drives not only to raise money to pay for the war but to sell the war to the American people. (Photo: Ishpeming, MI) pic.twitter.com/9obWAf3Jth
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
3 #WTOStc The trains’ varying titles referred to what was displayed: captured German militaria were hard-won “trophies,” while Allied militaria, “fresh from the French battlefields,” were “relics,” worthy of veneration but evidence still of the need for money to win the war. pic.twitter.com/mMXzLzrLjz
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc As exhibitions, these objects were repurposed as propaganda—the “stuff” needed to persuade democratic peoples to fund and fight wars. Doughboys’ field kits were also displayed, assuring visitors that their money underwrote a well-prepared expeditionary force. pic.twitter.com/jWIJVy5xTr
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
5 #WTOStc Organization: The US Treasury Department, responsible for the Liberty Loans, assigned 2 trains to each of 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts. The Federal Reserve had been legislated only in 1913, so these campaigns also provided assurance of the system’s viability. pic.twitter.com/ntSmqj3vfL
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc The War Department, working with the French government, transported the objects from Europe to the US and then to each Federal Reserve district headquarters—all major cities that served also as rail hubs. Rail flatcars and boxcars were refitted to display the objects. pic.twitter.com/GFhfuvF4AO
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
7 #WTOStc Completing a trophy train was a passenger car carrying local speakers and soldiers and sailors representing the Allied forces of Great Britain, France, and the US. These veterans’ bodies showed visible wounds; in the era’s common parlance, they too were “relics.” pic.twitter.com/GL8ANNamHl
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Dignitaries, veterans, Red Cross women, and Boy Scouts greeted the trains. Speeches and song elicited pledges. Schoolchildren were offered separate tours. Businesses closed so that workers could participate. Tight scheduling often forbade many from touring the trains. pic.twitter.com/yWKTvHMxrc
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
9 #WTOStc Patriotic performance could be perverted to nativism. In October 1918 US Marines marched John Gauss, a native-born Lutheran minister previously found innocent of sedition, from his home in Jenera, Ohio, to a trophy train to purchase Liberty Bonds. (Ft. Wayne Sentinel) pic.twitter.com/hGZDEmDajY
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Only recently in this work-in-progress have I located photographs of a trophy train’s interior in the 1919 5th (Victory) Loan drive. At Prescott, Arizona, visitors were shocked when a veteran put a sword through these German "prisoner of war" mannequins. pic.twitter.com/ZiNLfDX0X0
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
11 #WTOStc No full account of all the trophy trains’ stops is available. Nor is there any focused scholarship on the topic. I have been exploring newspapers to document the trains and Americans’ responses, placing this information in a Google Map: https://t.co/gVT7NEnHN6 pic.twitter.com/QqzsPiWZt2
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Trophy trains aimed at realistic depiction, including demonstrations of airplanes and whippet tanks. Militaria redefined as “trophies” and “relics” provided narrative strategies useful in eliciting Americans’ understanding and support of the first world war. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/n8aJKwpGG2
— Dr. Shirley T. Wajda (@stwajda) September 28, 2018
We then had the first of two joint papers, when Kate Astbury and Devon Cox told us about ‘Prisoner-of-War theatre at Porchester Castle.’
1 #WTOStc French prisoners of war captured at Bailén in the Peninsular War mustered their efforts to create theatrical entertainments at each stage of their captivity: marionette theatre in Cadiz, Comédie Française classics on the island of Cabrera & melodrama at Portchester. pic.twitter.com/yQ31KgnrJI
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
2 #WTOStc The Portchester prison agent, Captain Paterson, not only allowed the prisoners to perform for the public but also provided them with the materials to construct a 250-capacity theatre in the keep designed by former machiniste at the Opéra-Comique Jean-François Carré. pic.twitter.com/533kPhVT3N
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
3. #WTOStc The first public performance was for an exclusively British audience selected by the prison agent Paterson. The French prisoners were so grateful to him for letting them perform to the public that they subsequently performed plays in his honour. pic.twitter.com/TaUHvwJ0MH
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc. On 7 Jan 1811 the Hampshire Telegraph reported that the French theatre was 'decorated in a style far surpassing anything of the kind that could be expected' & that 'the Pantomimes which they have brought forward, are not excelled by those performed in London'. pic.twitter.com/DF6qTUkA16
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
5 #WTOStc Public performances were halted when the Transport Board found out. The prisoner market continued, so it was not interaction with the locals per se that the Board objected to but the illegality (Paterson was not observing the Licencing Act) & immorality of a theatre. pic.twitter.com/Nr5uYNWg0X
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Paterson kept letters, playtexts & playbills. They are indicators of the prisoners’ state of mind while at Portchester and thus valuable evidence of agent-prisoner relations but also of the experiences of individuals who left little other trace of their captivity. pic.twitter.com/aocyzj88xN
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
7 #WTOStc These theatricals have been dismissed as merely a means of passing time. I argue that they allow us to glimpse prisoners’ hopes & fears. They served to help them survive psychologically by giving them a space to negotiate the traumatic experiences of their captivity. pic.twitter.com/gJT6PCJEIW
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Theatre provided a safe space for prisoners to engage with the security of a pre-captive past—allowing them to enact a metaphoric return home (what some might call a ‘fantasy of return’). The stage curtain was decorated with a Parisian scene as reminder of France. pic.twitter.com/87RmLvRXGC
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
9 #WTOStc Theatre was not just a pastime in the way that carving dominoes was – it was a shared endeavour & one experienced collectively by the audience. From 1811 the POWs could only perform in private but the keep became what Baz Kershaw terms ‘a space of radical freedom’. pic.twitter.com/uDIwVM5NGY
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Last summer we restaged the melodrama Roseliska in the castle keep & discovered that the acoustics mean that the play could have been heard by the prisoners housed on the upper floors, giving significantly increased audience figures and a sense of ‘communitas’. pic.twitter.com/AGcChpBuXW
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
11 #WTOStc By suspending reality the theatre sustained the prisoners' hopes & gave them autonomy. By confronting suffering & power relations in a direct way through the plot, the prisoners-as-audience participated just as much as the actors in making sense of their imprisonment. pic.twitter.com/8XDIDCZkZT
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Paterson sanctioning the theatre went beyond his statutory role. In so doing he aided the prisoners’ well-being. Paying attention to theatre therefore provides a more nuanced insight into the treatment of POWs in Britain in the early 19th c.
@DevonZaneCox & Kate pic.twitter.com/0y2QzbrqD9— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 28, 2018
Charlotte Tomlinson was next, who spoke on ‘Winning the War(drobe): Women’s responses to clothing policy and propaganda in Second World War Britain.’ She is a PhD student at the University of Leeds.
2 #WTOStc The ‘total’ nature of the SWW meant that every possible resource was put to the war effort – including clothes. Wartime clothing policies were promoted through various channels of government propaganda, such as in posters, pamphlets and on film. https://t.co/lqpF5VVi1m pic.twitter.com/zyNDljnOfX
— Charlotte Tomlinson (@charlottegaga) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc This was a particularly gendered issue. Women were often responsible for clothing for their entire families, and propaganda reinforced this idea by appealing to women to manage clothes budgets, make children’s clothes from old dresses, and repair husband’s trousers. pic.twitter.com/r4WGkAr6wR
— Charlotte Tomlinson (@charlottegaga) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Many women were not convinced that policies like clothes rationing fostered equal sacrifice. Some thought those in the wealthier classes would be less affected by rationing; others believed the scheme was easier on working women more used to handiwork and thrift. pic.twitter.com/KktC7g8kIZ
— Charlotte Tomlinson (@charlottegaga) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc With millions of women entering new (and often more physically demanding) workplaces during the war, work defined many attitudes to clothing policy and propaganda. The challenge of sourcing uniform and the impact of manual labour on clothes were common concerns. pic.twitter.com/QfYcaER8CA
— Charlotte Tomlinson (@charlottegaga) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Equally, ideas of universal sacrifice and togetherness often conflicted with attitudes of individualism when it came to clothes. Women had to navigate the space between messages to simply ‘make do’ and commercial advertising which promoted the idea of ‘beauty as duty’. pic.twitter.com/glqGPMnd7G
— Charlotte Tomlinson (@charlottegaga) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Exploring how women talked and wrote about clothing reveals that wartime clothing policy and propaganda posed practical, social and sartorial challenges for women – and this in turn shaped engagement with wartime rhetoric of fair shares and equal sacrifice. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/KYcp6H9KiX
— Charlotte Tomlinson (@charlottegaga) September 28, 2018
The final paper in this session was by Louise Bell, an independent researcher who spent two years as the Diverse Histories Researcher at the UK National Archives. Her paper was on ‘Diamond Cutting & Disabled Ex-Servicemen? A unique form of rehab in WW1.’
2 #WTOStc Rehabilitation tended to fall under two main strands. That of sport and recreation, and that of work and employment. [image: TNA: PIN 38/474] pic.twitter.com/tv35ZoBVXI
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc One particularly unique employment opportunity was that offered by the Brighton Diamond Factory. Started in 1917, by Sir Bernard Oppenheimer, the goal was to train men in diamond cutting & polishing, & to bring Britain centre stage in the industry. pic.twitter.com/CsD8uN1mPk
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc The arrangement was that the government would pay maintenance allowances for periods of six to nine months and the company would pay the remaining costs, including the salaries for the instructors that they imported from Belgium and Holland. [image: TNA: PIN 15/15] pic.twitter.com/hONan5GsI1
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc By the start of 1919, around 500 men had been thoroughly trained. Interestingly, the men weren’t allowed near diamonds initially; instead doing all their practising on marbles, until they were proficient enough not to make mistakes. [image: TNA: PIN 15/15] pic.twitter.com/VlYgMw6AdI
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Initially, a typical weekly maintenance allowance was £2. At the end of 6-9 months training, a man would resume his pension & gain a min. wage of £2 for a working week of 45 hours. After this, the amount earned depended on the man & the progress he made in the trade. pic.twitter.com/IKQKqM7Sqv
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc As a result, around two thirds of all the men who had been working for the company were discharged. They were offered alternative courses of training instead. In 1922, the company closed. [image: TNA: LAB 20/366] pic.twitter.com/QZxMbeZgM9
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
I'm going to take a cheeky 13th tweet here to say that this form of rehab. for disabled ex-servicemen in #ww1 is mostly unheard of and I am very excited to do more research into it. I already have my eye on more documents, so i'll let you all know how that goes! #WTOStc
— Louise Bell (@LouBell) September 28, 2018
The first paper of our final panel was Emily Kambic from the US Battlefield Protection Program, who spoke on ‘Wars Happen in Places: Understanding & Preserving Military Landscapes.’
2 #WTOStc Features that make places good to live in also made them valuable as battlefields. High ground, forest cover, farmland, rail and waterways shaped military routes and positions in the American Civil War just as they raise property values today. pic.twitter.com/36Y5tikJAy
— ABPP (@ABPPNPS) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc Archeologists and historians have adapted military approaches to reconstruct the defining features of battlefields armies fought to control. Our Survey Manual presents one method: https://t.co/sExCEim6PP pic.twitter.com/h1HwxnmqQn
— ABPP (@ABPPNPS) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Identifying landscape features can also shape archeological research plans. For instance, a fence or copse of trees that provided cover might signal a location rich in dropped ammunition and other artifacts. pic.twitter.com/piztCfiN0T
— ABPP (@ABPPNPS) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Integrity is the measure of match between past and present. (Would a soldier in this battle recognize this landscape?) In the U.S., the National Register of Historic Places: provides guidance on how to assess: https://t.co/1J9ELmBeT0 pic.twitter.com/HmcnAtHDCs
— ABPP (@ABPPNPS) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc Such cultural landscapes have incredible “integrity of feeling.” There is nowhere we can be as fully present with the history of those who died on our soil as on a battlefield landscape or cemetery. That is why our program focuses on landscape preservation. pic.twitter.com/4bXTxhJqQI
— ABPP (@ABPPNPS) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc We also fund research, planning, and outreach for American battlefields of all kinds in our annual Battlefield Preservation Planning grant competition. Please email us at abpp@nps.gov or visit https://t.co/l7aBEA6wXC. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/nSSp5udGsm
— ABPP (@ABPPNPS) September 28, 2018
Our next paper was from Sarah Dixon Smith and Shruti Turner, on ‘Blast Injury and Rehab.’ They are both PhD students at Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London.
2 #WTOStc Limb wounds were (& still are) the most survivable injury & made up 70% of WW1 casualties. Blast leads to more complex wounds e.g. multiple amputations & nerve damage vs often pre-planned civilian amputations.
— CBIS (@TRBL_CBIS) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc Conflicts in Iraq & Afghanistan led to ~400 UK amputees. Amputation is now a last resort, rather than routine, and where possible the decision is made with the patient. As much of the limb is preserved to aid prosthetic rehab.
— CBIS (@TRBL_CBIS) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc Today prosthetics are bespoke: They can be computer controlled, waterproof, sport-specific. All are fitted by clinical professionals to both veterans & civilians with a similar process to the end of WW1. pic.twitter.com/aV8ZARMgvo
— CBIS (@TRBL_CBIS) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Today there is one UK military rehab centre still based on the WW1 model: limbs made, fitted and rehab completed on one site. After initial rehab, veterans transition into civilian care. pic.twitter.com/xQeFBf1of3
— CBIS (@TRBL_CBIS) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc In wartime, most amputations are lower limb as soldiers step on mines or IEDs. Post-war, amputations tend to be upper limb as children pick up the strange devices to play with them. NGOs e.g. @TheHALOTrust work to clear the mines. pic.twitter.com/uYhzvJHLC4
— CBIS (@TRBL_CBIS) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Thank you. If you’d like to reach us post-twitter conference, we are @LegsDixon and @ShrutiTurner, and online at https://t.co/xU0Q7wuBwu ! If you have any questions, tweet us now… pic.twitter.com/1OpuLVPgzd
— CBIS (@TRBL_CBIS) September 28, 2018
This was followed by Alexandra Thelin Blackowski, talking about ‘Zesty Zouaves: Uniform elements becoming fashionable in the mid-nineteenth century.’ She is a PhD student in history and culture at Drew University.
2 #WTOStc Elmer Ellsworth led the “Fire Zouaves” during the Civil War & was killed while removing a confederate flag from the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, VA. Pictured here is the avenger of his death, Francis Brownell, in his Zouave uniform with a mourning band on his arm. pic.twitter.com/FB17lr32XV
— Alexandra Thelin Blackowski (@tristardesign) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc "A bright red chasseur cap with gold braid; light blue shirt with moire antique facings; dark blue jacket with orange and red trimmings; brass bell buttons…; a red sash and loose red trousers; russet leather leggings, buttoned over the trousers…; & white waistbelt." pic.twitter.com/L8kJcx9yBS
— Alexandra Thelin Blackowski (@tristardesign) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc These jackets would be paired with full skirts worn over a cage crinoline. This fashion plate was published in Godey's Lady's Book, June 1864, and notes the silk velvet jacket’s trim is made of "chenille gimp and a fringe of drop buttons." pic.twitter.com/Zo8gYQltKL
— Alexandra Thelin Blackowski (@tristardesign) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Children also wore adaptations of this Zouave-inspired style; here are two examples. Interestingly, both male and female children could wear this as young boys did not wear breeches until somewhere between ages 2 and 8. Often, boys' versions would just have less trim. pic.twitter.com/qS0WE3wcy1
— Alexandra Thelin Blackowski (@tristardesign) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc However, women wore these knit garments before Chanel’s design. This c1900 example shows the fashionable silhouette of leg of mutton sleeves & nipped in waist, differing greatly from the military version. Additionally, jeans have military tie to Navy-issued dungarees. pic.twitter.com/TGfYHJffDm
— Alexandra Thelin Blackowski (@tristardesign) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc Can you think of any other examples of garments inspired by the military? Do you have anything in your own closet that is military inspired? I hope you enjoyed this twitter presentation and let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you! -Alexandra ❤️
— Alexandra Thelin Blackowski (@tristardesign) September 28, 2018
Next up was Corporal Cushing, who has degrees in Intel. Ops Studies and Medieval Studies, and is a 3-tour combat veteran. Her paper was called ‘How medieval marsh-moss made the modern baltic states.’
2/#WTOStc
after the 1939 Soviet-Nazi pact such that the 1 artefact unifying the area in #medieval times – the COG ship used by Catholic Crusaders then adopted by Orthodox colonizers & Slavic tribes along the Neman, Daugava, Emmajõgi, Velikaya, & Volkhov Rivers – is terribly rare. pic.twitter.com/hlvwi6Rjwp— RedQueenRedTeam (@RedQRedT) September 28, 2018
4/#WTOStc
Baltic country is just now recovering both hidden histories (Countess von Przeździecki’s Latvian Terra Mariana from the Vatican) & secretly-kept skills (primitive cogs spotted on each side of the Estonian/Russian water border) meanwhile MOSS became a Baltic celebrity! pic.twitter.com/CgpPezkVOX— RedQueenRedTeam (@RedQRedT) September 28, 2018
6/#WTOStc
btw clinkered strakes (overlapping side-pieces) where scarfed (joined to make one long strake). And this MOSS is the best indicator of hydrogeologic instability (land becoming waterlogged) – useful knowledge for medieval people on the move & archaeologists seeking them. pic.twitter.com/gxvJf5VLQ8— RedQueenRedTeam (@RedQRedT) September 28, 2018
8/#WTOStc
In 2010 I used the "De itinere navali" chronicle to identify cogs from the western Baltic using the moss Polytrichum commune, of which 7 types still grow in the Riga-Tartu-Jerzika bioscape where a Slav chief was caught between Catholic & Orthodox raiding groups in 1210. pic.twitter.com/ml3TGftl9L— RedQueenRedTeam (@RedQRedT) September 28, 2018
10/#WTOStc
problems of modern military history, by using the stuff of medieval cog warfare. As @RedQRedT is dedicated to #spying history, let’s conclude with our traditional intelligence history note: Moss helped absorb sound from within the cog, adding to its stealth on missions pic.twitter.com/b2Z7ns4SXl— RedQueenRedTeam (@RedQRedT) September 28, 2018
12/#WTOStc
Thanks for spending your time & data to attend the 1st @stuffofwar symposium. I appreciate the opportunity to teach here – have a great weekend!Got more questions? Need any #medieval or #Military #History help? Reply here or email using
https://t.co/R84MTIM4G1 pic.twitter.com/AcRf7sMY0X— RedQueenRedTeam (@RedQRedT) September 28, 2018
Alex Souchen next spoke to us about ‘The Surprising History of War Junk.’ He is a former postdoc at the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and earned his PhD in history in 2016.
2/12 #WTOStc The story starts in war factories that churned out hundreds of thousands of ships & aircraft, millions of firearms & vehicles, & billions of bombs & bullets. War industries also produced mountains of supplies, like uniforms & typewriters. #WW2 https://t.co/TeabarG6V5
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
4/12 #WTOStc Disposal was a big problem. Surplus guns, bombs, & ammo posed #political & #social dangers. Surplus equipment, supplies, & resources also threatened #postwar economic prosperity b/c a flood of cheap military surpluses would deflate the economy; just like after #WW1. pic.twitter.com/l2oFV869QU
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
6/12 #WTOStc Allied nations responded by forming agencies & laws to control #disposal. Canada’s War Assets Corp was a well-run org & its President was invited to #Congress to address problems with the US War Assets Admin. The WAC & WAA were vital pillars of #WW2 exit strategies.
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
8/12 #WTOStc Leftover munitions & supplies piled up in “boneyards” where they were cannibalized for spare parts or #reduced to scrap resources. The technological progress & obsolescence of the military-industrial complex was on full display after #WW2. The photos are stunning. pic.twitter.com/LRVeqDw8sM
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
10/12 #WTOStc Not everything could be #reused or #recycled. Surplus ammo, shells, & chemical weapons posed security & storage dilemmas. As a result the Allies dumped the detritus of war into the #oceans. Millions of tons of munitions were "drowned" at sea. https://t.co/3nMK0wNboM pic.twitter.com/BGid2nTGX0
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
12/12 #WTOStc Thank you for following! I look forward to your questions.
To learn more about my research you can:
Read: https://t.co/twou5A07bA
Listen: https://t.co/rfhbw3GLIj
Watch: https://t.co/4VapL1RIZF…Or wait patiently for my book (currently under #peerreview)!
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
Rounding out our final panel was Katrina Pasierbek, a second year PhD student at Laurier University. Her paper title was ‘Standing in the Heart of the Empire, and in a Corner of Canada: Sir Edwin Lutyens’s Cenotaph and Commemorative Efforts in Canada’s London.’
2 #WTOStc It is only fitting for me to begin with the original Cenotaph in Whitehall. Described as having a modest simplicity and a timeless form, Sir Edwin Lutyens’s thirty-five-foot-tall design has stood in London since 11 November 1920. © IWM (Q 31491) pic.twitter.com/KkaM2UIikW
— Katrina Pasierbek (@K_Pasierbek) September 28, 2018
4 #WTOStc I hope to add to this discussion that during the 1920s and 1930s the residents of Canada’s London decided to honour their war dead by duplicating Lutyens’s original design from 'Old London' to stand as a tribute to the fallen in 'New London.' pic.twitter.com/KhvPlnotzQ
— Katrina Pasierbek (@K_Pasierbek) September 28, 2018
6 #WTOStc A corner of Victoria Park was an option, and an appropriate one, as the IODE had unveiled other war memorials in the park. Still, others argued for the Cenotaph to be erected in a street to honour the Whitehall location. The Cenotaph project was pushed into the 1930s.
— Katrina Pasierbek (@K_Pasierbek) September 28, 2018
8 #WTOStc Once the southeast corner of Victoria Park was decided upon as the location, the seventeen-foot-tall replica Cenotaph was constructed in two months and unveiled to thousands of veterans and civilians gathered in downtown London on 10 November 1934.
— Katrina Pasierbek (@K_Pasierbek) September 28, 2018
10 #WTOStc The local papers reported that Detwiller’s declaration was reinforced by the presence of a British naval ensign. Originally flown on the Whitehall Cenotaph, and having been gifted to Ottawa, this ensign was loaned to London to fly on the Cenotaph during the unveiling.
— Katrina Pasierbek (@K_Pasierbek) September 28, 2018
12 #WTOStc To honour London’s war dead it was therefore central for the community to forge a connection between the Cenotaph standing in the heart of the Empire and the one standing in their corner of Canada.
Thank you very much, @stuffofwar! I am happy to answer any questions! pic.twitter.com/XU2dWNdgBV
— Katrina Pasierbek (@K_Pasierbek) September 28, 2018
Finally, we welcomed our new advisor Catherine Baker, who provided some closing remarks to help begin to summarise of the amazing research that was shared over the day!
So I am in the exciting and very daunting position of making closing remarks about an entire day of #WTOStc! Or having made them half an hour ago. 1/? pic.twitter.com/O2olYMF314
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
But first, *huge* congratulations to the @stuffofwar team for what might well not be the last Twitter conference in these parts, the way it's been inspiring #twitterstorians today 😀 2/? #WTOStc pic.twitter.com/37fxj1REOn
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
This morning opened with a thread about where researching war through 'other stuff' goes next, so I want to start my comments there… 3/? #WTOStc https://t.co/KlP52zzOSj
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
…by coming back to this phrase 'non-military', or indeed the 'other' stuff. What ideas of 'military' and 'non-military' did we each have, when this theme first spoke to us? And now? 4/? #WTOStc https://t.co/DyYZBbFFRH
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
How did we each learn to define things as 'military' or 'non-military', and how porous is that divide? Throughout #WTOStc, we've seen people, places and things move across it both ways… 5/?
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
There's been a feeling all day at #WTOStc that, collectively, we're using fresh sources and methods to find out about war. But what about these sources, spaces, objects, artefacts *makes* them so rich for new research? 6/?
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
Example: one major theme of #WTOStc today has been children's history. Do the sources and methods make it more possible to see children being subjects of history? Or does looking for children’s histories of war guide us to using them? 7/?
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
We could even historicise 'war through other stuff' itself: is it any coincidence @stuffofwar formed during WW1 centenaries in UK (esp. Scotland?), as historians & heritage-ists rethought what objects & senses could expand how the public think about everyday life in war? #WTOStc
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
Of course, suggesting 'we' don't often notice how war permeates everyday life might suggest 'we' aren't saying that as people who have been *forced* to notice it. After war has destroyed people's social fabric, *is* there 'other stuff'? 9/? #WTOStc
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
Today at #WTOStc, researching 'alternative' histories of war has felt exciting and fascinating, as well as sombre. Yet, especially with recent wars, everything we post and share into the digital sphere is also someone's material or visual trigger of memory. 10/?
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
One great thing a Twitter conference can do is remove barriers that stop people attending in person, we said today. And #WTOStc has – but most of its subject matter has still been on English-speaking societies and militaries. And in that case…
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
What would a truly global approach to 'war through other stuff' look like? And how can it reveal the everydayness of colonial violence as well as the everyday of war? 12/? #WTOStc
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
As @alirhowell's written recently, the difference between states of war and non-war (or time before and after 'militarisation') doesn't mean the same thing for those whom state power already saw as a threat in 'peace'. 13/? #WTOStc
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
And that's all I was meant to have time for, so I'll leave it there, with thanks and congratulations again to #WTOStc's hosts and presenters, in Edinburgh and around the world! 14/14
— Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge) September 28, 2018
We also received some really amazing feedback about the Twitter conference. We would highly recommend it as a format and would be happy to answer any questions anyone may have!
Today's Twitter Time is devoted to following #WTOStc @stuffofwar Twitter conference. It's fabulous.
— Katy Whitaker (@artefactual_KW) September 28, 2018
I was teaching this morning so am now catching up with #WTOStc. The twitter conference is a fantastic format!
— Matthew McCormack (@historymatt) September 28, 2018
If you haven’t already, take some time today to scroll through the @stuffofwar conference via #WTOStc. All really great and interesting papers and such an awesome platform for presenting work! https://t.co/Vmh4R38m7F
— Evan Sullivan (@EvanPSullivan) September 28, 2018
#WTOSTC is inspired. Concise, accessible tweet threads, with images and links to further reading and we can ask questions in real time without having to sit through 'well, it's more of a comment than a question'…
— Katy Jackson (@Katy_Heritage) September 28, 2018
@stuffofwar I think the other thing to note is that this gives early stage researchers (like me) a deep insight into approaches, frameworks, perspectives and interdisciplinary research. Absolutely loving all of the contributions and the debate. #WTOStc
— Cultural Recall (@CulturalRecall) September 28, 2018
One great thing about a #twitterconference is that you can show up 5 hours late and still see everyone present their papers. Good morning from #Canada #WTOStc #timezones
— Alex Souchen (@AlexSouchen) September 28, 2018
Twitter conferences strike me as an ideal venue for a 'work in progress' type presentation… Provides outreach to scholars and the public at a level you would never get in a seminar room
— rogueclassicist (@rogueclassicist) September 28, 2018
What a fascinating thread. Today is a great day for people working on the history of war. Thank you @stuffofwar, I’ve been transfixed to Twitter all day! #WTOStc https://t.co/nuNRpywP06
— Dr Emma Butcher (@EmmaButcher_) September 28, 2018
#WTOStc from @stuffofwar today is one of the best uses of Twitter I’ve seen for ages. pic.twitter.com/DuKvl7v4gi
— David Bevan (@db_writing) September 28, 2018
I’ll second that! Thanks for organising @stuffofwar – great initiative- more should follow your lead and try different ways of presenting material https://t.co/ZgBMck1hqH
— 100 Days (@100Days1815) September 29, 2018
The WTOS Team are feeling tired but happy this morning, thank you all for joining us for the conference and social yesterday! Here’s 5/7 of the team celebrating yesterday evening 🎉 pic.twitter.com/glPXpvPVGj
— War Through Other Stuff (@stuffofwar) September 29, 2018