Authors: Kate Hunter and Kirstie Ross
Holding on to Home: New Zealand Stories and Objects of the First World War - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, NZ
The Great War seeped and stormed into every aspect of New Zealanders’ lives, from the frontline to the family home.
The things that survived – a crumpled theatre ticket, an engraved cigarette case, a knitting pattern, a crucifix made from rifle cartridges – are emotional touchstones that bring this distant event back into our hands.
Historians Kate Hunter and Kirstie Ross have scoured museums and archives across the country to uncover these personal possessions and the stories they tell. All-new photographs and original research illuminate the things that were worn, lugged, kissed and held by soldiers and those at home, placing these objects at the centre of this important new social history.
Holding on to Home provides a fresh perspective on the First World War and gives valuable insights into the lives of New Zealanders during wartime, more than one hundred years later.
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: The fabric of war
1 Citizen soldiers and fighting families
2 Soldiers’ stuff
3 War work
4 Patriotism at play
5 Little Britons and future citizens
6 The limits of loyalty
7 Homes away from home
8 Threads of consolation
9 Peace: ‘Too sad to understand’
Acknowledgements
Endnotes
Bibliography
Image credits
Index
