What will I need in order to complete the "Share Your Story" Submission Form?
When working through the Submission Form, you will be asked to provide details about and upload the following (we recommend that you prepare these things in advance of starting the form):
- Your name and contact details
- Your story (e.g. your grandmother's experience during the war)
- Your object(s) (e.g. your grandmother's wartime diary)
- Digital photos of your object(s)
You will be asked to five additional questions relating to modern-day attitudes to the war, though these questions are not mandatory.
Will I be asked to sign anything?
You will also be asked to agree to the Terms of Service, which you can read here.
Is there anything that I can do to make the process easier for me?
We recommend that you prepare your 'story' in a Word document in advance of starting the submission form. You can then copy and paste the text into the form.
What will happen to my submission once completed?
Your submission will be reviewed by the project team and published on the online archive on 6 June 2024, when we'll publish all submissions to the archive.
Can I change or remove my story after it's been submitted?
You can change your story or remove it from the archive by emailing us at theirfinesthour@ell.ox.ac.uk.
Do you have any top tips?
1) Be prepared
Before you start completing the “Share Your Story” form, it can be helpful to have a look through the whole form first, to make sure you have everything that you think you will need. For example, the form gives you the opportunity to upload files, such as scans of photographs or photographs or objects, and it can be helpful to have these already saved somewhere locally on your computer before you start.
2) Be responsible
If you are planning to share a story/object(s) relating to a living family member/friend or are sharing something on their behalf, it is really important that you talk to them first, before you submit your contribution, to make sure they are happy for their story/object(s)to be published publicly online.
3) Take your time
You will not be able to view/edit the contents of your form once you have submitted it – so, before you click submit, it is a good idea to give the form a final check:
- Have you entered something into all of the mandatory fields?
- If you do not want your name to be displayed online alongside your submission- have you ticked the “I want to submit anonymously” box?
- Have you attached any files you wish to share?
- Have you read the “Terms of Service” and ticked the box to show that you/ the person you are submitting the form on the behalf of, agree to these?
- Have you included all the information that you wanted to?
4) Be curious
The aim of this project is to collect stories from/about people who experienced life during World War 2, to ensure these memories are not lost to future generations.
We will be publishing all of the contributions we receive online via the Their Finest Hour Online Archive on Thursday 6 June 2024 (the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings). In addition to seeing your own contribution online, this will also be a great opportunity to browse the other stories and objects that have been shared as part of the project.