Blood and Treasure: The Social and Cultural History of Money during the First World War

这项研究项目将研究战时货币的社会和文化史。它问的问题是：第一次世界大战如何改变了人们对金钱的使用和看法，这些改变教会了我们关于政府和国家、战争和社会的流行观念？在和平时期，我们经常不假思索地使用金钱。我们花钱、存钱、用钱、数钱，很少考虑它的价值。金钱是有效的，就像语言一样，因为每个人都心照不宣地同意让它这样做。然而，战争可能会威胁或打破这一共识。金钱不再被认为是理所当然的，人们开始以不寻常的方式对待它。例如，重要性突然有了价值：金币和银币变得比铜币或纸币更具吸引力。法定货币的价值随着政府的合法性和有效性、获胜的前景以及社会中的信任水平而波动。货币的效用是起伏不定的，食品或香烟等商品有时会作为替代交换手段和价值储存手段出现。在极端情况下，信任崩溃，易货贸易取代了货币经济。价值等级是灵活的，相对于其他无形或有形的商品，比如勇气或一件新外套，金钱有时会失去优先权。人们对富人和穷人的态度发生了变化，投机商和炫耀性的消费者招致了怀疑、羞辱，甚至更糟。金钱为爱国主义提供了一个统一的焦点，或者对于被敌人占领的民众来说，它是外国压迫的日常标志。储蓄可以成为一种表达爱国精神和对最终胜利充满信心的方式，也可以成为一种由同龄人压力驱动的不受欢迎的职责。这项研究项目涉及经济学、社会学、人类学、哲学和历史学等多个学科，将通过两条线索来探索这些主题。第一个是关于第一次世界大战期间货币的历史研究项目：利用档案资源和博物馆收藏品，包括帝国战争博物馆(IWM)的资源，它将探索战时货币的“功能不稳定”，并从一个新的角度调查社会信任、政府合法性和爱国主义主题，这是对现有经济和金融史著作的补充和超越。产出将包括一本由剑桥大学出版社出版的专著，以及至少两篇在《英国历史评论》等领先期刊上发表的文章。通过构建国际和跨学科网络，并与博士后研究助理(RA)合作，更广泛地解决战时金钱问题，该研究金将建设探索其历史的能力，并确保在项目本身生命周期之外留下遗产。第二条旨在通过提高人们对IWM与金钱和金融相关的收藏的认识，激发公众对金钱本质的辩论。该联谊会将把对IWM收藏品的研究整合到这一研究项目中，提供一系列公开讲座，并与IWM合作设计一个以战时金钱为主题的重大公共季节。它还将建立和维护一个博客，包括定期的研究日记和推特订阅，并在流行的历史期刊如今日历史和英国广播公司历史上发表文章，并与IWM组织一个研讨会，讨论学者和文物专业人员合作的最佳做法。这个项目需要对第一次世界大战历史和金钱本身有深入的了解。乔纳森·博夫出版了两本专著，确立了自己作为研究这场冲突的主要历史学家之一的地位。在重返学术界之前，他在金融市场工作了近20年，他对应用经济学和货币在危机中的行为，以及有用的项目管理技能有了很好的掌握，这使他成为承担这一令人兴奋的新项目的唯一合格人选。

This research project will study the social and cultural history of money in wartime. The question it asks is: How did the First World War change uses and perceptions of money, and what do those changes teach us about popular ideas about government and state, the war and society?In peacetime, we often use money without a second thought. We spend, save, use, and keep count of it, with little consideration of its value. Money works, like a language does, because everyone tacitly agrees to let it do so. War, however, can threaten or shatter that consensus. Money can no longer be taken for granted and people start to behave towards it in unusual ways. For example, materiality suddenly has value: gold and silver coins become more attractive than coppers or paper banknotes. The value of fiat currencies fluctuates with the legitimacy and effectiveness of government, prospects of victory, and with the level of trust within society. The very utility of money fluctuates, with commodities such as food or cigarettes sometimes emerging as alternative means of exchange and stores of value. At the extreme, trust collapses and barter replaces the money economy. Hierarchies of value flex, with money sometimes losing priority relative to other intangible or tangible goods such as courage or a new coat. Attitudes to rich and poor change, with profiteers and conspicuous consumers attracting suspicion, opprobrium, or worse. Money offers a unifying focus for patriotism or, for populations under enemy occupation, serves as a daily sign of foreign oppression. Saving can become an expression of patriotism and confidence in ultimate victory, or an unwelcome duty driven by peer pressure.This research project, informed by diverse disciplines such as economics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and history, will explore such themes via two strands. The first is a historical research project on money during the First World War: drawing on archival resources and museum collections, including those of the Imperial War Museum (IWM), it will explore the 'functional instability' of money in wartime and investigate themes of societal trust, government legitimacy and patriotism from a new perspective which complements and goes beyond existing works of economic and financial history. Outputs will include a monograph to be published by Cambridge University Press and at least two articles in leading journals such as English Historical Review. By constructing an international and interdisciplinary network, and collaborating with a postdoctoral Research Assistant (RA), to address the problems of money in wartime more generally, the Fellowship will build capacity to explore its history and ensure a legacy beyond the life of the project itself.The second strand aims to stimulate public debate about the nature of money by raising awareness of the IWM's collection relating to money and finance. The Fellowship will integrate study of IWM collections into this research project, deliver a series of public lectures, and collaborate with the IWM on the design of a major public season on the topic of Money in Wartime. It will also set up and maintain a blog, including a regular research diary, and a Twitter feed, as well as publishing articles in popular history journals such as History Today and BBC History, and organising a workshop with the IWM on best practice for collaborations between academics and heritage professionals.This project demands in-depth understanding of First World War history and of money itself. With the two monographs he has published, Jonathan Boff has established himself as one of the leading historians of the conflict. And with a nearly twenty year career in financial markets before returning to academia, he has acquired an excellent grasp of applied economics and the behaviour of money in crises, as well as useful project management skills, making him uniquely qualified to undertake this exciting new project.