After six years of collecting bookmarks related to various bits of research for my writing, I have a lengthy list of WWI, WWII and Depression era URLs. A few are favourites but most were used to satisfy a particular and momentary interest which may or may not have withstood the editing process. In my current mood of musing on next steps, I am revisiting these bookmarks. Perhaps inspiration will strike. At the very least, I can consider the value of what I’ve collected.
Here’s a few I’ve found so far that may interest others.
Canadian Letters and Images – a wonderful collection of correspondence, diaries, photographs, postcards and memorabilia organized according to time period: Pre-1914, WWI, WWII, Korea and Post-Korea. Although these are mainly Canadian letters, they are a marvellous source for understanding how every day lives were affected by war.
Wikiquotes – in particular, statements made by Adolf Hitler in speeches from 1923 to 1945. Shocking to see what world political and military leaders were prepared to ignore.
BBC History site – an article about shell shock with brief summaries of battlefield breaking points, medical symptoms of shell shock, defining trauma and possible cures. Beyond this article, BBC History offers sections on WWI, WWII, Nazi Genocide and the Cold War.
WW2 People’s War – another BBC site with the following purpose: “The BBC’s WW2 People’s War project ran from June 2003 to January 2006. The aim of the project was to collect the memories of people who had lived and fought during World War Two on a website; these would form the basis of a digital archive which would provide a learning resource for future generations.” Oodles of stories organized by geography. The BBC also has an ‘on this day‘ search capability to discover important historical happenings on any given date.
American Music, Movies and Literature timeline – a site listing movies, music and literature by time period with posters from popular movies, links to author biographical information and audio files for various songs and musical numbers.
Camp X – a website all about Camp X a significant WWII spy training facility; a compilation of pictures and stories from a time when Camp X bristled with instructors training agents for overseas missions and the Hydra facility was in place to receive and decode countless critical military messages.
Canada at War – “This website is dedicated to the memory of the tremendous Canadian contribution in both World Wars, and a place of remembrance for all our fallen since 1914.” A collection of photos, stories, battle summaries, book lists and a forum for questions and discussion about WWI and WWII. Although the focus is Canadian the information is pertinent to anyone studying either of these world wars.
CBC Digital Archives – radio recordings from various times in Canadian history; WWII section was of particular interest for me providing material for one particular scene about the Dieppe raid in a novel I’ve written called Unravelled.
FirstWorldWar.com – an amazing and comprehensive site on WWI. Facts and figures, personal narratives, source documents, photos, timelines, information about the home front, famous players in the war, weapons, battles and so on.
More to follow 🙂
