Grace Elizabeth Courtney MacDonald
From a Past Time
Exploring ancestral archives to understand the importance of heritage preservation.
This design project focuses on the preservation of my grandfather’s legacy, honouring his time in the Second World War through a collection of three publications. Each chapter reflects a significant period throughout his journey, blending historical research with personal excerpts to create a tribute to his bravery and sacrifice. The chapters follow the moment of enlistment to campaigns in Greece, Sidi Rezegh and Prisoner of War. Within each of these chapters features significant pieces from his personal entries of letters, postcards, photographs, and war log excerpts to convey his own tone of voice. Additionally, in the pockets next to the central piece are booklets that reference the 24th battalion’s timeline, providing an insight into the pivotal moments throughout their journey. The primary methods used throughout design process involved gathering family archives to uncover as much information as possible about my grandfather’s experiences. This was followed by extensive research to construct an accurate timeline of the campaigns he participated in, which informed the ideation and experimentation stages of the design.
