Exhibition shows Quaker response to war
A major exhibition on the Quaker response to the first world war set to open
A major exhibition on the Quaker response to the first world war opens on 17 January in Birmingham.
‘Faith and Action: Quakers and the First World War’ will be on show in the Community Gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 7 June. Original photographs, film, interviews and artefacts will tell the stories of Quaker men and women during the 1914-1918 conflict and its aftermath.
‘Faith and Action’ examines the impact of the war on Quaker artists, businesses, families and communities in Birmingham, central England and beyond. It brings to life the dilemmas experienced by young Quaker men in deciding whether to fight, face imprisonment or serve in other ways.
The exhibition is a Central England Area Meeting project, led and curated by Betty Hagglund, of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre.
Betty told the Friend: ‘Although the newspapers and television screens are full of world war one stories, there are still a lot of hidden stories – about peace, about things that happened at home, about dilemmas and conflicts. As Friends, these are part of our community story…
‘The things that happened in the past shape who we are now as a faith community. And it’s also important that we draw links between the past and the present, between Quaker engagement in the past and the living out of our testimonies today.’
Betty added that the project has seen Central England Area Meeting engage with other groups across Birmingham. These ranged from historical societies to faith communities. This dialogue meant, she explained, that the Quaker perspective has been included in the broader first world war stories being told by other groups.
Work on the exhibition was funded primarily by the Pamela Williams Legacy. Pamela was a local Friend who was very strongly committed to both peace work and local history.
