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Date	Original Topic
14th January 2005	Campaign to find Zulu War items By Coll Although this may have already been attempted, I'd like to pursue a matter raised by an enthusiast on a previous topic. As more Zulu War documents and items are surfacing again after many years, it was suggested that an editorial campaign should be started to encourage people to search through long forgotten belongings in attics, etc., in the hope of discovering anything related to the Zulu War 1879. If all the enthusiasts in different areas of the U.K. contacted their local and main newspapers informing them of this project, including the anniversary of the battle at Isandlwana this month, hopefully securing an article in the papers appealing to the readers to assist in locating anything connected to this campaign. The more publicity this project gets, the more chance there would be of obtaining objects or documents which may otherwise have never been seen. What are your views on this subject ?.
Date	Replies
14th January 2005	Julian whybra Yes and no. The last two years have seen an abundance of fraudulent documents and artefacts, some of which have fooled the NAM. Forgers are getting very good - anything which encourages them to think that there is still a market with punters willing to pay large amounts of money for documents will produce much to cloud the issue as well as the genuine article. On the other hand it would be nice to think that people were all as well-meaning as you obviously are.
15th January 2005	Michael Boyle Julian I see your point but I can't help think that had the NAM run the fraudulent goods through this forum first they could have saved themselves some embarrassment. I doubt that even the best forgeries could survive the scrutiny of the many learned contributors here! As pointed out in the previous thread one could hold little hope of finding anthing new from the major participants but the amount of information to be gleaned from re-discovered squaddie and junior officer sources could prove valuable. Coll The idea I was alluding to in the previous topic was to solicit blanket permission from the http://au.geocities.com/frankenrhymer/ website to allow his poem"Isandhlwana" to be submitted in an editorial barrage to various newspapers with the idea that it would make the best focal point available to elicit interest.(Simple requests with no central focus being less likely to be picked up for publication.) His 'Kipling-esque' approach to verse being both accessable and emotionally compelling (to me at least) enough to perhaps reach ink. However I have been thus far unsuccessful in recieving a reply. As noted previously when I posted the poem in a reply to the 'Hard to imagine..' topic on 8 Jan. the site contains no copyright notices and attests it's purpose as "bringing good poetry to the masses" so I would think they would have little reservation to publication in newspapers provided Frank Dodsworth recieves full credit and a link to his web site is provided.(It's only had 626 hits since it started sometime prior to Dec.2003 and many of them are mine.)(Pity because his poems cover such a wide range and seem so interesting.)(Not like reading poetry at all!) Best Michael
15th January 2005	Coll Julian Thankyou for replying so quickly to this topic. I was unaware of forgers being involved so much with regards to Zulu War material, somehow, this is where my naivety is very apparent, I thought this campaign would escape this sort of intrusion, but I should know by now that there are people around quite willing to spoil things for others. Michael I appreciate you getting back to me concerning this issue. This is a difficult subject isn't it, trying to get information to the masses, through the net, newspapers and television, in such a way that they are instantly drawn to it, to the extent of pursuing it further by actually seeking out 'lost treasures' connected to the Zulu War 1879, in our quest for more knowledge. Obviously, the warnings about forgers given by Julian can not got unnoticed, as the prospect of replica artefacts and false documents appearing in significant amounts, does leave me quite downhearted. I wish there was an authority on such matters, regarding AZW issues, who could organise a professional approach to a campaign like this, involving experts in the field of artefacts, etc. that could examine these items, literally, as they come in. However, I am hoping the very fact that we are discussing this subject on this site may encourage someone to pursue this idea. I'm certainly going to give more thought to this and hopefully others will too. Thanks again Coll