Exploring stories of women in First World War medical case sheets
Student placement project
- Project supervisors
- Department
Collections Expertise and Engagement
- Maximum number of student placements available on the project per academic year
One
- Level of study
Open to PhD and MA/MSc students
- Deadline for Expressions of Interest from students
Applications for this placement have now closed
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- From our collection
- MH 106
- Title
- Explore the MH 106 record series
- Date
- 1910–1926
Project description
The National Archives’ collection of First World War medical case sheets in MH 106 have now been fully itemised for the first time. The creation of more than 120,000 new entries into our catalogue highlights the typical ailments experienced by men living through war, like trench foot and gunshot wounds. However, there are hidden stories to be uncovered from these records.
Significantly, two percent of the collection is made up of cases about women serving in the likes of the Voluntary Aid Detachment and Queen Mary Auxiliary Corps. This gives us new understanding of a typically marginalised demographic within state records.
This student placement will consist of:
- The opportunity to work closely with record specialists working in Collections Expertise and Engagement through shadowing public operations and workshop delivery.
- Undertaking research and uncovering women’s stories within MH 106 to help inform future outreach.
- The main output will be the creation of an ‘Explore the Collection’ online gallery on WW1 women’s medical records. This will highlight its value for researching women’s social and health history and showing the collections relevance beyond expected male-dominated military history themes.