One of the Build-a-thon small group discussions was around local honour boards and honour rolls. I have started a Google Spreadsheet with an index of memorials and a sheet for each.

In my digital tools talk at the Build-a-thon I mentioned Zotero, a powerful research management tool created by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. For an overview of what Zotero can do, have a look at the Quick Start Guide.

If we’re going to gather information about Mosman’s WWI servicepeople, first we have to find out who they were. The names on the Mosman War Memorial and George Franki’s research provide us with a great starting point, but there may be many others waiting to be identified.

We all know that the Trove newspaper database is a rich resource for historical research, but how can we make best use of it for this project? A quick search on ‘Mosman’ for the years 1914-1918 returns more than 20,000 articles — clearly we need a more strategic approach!

Maggie Patton gave us a look at some of the original WWI materials held by the State Library of NSW last Friday. As a collection it’s historic in its own right; the Library was collecting letters and diaries of Australian soldiers even before the armistice went into effect on 11 November 1918.