POSTCARDS -YPRES FRANCE WORLD WAR ONE

c. 1919 - 1929
Overview

Book of ten postcards of Ypres before and after WW1.Light brown cover with red text in French and English. Oval drawing on cover with buildings and river. Contains 10 sepia photos of buildings before and after the war. View of Menin Gate before the war is missing.

Historical information

These postcards were collected by Mrs Denholm when she was a child living in Ypres. She was born there after the end of WWI. They were a souvenir and a reminder of the town and its links to World War One. As a child she remembers listening to the last post being played every night as she went to bed. Because of all of the stories about the war that people told her, she used to have nightmares about being shelled in the trenches as a child. Her father Leonard Knox built and ran the first cinema in the town after the end of the war.
The postcards represent the interest people had in the Western Front either out of curiosity of seeing what had happened or because family and friends had served and may be buried on the Western Front. The post cards also represent people and communities looking at ways to rebuild their communities and using tourism to draw in people and money to help achieve this.

Details

Details

Registration number
cwa-org-33-COA2007.4
Item type
Material
Width
150 mm
Height or length
89 mm
Depth
5 mm
Inscriptions and markings

[YPRES Series No1/ AVANT ET APRES BEFORE AND AFTER / LA GUERRE THE WAR/10 CARTES POSTALES PHOTO ANTONY d'YPRES. / POSTCARDS DEPOSE.]

Place made
Belgium
Statement of significance

This object is part of collection with good provenance and interpretive potential that tells the story of the City of Armadale's connection to armed conflicts around the world from the late 1800s to today. The collection explores the experiences of people associated with the City of Armadale who went to war, their experiences when they returned as well as how these conflicts impacted the community who stayed behind.

Primary significance criteria
Historic significance
Comparative significance criteria
Interpretive capacity
Rare or representative
City of Armadale - History House

City of Armadale - History House

Organisation Details
View Collection
Item Feedback

Front cover of book of 10 postcards showing Ypres before and after the war.

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