Hiding in Plain Sight? Understanding War Through Ephemera
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21789175 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ann-Marie Foster (0000-0003-3451-8601, Robert Gordon University, corresponding author), Michael Reeve (Robert Gordon University), Rowan Thompson (0000-0002-9789-9782, Robert Gordon University), Rowan G E Thompson (0000-0001-7138-3043, Robert Gordon University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17526272.2026.2697616 |
| OpenAlex | W7167348966 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 39 |
When the First World War broke out in 1914, ephemera quickly became a key way of understanding and recording the conflict. From collection drives through to postcards home, people at all levels embraced the communicative nature of ephemera, using it to document, remember, and share understandings of the war. However, this wide-ranging appreciation of ephemeral material has not always been fully appreciated by historians, who are often reticent to work with the full breadth of wartime ephemera. Taking the multitude of ephemera produced in wartime conditions as our central theme, three case studies linked to the First World War provide an idea of how reading war and its aftermath through ephemera can offer new intellectual avenues to explore social and cultural history. When ephemera is the focus, rather than a byproduct, of our historical investigations, what fresh insights can we glean from people’s interaction with this material
Ephemera · Ephemeral key · Key (lock) · Multitude · Photography · Reading (process) · Spanish Civil War · World War II · American History and Culture · History of Emotions Research · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
Picturing the Postcard
A new naval history
Germany and Propaganda in World War I
Bombardment, Public Safety and Resilience in English Coastal Communities during the First World War
The Great War in History
Ephemera and the Construction of First World War Life Writing
On Things from Sea and Shore
The Memory-Keeping Daughter
Wartime” Ephemera from the Family Home in German and Austrian History Museums
The Passing of Print
Making Sense of Medicines
The First World War at Sea
Naval Pageantry, Heritage, and Commemoration in Interwar Britain
A War Imagined
The Long-Term Significance of Printed Ephemera
Are we downhearted? NO
And those who live, how shall I tell their fame?' Historical pageants, collective remembrance and the First World War, 1919-39
No more parades? Navy Weeks, naval theatre and navalism, 1927-38
Braudel on Capitalism, or Everything Upside Down
Out of place, out of time
Lifeworld
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |