Their Finest Hour Project - Second World War Digital Collections Day - 1st April 2023

We have been informed of the exciting project being undertaken by Oxford University.

The aim of the Oxford University-led and Heritage Lottery Fund supported project is to preserve the country’s Second World War stories and objects in a free digital archive. Digital Collections Days will be held around the country to collect stories for the online archive, and Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum will be hosting one of these on 1st April 2023.

At the Digital Collection Day, stories about your or your family’s wartime experience – and associated objects such as diaries, letters, medals, journals and ration books – will be recorded, digitised, and then uploaded to the Their Finest Hour archive.

Visitors can talk to museum staff on the day about donating items to the museum’s own collection if they would like, but the focus will be on digitisation – photographing objects, recording stories and scanning documents – so original items can remain with their families.

The museum will run the event as an open day, with admission free to all, as well as hosting a range of Second World War exhibitions and events, including living history displays from the Oxfordshire Home Guard, Ham & Jam and Doing Their Bit (and more).

We know parking in Woodstock can be limited, but Blenheim Palace have kindly stepped in to help – offering free parking on the day for those attending the Collections Day. The museum is a short walk from the palace, through the Woodstock Town gate.