13 volumes of scrapbooks created by Dr. George Elam M.D., F.R.C.S., which form an almost daily record of local and national news coverage in the period during and immediately following the First World War.
Each volume is fully indexed, and each article is dated and attributed. Articles are mainly taken from the Times and Sheffield Daily Telegraph, though the Daily Mail, Daily News and Leader, Daily Sketch, and Yorkshire Telegraph and Star also feature. Printed photographs, clipped from the Illustrated London News, are tipped in at relevant locations.
Bindings are worn, but all cuttings are firmly attached and in good condition. Each volume contains around 170 pages.
The first volume contains a typewritten inscription: "My diary of the Great War. During the many months and years of this war, I have cut out and collected from newspapers, the extracts bearing on it. I do not give it as anything like a complete history, but I hope it may have some interest for those who come after me. To paraphrase a catchword of the time:- 'What did you do in the Great War, Daddy?' 'I lickspittled!' 8 Mar 1918."
The final volume contains a handwritten inscription: "And here I end my 'History of the Great War' and hope that my son, Christopher Whitehead (to whom, and to whose children, I bequeath it, may find some interest in reading it in the years to come, when time has dimmed the memories of 1914-1918."
The volumes are dated:
1. 9 Jul 1914-1 Feb 1915
2. 15 Nov 1914-30 Mar 1915
3. 30 Mar 1915-13 Jul 1915
4. 14 Jul 1915-7 Oct 1915
5. 8 Oct 1915-3 Feb 1916
6. 4 Feb 1916-24 May 1916
7. 24 May 1916-20 Nov 1916
8. 21 Nov 1916-14 Jun 1917
9. 15 Jun 1917-4 Jan 1918
10. 5 Jan 1918-12 Jul 1918
11. 13 Jul 1918-19 Nov 1918
12. 20 Nov 1918-11 Apr 1919
13. 12 Apr 1919-31 Aug 1921