WW1 MEDAL INDEX CARDS TO BE DESTROYED...

Example of a Medal Index Card

GOOD NEWS!

Thanks to all of you who have emailed both myself and the Western Front Association. I happy and pleased to report the following announcement:

The Western Front Association is pleased to announce that following negotiations with the Lord Chancellor’s Department, the National Archives, and the Ministry of Defence, we have been granted custodianship of the Great War Medal Index Cards.*

The Cards are now in the possession of the W.FA. and have been moved to a secure storage facility.

Due the current condition of the cards and the filing cabinets, our next step is to provide new storage cabinets, and under the direction of archivists manage the cleaning of the archive.

To secure the long term future for the cards we will need to raise funds for the administration and long term care of them. Once the funds have been raised we will endeavour to digitally copy the reverse side of the cards that hold correspondence details-approximately 5% of the cards. We will also be seeking a permanent home for this valuable archive.

This is an exciting project for the W.F.A. in our 25th Anniversary year; we would ask people to bear with us as we work to secure the future of these historical and important documents.

Bruce Simpson
Chairman, the Western Front Association

*The women’s cards have already been given to the Imperial War Museum.

This means the records are safe - work will now begin to make them publicly available: see the WFA's website for further details:

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/ 

Paul Reed

May 2005