Example Story – The Children in Alton During WWII

This page shows, through a real historical example, how our research information fits naturally into the database structure.

We first tell the story in normal language.

Afterwards we show how the same information is organized in the system.

The goal is to demonstrate that the database does not change our research work.

It only structures it clearly.

The story

At the beginning of the Second World War, the situation for the tuberculosis children in Belgium became urgent and dangerous.

Dr. Delcroix, responsible for their care, made the difficult decision to evacuate them.

Together with the Sisters of Charity, the children left Belgium on a French mail boat and crossed to the United Kingdom.

After several days of travel and uncertainty, they arrived in Alton.

There they were received in the private hospital of the English doctor Gauvain, at Morland Hall.

The children would remain in England until the middle of 1945.

During these years:

the Belgian Government in London sponsored their stay,
a Belgian refugee teacher was appointed to teach them daily,
the teacher not only educated them but also helped them survive,
he organized extra food and transport with a horse and cart,
Dr. Gauvain used his own staff to care for the children rather than the sisters.

Later the group moved from Morland Hall to Overbury Court.

After the war ended, the children gradually returned to Belgium.

Some went back directly to their families.

Others were temporarily housed in Wenduine, where a makeshift sanatorium was organized in a summer school building belonging to the Sisters of Charity.

Their original sanatorium had been destroyed during the war.

Dr. Delcroix again took responsibility for the children.

First he organized care in Wenduine, and later he supervised the construction of a new sanatorium in Ostend, which opened in 1954 and still exists today.

How this fits into our system

Now we look at the same story from an organizational point of view.

We are not changing the history.

We are only naming and structuring the information.

HeritageObjects (what we study)

Examples from the story:

the tuberculosis children’s sanatorium
Morland Hall hospital
Overbury Court
the temporary sanatorium in Wenduine
the new sanatorium in Ostend

These are all places or institutions that are subjects of research.

In the system they are HeritageObjects.

Persons (who was involved)

Examples:

Dr. Delcroix
Dr. Gauvain
the Belgian teacher
individual sisters

These are historical individuals.

In the system they are Persons.

Organizations (groups or institutions)

Examples:

Sisters of Charity
Belgian Government in London
the hospital administration

These act collectively.

In the system they are Organizations.

Places (where things happened)

Examples:

Belgium
Alton (UK)
Morland Hall
Overbury Court
Wenduine
Ostend

These describe location only.

In the system they are Places.

Places may be arranged inside each other:

United Kingdom

 * Alton
   * Morland Hall

ResearchChapters (parts of the story)

We might organize the narrative into chapters such as:

Pre-war period
Evacuation to England
Life in Alton
Return to Belgium
Reconstruction after the war

These chapters help structure interpretation.

They do not change the facts.

DigitalAssets (sources and documents)

To document this story we may have:

photographs
letters
government documents
lists of children
medical reports
maps
newspaper articles

Each of these becomes a DigitalAsset.

Each file (JPG or PDF) is attached to one DigitalAsset page.

What this shows

This example demonstrates that:

We are not inventing an artificial system.

We are simply:

naming what already exists,
separating people, places, and documents,
and connecting them clearly.

The database mirrors the way historians already think.

It only makes the structure explicit and searchable.

Next step

After reading this example, you may wish to consult: