Add Your Own Story

Welcome!

So you want to share your Great War story with the people of Luton? Then this page will show you how to do just that, and add your items to the website.

Who do we want to add things?

  • People who live in Luton, who have objects, information, stories, or memories that relate to EITHER  the experiences of the town and its people, OR your family in WWI.
  • People who don't live in Luton, who have objects, information, stories, or memories that relate to EITHER the experiences of the town and its people, OR your family in WWI.

Registering

If you want to add any items to the website you need to register. This is because we want to know what you've uploaded, in case we want to ask you for more information.  It also means that you keep ownership of all your own stuff!

What are we collecting?

We are collecting content (things) that help tell the story of Luton's Great War. But we cannot collect them 'in the flesh' because the museum is bursting at the seams with objects already. So we're doing it digitally. This also means you can keep hold of all your treasured objects and family memories.

  • We've chosen to split content up into People, Events and Objects.

How do I know if I am adding a Person, Object or Event?

  • People are. Well. People. We don't mind if they're civilian or military, as long as they connect to Luton's WWI story.
  • Events are things that happened within a defined time. Like a play, sporting event, accident, battle etc.
  • Objects are things/places. Postcards, pictures, letters, diaries, medals, bullets or shops, theatres, churches, military bases.

When adding information you will always need to click either the "Save", "Next" or "Done" buttons to save your information, otherwise any information you have added will be lost.

Adding People

To add an individual click on the "Add Person" link in the menu, and then fill in as many details as you can. Or, complete this form, and email it to greatwar@lutonculture.com

Adding Events

To add an event, ie something that took place on a specific date, click on the "Add Event" link, and then fill in as many details as you can.

Adding Objects

If you want to add an Object. An Object is anything that is not an individual or an event, then click on the "Add Object" link, and then fill in as many details as you can. For example, if you are adding a letter then this should be added as an object not an individual.

Relations / Connections

Once you have added an item you can link it to other items already on the website. For instance if you add a letter, this could be linked to the individual who wrote it. To add a relation, edit the item you want to link, then go to the "Connects To" field and type in the item you want to link it to, and save.

My Items

You can see a list of all the items you have added to the website by clicking on the "My Items" link in the menu on the right.

Example

  • You would like to add a letter.
  • The first step would be to add a new object by clicking on the "Add Object" link.
  • You then fill in all the details of the letter.
  • If you wanted to add the details of the person who wrote the letter, you would then click on the "Add Person" link and fill in as much detail as you could about the individual.
  • While you were filling in the details about the individual, you could link that person to the letter they wrote by filling in the "Connnects to" field for that person.
  • If somebody had already added that person, then you would simply connect your letter to that person, without needing to add them.

To connect two different items, it is always possible to go back and edit one of the items, fill in the "Connects to" field to link it to another item.

  • History is all about people - that's what makes it interesting.
  • Whatever you're contributing, the first question to ask yourself is "Does this have something to do with a particular person?" 
    • If it does, then the place to start is by searching for that person.  Once you've found that person, click the "Connect an object to me" button or "Connect a person to me" button or the "Connect an event to me" button.
    • If the person you want isn't already on the site, the best thing to do is to add them first as an individual, then add the item that you want.  If you're uploading something related to more than one person, you only have to put one person on the site first - it's easy to link it to other people in future.
  • If you're uploading something that is nothing to do with a person, just go straight to the "Add Object" page.
  • If you're uploading something that relates to something that happened at a fixed point in time, then go staight to the "Add Event" page.