Researches from Oxford University have urged people to search for photographs or transcripts of World War One memorabilia hidden in their attics.

The search for artefacts, letters, diaries, poems and stories will continue for the next three months.

Those with items passed down through generations can submit them as digital photographs via a website - www.thegreatwararchive.com - or take them to their local library for photographing or scanning.

An online archive will then be compiled and launched on November 11 - the 90th anniversary of the armistice.

This resource, to be made available free of charge, will be provided mainly for schools, colleges and universities.

Kate Lindsay, who is helping compile the archive, said: "Some of the items may be in a fragile condition after 90 years and are at risk of being lost forever.

"However insignificant, each of these personal items has a part to play in helping today's generation to understand what World War I meant to ordinary people - the soldiers, their families and the workers back in Britain who kept the country going."

Dr Liz Masterman, who works at Oxford University, submitted a selection of sketches by Percy Matthews, her husband's grandfather.

They include beautifully drawn scenes and characters from military and civilian lives, which Mr Matthews observed while he was stationed with the Middlesex Regiment in Salonika.

Dr Masterman said: "As a parent, I am keenly aware of the role of the Internet in making top-quality educational resources readily available to students and their teachers. "

Mick Caldicott, from Birmingham, also contacted the team with an autograph book belonging to his great aunt, Beryl.

She was a nurse at the city's Moor Green Lane Hospital during the First World War and the autograph book contains poems and sketches by the soldiers she was nursing.

People can learn more about the project and have their items scanned at an event the Oxford library taking place on Monday from 10am to 4pm.

In April, the Bodleian Library is publishing a collection of First World War postcards, entitled Postcards from the Trenches.