We need your photos from World War I

Media release Wednesday 11 April 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

We need your photos from World War I

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand, in association with the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum and Associate Professor Glyn Harper of Massey University, are appealing to the public for copies of historic World War I photographs to be reproduced in what promises to be the definitive photographic record of Kiwi involvement in the Great War.

Images of War will showcase unique, and in many cases, previously unpublished images from the Museum's outstanding collection of photographs from the World War I period. Glyn Harper one of this country's leading military historians and author of many highly regarded books on the subject, including most recently, In the Face of the Enemy: the complete history of the Victoria Cross and New Zealand is the author and mastermind behind the project.

To compliment and extend its collection for the book, the Museum is also calling for war photographs from the New Zealand public. The theme is wide ranging and covers all aspects of World War I from the announcement of war in New Zealand, troop muster and our troops in Samoa in 1914, to all the training and battlefields from Gallipoli where New Zealanders prepared, fought, were wounded or lost their lives. This also includes photos taken during the Armistice in 1918, plus the aftermath of the war.

Photographs might be live action shots including battlefields immediately after the action; troops in location either immediately before or just after military action; wounded soldiers being treated; prisoners of war; artillery, tanks or machine guns firing; aircraft and battleships with a New Zealand connection; weapons training; soldiers in the trenches or of trench life; life behind the lines; soldiers on leave in France and the United Kingdom; famous and infamous commanders, Victoria Cross winners, troublemakers or royal visits; war animals including horses, mules, dogs and camels; war graves and anything that might be considered unusual or interesting.

Copies only of photographs can be submitted either electronically in the form of a low resolution digital scan to editors@harpercollins.co.nz or a photocopy by mail to Images of War Project, HarperCollins Publishers, P O Box 1, Auckland. Please do not send original photographs, but photocopies or scanned images only. All submissions should include full contact details.

Ideally, all photographs submitted should be accompanied by relevant information, such as location, date, who or what is in the photograph, which unit they belonged to and who took the photograph. This information is necessary for accompanying captions, should the photograph be selected. However, if the information isn't available, people submitting photographs should just include what they know, as the unit and likely action can often be deduced by the experts.

Images of War will be published in time for Armistice Day, November 2008. Those whose photos are selected will receive a complimentary copy of the book. This is a terrific opportunity for New Zealanders to contribute to the public recording of our magnificent military heritage.

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