The Imperial War Museum (IWM) has embarked on an extensive project to digitize a vast archive of film and photographic material documenting a century of conflict. The initiative involves transferring over 5,000 miles of film and approximately 4.6 million photographs to digital formats, preserving fragile and historically significant records for future generations.

This large-scale undertaking, known as the Digital Futures Project, is based at IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire, a former RAF and U.S. Air Force base. The project team comprises specialists in film and photographic digitization who meticulously assess, repair, and convert original materials ranging from 1922 to more recent periods. These items include military footage, public broadcasts, and private home movies, many of which were recovered from various sources such as official archives and overlooked collections found in house clearances.

Digitisation manager David Finch highlighted the complexities involved in the process, noting the difficulties of handling old and delicate celluloid films, especially nitrate stock prone to deterioration and combustion if not carefully stabilized. “Every film element must first be individually assessed and prepared,” he explained, underscoring that the work requires both technical skill and historical expertise.

The collection spans a wide array of wartime experiences, featuring footage from the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, aerial combat involving Spitfire pilots, and the aftermath of bombing raids on British cities. It also documents social history from wartime country fetes to street parties, providing a fuller picture of civilian life during conflict. Among the material uncovered are rare scenes such as comedian Peter Sellers entertaining troops in Burma, Senegalese soldiers in 1940 France, and RAF women training with Bren light machine guns.

Ian Kikuchi, a curator at the Imperial War Museum, emphasized the unique historical value of the archive. “These films tell you the full story and often people risked their lives to record them,” he said, stressing the institution’s responsibility to preserve and share these narratives. He cited examples of raw combat footage from Normandy and Burma, as well as moving home movies and poignant records from concentration camps and prisoner-of-war releases. Kikuchi recounted meeting Harry Oakes, one of the first cameramen at Belsen concentration camp, reflecting on the profound risks taken to capture such images.

The Digital Futures Project, supported by a £1 million grant from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2025-26, began five years ago with a focus on preserving 1.8 million at-risk Cold War items and improving storage conditions for millions of others. Dr. Tilly Blyth, IWM’s executive director of collections and curatorial, described the initiative’s goal as expanding public access to the collection’s rarely seen footage while ensuring its long-term preservation.

The digitized archives are now available for viewing online, with the collection continuously growing through ongoing digitization efforts. The IWM also licenses its material for wider use, helping to keep the stories of those who lived through the wars accessible and relevant today.