The censuses were incredibly useful things. Not only because of the information about the population that was learned, but for genealogists in the centuries afterwards. And yet, censuses can be hard work too. One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is how to find out exactly where someone lived as often the censuses… Read more Navigating a Census
In 1876 James Buckman founded the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, which was modelled on a club in Cirencester of which he had been a member. He was the secretary of this club and editor of The Proceedings until his death in 1884. The Dorset History Centre holds several of his drawings of… Read more The Buckmans – Pioneers of New Ideas
In the local studies library at the Dorset History Centre you can find a large collection of journals. These journals are packed with fascinating articles and are often an underused resource. In this new series of blogs we will be highlighting some of the interesting articles within them! In this first blog we will be… Read more The Journals of DHC: Pre-1910
We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851. August 1851 August in 1851 is “fine dry & warm”, with “grand weather for the harvest”. The hot weather meant that the milk in the dairy was regularly souring, and John spends much time churning… Read more The Diary of John Foss: August 1851
Whilst many people have used the past few months to sort out their physical belongings, it is easy to forget that our digital estate also needs managing. So, we’re sharing some practical tips to help manage your own digital information. This can be anything from research notes and family photos to emails and financial spreadsheets. Why? Digital information is more fragile than paper stored in… Read more Cyber Trees and Virtual Woods: Looking after your digital records
On Tuesday 7th July Dorset History Centre reopened in a limited capacity following the Covid-19 lockdown. In this blog, we wanted to explain a bit more about how we reopened, our concerns and processes, some of the lessons learned from the first month of reopening; as well as examine how the service might look in… Read more The Challenges of Reopening Dorset History Centre
Whilst browsing through the archive catalogue seeking inspiration, Collections Archivist Owen came across the Bloxworth Estate archive (D-BLX), and when looking amongst the Family papers saw that there were several recipe books listed… — Recipe books can provide a good insight into social history and are always good fun to have a read through. They… Read more Cooking the Books!
Today, we have chatted with Clare, our Collections Assistant in Digital Preservation, who lets us know about how she has been working remotely and her favourite document from our collections… — During lockdown I had the chance to work remotely with our digital archive, taking the opportunity to tidy up digital files behind the scenes, ensuring that… Read more My Favourite Record – Collections Assistant Clare
The Sheridan of Frampton archive is that of the Sheridan family who lived at Frampton House near Dorchester from 1835 until it was demolished in 1932. This collection includes plans and maps of Frampton House and the surrounding area, but also includes personal diaries, poetry and manuscripts from the members of the Sheridan family. From… Read more Collection Spotlight: The Sheridan of Frampton collection
Since last October, we have had David Johnston-Smith as a Project Archivist cataloguing the Dame Elisabeth Frink collection held at Dorset History Centre. The latter part of this project has been made more challenging by circumstances, but in this blog, David wanted to give his thoughts on the project and the collection as a whole…… Read more The Frink Archive Project – an Archivist’s personal reflections
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