A new digital archive: cymru1914.org

The National Library of Wales worked with partners to conduct a mass digitisation programme of primary sources relating to the First World War from the libraries, special collections and archives of Wales. The new digital archive and bilingual website, cymru1914.org, brings together source materials that were previously fragmented across Wales and frequently inaccessible. The collection reveals the impact of the First World War on the life, language and culture of Wales.

This new digital archive includes over 200,000 pages of newspapers, archives, photographs, and manuscripts from the archives and special collections of Wales. It was launched in November 2013 and was developed through a partnership with the Welsh Higher Education Libraries Forum with funding from Jisc, the Welsh Government and partner institutions. The Library added resources to this archive throughout the commemoration period, including additional newspapers; the Cardiganshire Great War Tribunal (Appeals) Records; Saunders Lewis Letters; the Welsh Horse Lancers Research Papers Archive; as well as books (including novels), periodicals, diaries and letters. Between November 2014 and September 2019, there were 280,862 unique users who visited the website, or an average of 4600 a month. See the archive: cymru1914.org

Right: Four soldiers © National Library of Wales