As communities and volunteers have been transcribing the 390,296 signatories from the 1923 Welsh Women’s Peace Petition to America, many have been identifying and uncovering the stories behind this generation of women who stood against war. Who were they – and what messages might they have for us 100 years later, as their call for peace resonates down through the centuries?
- Download bilingual postcard PDF
Viewing / Transcribing the Petition
As the ‘Hawlio Heddwch’ project progresses over the course of this centenary year. we are pleased to now be able to share the digitised pages from the petition which can be viewed via the National Library for Wales website – scroll down to ‘Access the Peace Petition‘ where you can currently select Boxes 1 to 26. Transcription takes place via the Crowdsourcing Platform, where volunteers can register and work their way through as few or as many pages as they feel able.
Searching the Petition
On completion of the transcription, the whole petition will become searchable (by names, places and key words) – an updated web link will be made available when this search function becomes available. In the meantime, for users who are trying to find specific names, places or signatories, you can search the petition catalogue by entering key words into the ‘search box’ on LH side (eg enter ‘Nannerch’, it will then list all petition sheets that have been catalogued using that placename).
Can you help by Sharing Women’s Peace Stories?
We are appealing for contributors across Wales to uncover and share ‘peace stories’ behind the 390,296 women who signed the Peace Petition – not just ‘the great and the good’, but the thousands of ordinary women across Wales moved in the aftermath of World War One to petition for peace. Can you help?
‘Hidden Histories’ can be contributed however you feel most comfortable – by email, a Word document, short video or audio recording (these can be done using free apps on most mobile phones).
- Download Microsoft Word template with question prompts to help guide your writing.
If you would be happy to share your stories as part of the centenary project, please send by email to post@academiheddwch.cymru.
Large files such as videos can be sent (to the email above) using WeTransfer (users need only use a free account signup for this):
Example Contributions – Women’s Peace Stories
Explore some example stories gathered by contributors to the Women’s Peace Petition centenary project below:
