Rachel Millar

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The Life of Mairi Chisholm’s Photograph Album: from front lines to doctoral thesis

A white woman with mid length dark hair and wearing glasses, wears a patterned red top, standing in front of a research display

Rachel Millar (she/her) is a PhD researcher at University of Glasgow funded by the SGSAH’s Doctoral Training Partnership. Her research is focused on representations of women’s work in the First World War in visual media through the lens of emotion. She is particularly interested in artworks and objects which had been used in centenary commemorative projects on national, regional, and community levels.

A variety of black and white and sepia photographs on display

Rachel’s exhibit showcased the underutilised source of the photograph album. It took Mairi Chisholm’s album made during the First World War as an example and displayed its journey over one hundred years. The display celebrated the original form of her record of work as an album by re-creating the format in three accordion fold books. These opened fully to reveal pop-up carousel book displays. Each depicted a central point in the album’s life:

  1. Production (1914-1918). This album recreated the original snapshot sized photographs taken by Mairi Chisholm between 1914-1918. This album replicated some of Chisholm’s curatorial techniques such as juxtaposition of humorous and sad images, annotations, and page organisation.

Commemorative use (2014-2018). This album used the commemorative exhibition ‘No Man’s Land: Women’s

  1. Photography and the First World War’ and subsequent publication ‘No Man’s’ Land: Young People Uncover Women’s Viewpoints on the First World War’. This album showed how the photographs have been physically altered and redefined in their meaning and use.
  2. Scholarly use (2021-present). This album included my own writing, photographs, and research. This album showcased the specialised way I am treating Chisholm’s album inside a conceptual framework rooted in the history of emotions.

A large upright photo album with images and text. In front of it is a small piece of card that reads 'Scholarly use, 2021 - present'

Using Mairi Chisholm’s album in a showcase helped to challenge popular understandings of women’s role in the First World War. It offered alternative readings using snapshots produced contemporaneously but also consumed at the time and subsequently. Using albums as the display method was key to understanding both the production and reception of art works through the lens of emotion. Visitors were able to pick up the album and examine it closely just as the original was. It offered a new and deeper insight into the original production of Mairi Chisholm’s memories as well as a more nuanced appreciation of the ways in which it has been used since.

An image of paper on a peach background with botanical icons. Text reads: Most people from history don’t speak to us in complete sentences let alone paragraphs or pages of books. For most people who ever lived we have nothing of their lives. For those who did leave something what we have is fragmentary, incomplete. What Mairi Chisholm has left us is a record of her most treasured and important memories. In 1914, at age eighteen, Mairi Chisholm travelled to London on her motorbike with the intention of becoming a dispatch rider. She joined Dr Hector Munro’s Flying Ambulance Corps and was sent to Belgium. Together with her friend Elsie Knocker, she set up a medical post on the front lines at a village called Pervyse after realising that soldiers were dying whilst being transported from the front. The two women were awarded medals for their work and were captured by the popular imagination. The Chisholm papers were bequeathed to the National Library of Scotland. In these papers are five photograph albums Chisholm put together about her wartime experiences. This showcase will focus on the third of these, which relates primarily to the dressing station at Pervyse from 1914-1917. Three albums are displayed to depict the fascinating century-long journey of this object: Production 1914 - 1918, Commemorative Use 2014 - 2018, Scholarly Use 2021 - present

SGSAH; SGSAH ResearchCONNECT WITH RACHEL
E-mail: r.millar.3@research.gla.ac.uk

X: @RachelM1213