I had already done a lot of research into the
Durham Light Infantry’s territorial battalions at the Second Battle of Ypres
(April/May 1915) which went into a series of posts this time last year. However, an exhibition is very different to a blog.
I found the challenge of producing an exhibition
about a battle lay in striking the balance between providing enough information
about events taking place simultaneously in different locations, and keeping a clear storyline.
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| Testing ideas for the layout |
I decided to take a chronological approach with
the dates clearly indicated, using the words of the men who were there – colour
coded by battalion, and centred around maps to give a sense of the geography.
Finding a range of interesting images can
sometimes be a struggle with archival exhibitions. The use of
cameras by all men serving in the British Army in the field had been banned in
March 1915 but fortunately for us, this
didn't deter Captain Percy Hugh Beverley Lyon and many of the photographs, as
well as some of the words used in the display come from Lyon ’s
memoir.
Once I had established the content of the exhibition came the task of how it was actually going to fit together in the space available. Our four boards in the corridor actually work well:
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| Finalising the layout |
1) From the North East to Belgium
2) April 1915
3) May 1915
4) After the battle
I took myself out of the way where I could start
to lay things out on the floor. After
refining the content, I taped out the board dimensions and used drafts of each
piece to work out the final layout.
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| Jenny does some precision work colour coding the text by battalion |
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| We got through a lot of spraymount |
Next, everything was printed out onto nice paper
and then it was to the conservation studio to mount it all onto card. I knew Jenny, our conservator, would love me
for my David Hockney approach to the UK
and France
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| Rough cutting Measured cutting |
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| I have a Blue Peter moment with some sticky back plastic (there were actually about 100 of these moments) |
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With my plans and my spirit level (only dropped a couple of
times), getting the pieces up was fairly straightforward
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| Mapping the photos |
The last touches were to plot some of the captions
and images onto the maps. I was
particularly pleased when I realised the hand drawn map from the 8th
Battalion war diary actually described its location on the proper map: “The farm building is the one in the North West corner of square D8a on Ypres
map”.
The final board gives all the names of the men
who died within the dates of the battle (more will have died afterwards of
their wounds) with their battalion colour coded down the side. It really gives an immediate visual impact to
the number of names listed.
This free exhibition is located at the entrance
to the Record Office in County Hall, Durham
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| The final product |
A recent addition to the Durham
Finally, on Saturday 18th April 2015,
historian Harry Moses will tell the story of the students from the Teacher
Training College of the Honourable Bede, Durham, when he visits the DLI Museum
and Durham Art Gallery this weekend.
This talk will include their role in the Second Battle of Ypres as part
of 8th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. Tickets for the talk are £3.50. Normal museum
admission charges also apply. To book in advance, visit the museum shop or call
03000 266 590. More information can be
found here: http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/5896/The-teacher-soldiers-of-the-First-World-War
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