Collections Saturday - an insight into our Archives



Today I have spent some time going through a box of Burma related material. It was great to spend some time with archives and objects, unwrapping and reading them then photographing them. As I opened each envelope, it was like unwrapping presents at Christmas. 

This is part of the preparation for our VJ commemorations. I am keen to check what we hold in our collections so that we can use some of the material. Envelope after envelope opened up its secrets for me to view. A variety of items that gave an insight into the Far Eastern campaign of the Second World War. A great way to spend a Saturday morning.

The photograph on my blog today is of the contents inside one of the envelopes. It is an escape map made of rayon of Burma, Siam (now Thailand) and French Indo-China (now Vietnam). Made in 1944, the map was produced by MI9 who replicated the idea of the 1943 European escape maps. The eight South East Asia maps are based on the International Map of the World sheets, each identified by the prefix 44 followed by an upper case letter. The museum map is 44C with 44D on the reverse.


The map is safely stored and ready to be properly photographed. A small item with an interesting history. One of many exciting items that we hope to use over the next month as we focus on the war in the Far East.
 

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