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Testimonials:

"Recently published is Women, War & Society 1914-1918, an online publication of the Women's Work Collection from the Imperial War Museum. This collection was begun in 1917 to illustrate the extend to which women were involved in the war effort when millions in all participant nations took on a diverse range of roles and occupations. The documents – reports, pamphlets photographs and press cuttings – also supply important evidence for the plight of the Belgian nation and its refugees. The section heading 'Belgium' contains 1869 folders, whereas a general search on 'Belgium' yields 2911 files, and 'Belgian', 3355 files. These includes items such as 'The Destruction of Belgium. Germany's Confession and Avoidance' (1916); 'The Belgian Refugees in Holland' (1914); and 'Some Personal Experiences and Accounts of Individual Belgian Refugees' by Edith Lyttleton."

– Belguim Events, February 2006

"The Women's Work Collection was first compiled by the Women's Work Subcommittee that was set up in April 1917 as part of the new Imperial War Museum. The main objective of this committee was to provide a thorough record of women's activities during the war. Early efforts, despite being plagued by patronising and/or indifferent attitudes of various cultural authorities, resulted in an influx of both personal and official information. there were reports from societies and organizations (for example the British Red Cross, the National Union of Women's Suffrage), government pamphlets, press cuttings, as well as personal letters and accounts of all kinds of experiences from factory workers to female doctors and nurses working in Serbia and Belgium. These contain information about the daily lives of all sorts of women, as well as their perceptions of the work they did and the repercussions it could have. In 1918, the committee commissioned the first British woman war artist (Victoria Monkhouse) to create paintings of women doing traditionally male jobs. This collection, invaluable to both war historians and those studying gender issues, has now been digitised in collaboration with [Gale] that has improved access and methods of searching the available documents.

The database, now titled Women, War and Society, 1914-1918 is introduced with a useful page containing information on the nature and purpose of the collection, as well as an essay by each of the contributing editors on a certain aspect of women's work and gender roles during this period. In particular, an essay from Susan Grayzel, which looks at the purpose of the collection, and from Mary Wilkinson, which looks in detail at the development of, and changing attitudes to the collection, give contextual information. The essays that look at subjects such as suffrage and political activity, and patriotism, also contain links to relevant documents in the collection, so that the user may view the evidence alongside the article.

The database itself has a fairly comprehensive search facility with three methods of searching the collection. The basic search gives a keyword box for simple one or two word enquiries, or, if preferred, a list of searchable headings such as Armenia or education. The advanced search gives the option of multiple keyword searching as well as the list of headings; the search facility here is augmented by the fuzzy search option with low, medium or high settings. The third search method is the browse screen which contains a long list of organizations and institutions, such as the Air Pillow Fund, set up to send air pillows and other linen to the front, or the politico-Conservative Primrose League, of which the user may choose up to 20 at a time.

The results themselves are displayed in lists with clickable titles taking the user to the digitised document. The user can browse each document either "turning pages" using the next page and previous page browse buttons to the left of the item, or by selecting a particular page to look at. Users are also able to use the tools on the document pages to enlarge and/or decrease the size of the item being studied.

The toolbar at the top of the screen offers more options. Users can print or e-mail documents to an address of choice. To mark items of interest, it is only necessary to check the box next to the title and it will automatically be added to a marked list that is accessible from the marked items link in the toolbar. There is also a useful section on search tips that goes through truncation, combining searches and Boolean language. If the previous searches heading is chosen from the toolbar, users are able to access and combine previous search statements in order to further focus results.

As well as the collection itself, there is also a resources section containing four information sheets from the Imperial War Museum on four important women's organizations: The Women's Royal Naval Service, Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps, Voluntary Aid Detachments and Members of the Women's Work Subcommittee. Each sheet contains service records, casualty records and medical records, as well as corps collections, other institutions of interest and further reading. Links to any relevant documentation contained in the database itself are provided. The resources page also contains six reproductions or recruitment posters and paintings representing the role of women during the war.

Women, War and Society is a fascinating historical resource in its own right: during my searches I found a variety of interesting items, from a menu book for "meatless days" in wartime households, to annual reports from women's leagues, some letters from the committee asking for donations, and a cautionary tale about the perils of unmarried motherhood. The digitisation of this collection will improve accessibility, and give the student or historian the ability to search and cross-reference documents with greater ease. Not only will this collection be more easily available for education and research, there will be less need to handle the documents themselves, ensuring the preservation of this unique collection."

– Sonya Lipczynska
User Education Librarian, Kings College London
Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK