WW2 Cataloguing Project outline

North East Coast Town Revealed: Hull’s Second World War Records The National Cataloguing Grants programme is administered on behalf of several trusts by The National Archives with grant award decisions being made by a specially convened independent Cataloguing Grants Panel. Out of an original field of 63 applicants Hull History Centre has successfully secured one of the 12 grants issued this year with its North East Coast Town Revealed: Hull’s Second World War Records project.

The grant of £29,801 secured from the programme, will enable the Centre to employ an Archivist for 12 months to fully catalogue records created by various departments from within Hull City Council. The records of departments such as:

• Town Architects Department
• Education Department
• Treasurer’s Department
• Town Clerk Department
• City Engineers Department
• Records of Wartime Emergency Services

Carol Tanner, Access and Collections Manager at the History Centre, said of the project “these records allow us to understand the hardships endured by the people of Hull during the War and reveal their gallantry and resourcefulness during the daily struggles they faced”.

The project will deepen our understanding of the problems encountered and solutions found by those tasked with not only preserving life, but coming to the aid of those affected by the raids. Hull’s Air Raid Welfare Scheme was greatly admired and the records detail visits from other cities to learn from their experiences. In addition, files from the Warden Service have survived covering subjects such as administration, equipment, civilian respirators, finance, maintenance and repairs, bombs, anti-gas precautions, shelters and buildings, training, air raid welfare, general welfare, and homelessness.

Further records created by the Air Raid Precaution (A.R.P.) service cover topics such as the purchase of sand from Cottingham Gravel Pit to make sandbags and the sale of old sandbags once they had served their purpose, the camouflaging of concrete roads and street lighting to guard bomb craters. They detail arrangements made for heavy raids, cleansing and decontamination, weekly progress reports to the City Engineer, contracts for supplementary water supplies and reports on bombs dropped.

We also hold index cards from the Warden Service detailing which section an individual served with including the Cyclist Messenger Corps and the Fire Guard Section. Many of those who volunteered their services or carried out acts of bravery were recognised by the City and the paperwork relating to the Gallantry Awards and the Defence Medal have also survived.

The project will give us the opportunity to work closely with volunteers who will help to index the records, repackage files and volumes, and digitise photographs. The resulting on line catalogues will allow the public to search for individuals or streets in much greater depth than is currently available and visit the Centre to view any relevant documents.

This is an exciting project which will highlight the devastation wreaked on Hull during the Second World War and demonstrate the resilience of its citizens on the home front when faced with such traumas. It is surprising for a city so heavily bombed during the war that these records have even survived.
Carol Tanner Access & Collections Manager