For several weeks now I have devoted my Tuesday evenings to the selfless task of indexing the Daily Record from the years of the First World War from the microfilm copies at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.
I have recently been joined in this task by John Houston and he’s a much appreciated addition to the team as the names needing to be indexed in each paper is getting steadily longer the further I get into the editions from 1915.
My aim is to produce a database similar to the one currently being created by the staff of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow for the Glasgow Evening Times and I hope that when it is finished the Daily Record Index is online and as freely available as the Evening Times Index which can be viewed here.
Newspapers can be an invaluable source of information, particularly in terms of First World War casualties, where the information in the paper will often flesh out a bare-bones “Killed in Action” entry in an official record.
I am currently plodding through 1915 and John has started on the 1917 papers. This is a mammoth task and both of us would appreciate any help we can get with the work. You don’t need to be based in Glasgow – the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh also contains microfilm of the Daily Record, so any East-coasters can get involved too!
Please contact me via scottishwarmemorials@hotmail.co.uk if you are able to help.
We'll also keep you updated on our progress via this blog.
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