With Remembrance Day at the weekend – and a BBC television series World on Fire putting the emphasis on the Second World War – we selected 25 which reveal the conflict closer to home.
They focus on everything from the evacuation of Wearside schoolchildren to air raids.
5. Gas mask fittings at Commercial Road School
Fitting a baby with a gas mask at one of the Sunderland distribution centres. A photo which appeared in the Echo in 1939. Photo: SE
6. At the entrance to an air raid shelter
An air raid shelter at Hendon. Instead of standing two or three feet above ground the top of the shelter is on a level with the garden. Photo: SE
7. At his post
An air raid warden at his post in a Sunderland telephone kiosk in September 1939. Photo: SE
8. Examining the kit
A mistress at Bede School examines pupils kit at an evacuation rehearsal in 1939. Photo: SE