Leicester in WW2 is a new online exhibition that uses recordings from the East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) to tell the story of the people of Leicester during WW2. Using memories from the Archive, plus a variety of engaging visual material, the website illustrates life in Leicester during the war on the Home Front, and also tells the stories of servicemen and women who served in the military abroad.
For the first time we have brought together edited highlights from more than 800 recordings of people from Leicestershire and Rutland. Volunteers and staff from the University of Leicester have provided contextual information. We hope this exhibition will bring to life subjects ranging from well-told stories of the blackout and rations to new, unique, accounts of life at home and in theatres of war across the globe.
The EMOHA was originally funded by the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund in 2001 to establish the first large-scale archive of oral history recordings for Leicestershire and Rutland. Our collections include the sound archive of BBC Radio Leicester, and many other collections donated by local organisations or individuals from across the East Midlands.
