As war memorials were set up across the county in the shadow of the First World War, Newnham women realised that their work would go unrecorded if they did not take action. The result was a hand-written book recording what over 700 Newnham alumnae had done during the war. Work ranged from Elsie Butler, awarded the Serbian War medal for her work with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals unit in Russia, Macedonia and Serbia, to Mrs Howard, developing techniques that would provide soldiers with vegetables high in vitamin C.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, this book, until now accessible only be a small number of researchers, has now been digitised and made available via Cambridge University Library. The digital version will be launched at an event in Newnham College, with a talk by Dr Gill Sutherland.
This event is open to all; pre-booking is not required.