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Herstory was a joint project run by the Green Howards Museum and the National Childbirth Trust, Birth & Beyond Supporters group in Catterick Garrison.
The project explored the experiences of women as the wives and partners of soldiers over the last 150 years through archival accounts and historic collections from the Green Howards Museum.
The three focal periods for the project were the mid Victorian period during which the Crimean War was fought (1854-6) and the two World Wars. Original sources from the museum collections told the stories of army wives in both these periods.
Three sessions were held at community venues between 6 and 8 May 2014.
Participants could:
• Look at archival material and objects from the Green Howards Museum collections and listen to songs, diary entries and letters from the past.
• Participate in a range of activities which bring women’s experiences historically to life.
• Discuss and respond to what they have seen and heard and respond creatively to it through drama, art or writing.
• Talk about and record their experiences as part of video diary exploring and contrasting the lives of army wives in the 21st century.
A short film has been created as a permanent record of the project. Watch it here now.
In September 2015, Herstory was Highly Commended in the Women’s History Network Community Prize.