It was a great pleasure to work with David Lovell OBE and The Online Memorial and Museum of Prisoners of War earlier this month. Our role was to digitise 833 historically significant documents – many of which were fragile, handwritten accounts from former prisoners of war or their families.
Due to the delicate condition and historic value of the material, the documents were scanned using our large-format flatbed scanner. This allows us to safely handle delicate documents without the risk of damage that can sometimes occur with automatic document feeder scanners.
A variety of output formats were required: some files were optimised for fast online access, while others were scanned at higher resolutions and in greyscale format for local archival and research purposes.
Below, David shares the powerful story behind the collection and how these digitised documents will help ensure the voices of former POWs continue to be heard. You can also explore the digital archive on the museum’s website.
If you have a collection of historically important documents you’d like to preserve, please get in touch to discuss how our digitisation services can support your project.
Keeping their priceless memories alive.
This is a short story about ordinary men who withstood extraordinary hardship and survived the near impossible feat of walking hundreds of miles across three countries in the coldest winter of the twentieth century wearing wholly inadequate clothing. Read about it .
It’s not a story that you might immediately associate with ‘Document Options’, so let me explain.
In 2001 Philip Baker BEM was working for Saga Holidays . Charles Saunders, the leader of the Broadstairs and St Peter’s Concert band, approached him because the band had the idea of performing a concert in Boulogne to say “thank you” to the citizens who had helped British soldiers, including Charles , during the war in June 1940.
Unfortunately, the band did not have enough money to pay for a trip to France, so they asked Philip whether his employers would sponsor their proposed trip.
Saga Holidays agreed to do so and appointed Philip as the organiser.
Before the trip, Saga asked Philip to advertise to try to find Charles’ comrades who were with him in Boulogne and if, they were found, to invite them to join the trip to Boulogne, France.
Despite advertising extensively in British newspapers, regrettably, none were found, but Philip did receive many letters from former Prisoners of War (POWs) and people whose fathers, grandfathers or other relatives were. As well as letters, people sent him photographs , diaries , notebooks and written accounts of their time as POWs.
Initially Philip didn’t know what to do with all of these things and for a long time he kept them in boxes in his house. Eventually he decided to create a website to make everything available to anybody interested in this subject.
The concert took place in Boulogne in June 2001 was a great success and was widely reported on French TV, radio and in newspapers.
Fast forward to October 2022, a registered charity ‘The Online Memorial and Museum of Prisoners of War’ was founded by Philip, and a new website https://www.prisonersofwarmuseum.com/ was created, as a memorial to British, Commonwealth and Dominion POWs.
Somewhat surprisingly, in the course of moving home, Philip came across one more box of assorted material which he’d received in 2007.
Now living in France, Philip arranged for courier delivery of this priceless collection of POW’s memories to a trustee of the charity in the UK and a web search took him to Document Options and to Andy Richards.
Thanks to his advice and guidance, 833 documents, many handwritten by frail hands, have been scanned and converted into digital form. This will allow the documents to be shared with the charity’s volunteers, who are scattered across the world.
In their hands, or rather on their computers, more material giving an insight into the fortitude of men, some like my father , who were captured in May 1940 and not liberated until April 1945 will be published on https://www.prisonersofwarmuseum.com
For those who ask who we are -
We are their voices. We are their stories.
We are the ones who carry their truth when the world has turned away.
We are the Online Memorial and Museum of Prisoners of War held in Europe.
We speak so that silence does not win.
We remember so history cannot erase them.
And we honour them, not just in ceremony - but in every act of remembrance, every truth told, every injustice challenged.
They suffered.
They endured.
Now, through us – they are heard. [Adapted from: the Scottish FEPOW Trust] Dave Lovell powmemorialmuseum@gmail.com
The cost of scanning was met by a grant from the ‘ The Roger de Haan Charitable Trust ’
