THE FIRST WORLD WAR: A DOCUMENTARY RECORD

Series One: European War 1914-1919, the War Reserve Collection (WRA-WRE) from Cambridge University Library

Part 1: The Card Catalogue and Manuscript Listings

Explanation of the Scope of the War Reserve Collection (WRA-WRE) and an Explanation of the Card Catalogue and Manuscript Listings

The Cambridge War Reserve Collection (WRA-WRE) is a large collection of ephemeral, manuscript and printed sources relating to the First World War. The way in which the collection was formed and the character of its contents are described in the Publisher’s Note and the Introduction by Dr J M Winter.

The main body of the material is organised in two ways. Firstly by size, categorised as:

WRA – 24-47 cm or larger in height
WRB – 24-31cm in height
WRC – 21-24cm in height
WRD – 17-21cm in height
WRE – 10-16cm in height

Secondly, by subject code number:

1. …Parliamentary Papers, Diplomatic Correspondence & Official Documents (we propose to omit all widely available sections – such as Official Papers – where appropriate)

2. …Political and Historical Literature (including general histories, causes, origins) (we propose to omit all widely available sections where appropriate)

11. Military Operations

12. Naval Operations

13. Aerial Operations

14. RAMC, Red Cross work. YMCA. Auxiliary services

15. German Occupation. Deportations. Vandalism

16. Prisoners. Atrocities

17. Personal narratives & reminiscences

18. Regimental records

19. Pictures, illustrations

30. Economics. Finance. Socialism

33. Russian Affairs. Bolshevism

34. Pacifist Literature

35a. Propaganda (Allies)

35b. Propaganda (Germany)

36. Sermons. Charities. Religion. Benevolent Societies

40. Social Life. Sports & Amusements

41. Peace. League of Nations

42. Literature

44. Rolls of Honour. Memorial Volumes

45. Reconstruction

46. Miscellaneous

50. Bibliography

Books, periodicals and pamphlets are given three figure item numbers as follows:

Books and Pamphlets

1 - Bound books with printed slips in the General Catalogue:
101 - Unbound books with printed slips in the General Catalogue:
201 - Bound books listed only in the Card Catalogue:
301 - Unbound books listed only in the Card Catalogue:
401 - Continuation of Bound books with printed slips in the General Catalogue where 1- fills up:
1001- Continuation of Bound books with printed slips in the General Catalogue where 1- and 401- fills up:

eg: WRC17.301
This is an unbound item listed only in the Card Catalogue.

EXPLANATION OF THE COLLECTION

Periodicals

101 - Bound periodicals with printed slips in the General Catalogue:
201 - Unbound periodicals with printed slips in the General Catalogue:
301 - Bound periodicals listed only in the Card Catalogue:
401 - Unbound periodicals listed only in the Card Catalogue:

Posters are given the coding WRP. “P” for Posters.
Newspapers are given the coding WRN. “N” for Newspapers

THE CARD CATALOGUE

Here are reproductions of two sample cards from the collection:

On the first of these examples WRD indicates that this item is part of the Cambridge War Reserve Collection and that the size of the material is between 17 and 21cm in height. The number following WRD ie: 35b gives the subject classification of this item: German Propaganda.

The next number ie: 382 is the item number. The author is not given in this case. The title, size, place and date of publication are self explanatory.

The second card refers to an item in the General Collection of the University Library, Cambridge of relevance to the First World War. There is no WR prefix and therefore it is not part of the War Reserve Collection. The number given in the top left hand corner is the shelf mark reference. The number in the right hand corner refers to the University Library system of printed slips. It is the serial number of the appropriate printed slip. The first two digits denote the year of classification eg: 18 means 1918 and the number after the colon is the number of the printed slip in the sequence of that particular year. The inclusion of these cards greatly enhances the value of the card catalogue as a resource describing material available for the study of the First World War.

It will be noted that the majority of the cards describing the items in the War Reserve Collection are in manuscript form whilst most of the cards for materials in the General Collection are printed.

The author, title, size place and date of publication are again self explanatory.

The Card Catalogue is arranged in alphabetical order interfiling authors and titles in one alphabetical sequence and with ample cross referencing.

THE MANUSCRIPT LISTINGS

This is a full listing of the War Reserve Collection WRA-WRE in manuscript form and is comprised of two volumes.

Vol 1 WRA-WRC. 16
Vol 2 WRC. 17-WRE

This details all ephemeral, manuscript and printed sources within the Collection, but not items in the General Collection.

It follows the straightforward sequence with all the WRA items coming first in subject code order, then all the WRB items, then the WRC items (although these are split between volumes 1 and 2) then the WRD items and finally the WRE items.

EXPLANATION OF THE COLLECTION

Periodicals, books and pamphlets with three figure numbers are listed as additional material after the sequence of subject coded material.

Each new subject coded category starts on a new page.

The first pages you will see are entries for the following:

WRA 1.1 (just one item)
WRA 1.101
WRA 1.201
WRA 1.301-509 (list of items 301-509)
WRA 2.1-43
WRA 2.301-315
WRA 11.1
WRA 11.101
WRA 11.301-302
WRA 12.1
WRA 12.301

Please refer back to the subject code list for descriptions of the subject code categories `1´, `2´, `11´ and `12´

Hence it will be seen that to get a listing of all the items that have been categorised, for example, a Personal Narratives and Reminiscences, with the subject code 17, one must look under:

WRA 17
WRB 17
WRC 17
WRD 17
WRE 17

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