The following team members were recruited to the project:
Post-doctoral Research Assistant: Dr Alexia Moncrieff. Project: Distance and care in overseas pension provision.
PhD students: Ms. Eilis Boyle (The social and psychological impact of facial injuries during and after the first World War); Ms. Bethany Rowley (Charity, rehabilitation and religion: the experience of disabled veterans in Britain after the First World War)
Ten data entry interns worked on the project between September 2019 and the end of the project.
10% of the PIN 26 files was photographed for use by the team members, with just under 5% entered into the database. Preliminary stress-testing as proof-of-concept was conducted on the database. The photographed files formed the basis for analysis in the PhD dissertations, peer reviewed publications and public talks given by team members that were the principal output of the project.
Two PhD dissertations have been successfully submitted for examination. The project has also produced ten peer-reviewed publications (several forthcoming) and a submission of evidence to a British parliamentary committee of enquiry. There has been knowledge transfer in the form of regular talks delivered locally, nationally and internationally and the development of learning resources related to the database for primary and secondary school students.
A working partnership was developed with the National Archives, London, laying the foundations for the future dissemination of the database being created out of the PIN 26 files relating to individual pension cases.
Research was undertaken at other relevant archives both nationally and internationally which informed the analysis and consequent publications produced by team members.
Several of the individual PIN 26 files were used to develop, in collaboration with a local researchers, a workshop on post-war disability and the process of historical archival research aimed at school children, aged 9-11. A further resource for secondary school children was developed by undergraduates at the University of Leeds, supervised by Dr Moncrieff and Dr Meyer, as part of a module on research and public engagement.
Dr Meyer and Dr Moncrieff co-authored two significant interdisciplinary articles on the ethics of using and disseminating historical medical archival material. These make an important original contribution to discussions not only among but also between historians and archivists, discussions which were not happening prior to this research being undertaken.
Dr Meyer and Ms. Boyle submitted evident to the British Parliament's Women's and Equalities Committee Enquiry into the Mental Health of Men and Boys. They contributed important historical perspectives on the role of families in supporting men suffering from poor mental health and the need for state support for family carers in this this context.
A project website was developed (see below), including a project blog.
