Year: 2020

Archiving the Archive

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As well as collecting archives from all around the county we are keen to preserve materials from a little closer to home. For many years archivists have been adding to the Dorset Record Office collection (D-1931). Yes – we archive ourselves!

As with other organisations, we are interested in keeping records which reflect the activities we are engaged in and the decisions we make. This includes projects we have led such as the Unlocking the Bankes Archive project and the Diary of RSM George Beck.

A recent office tidy-up revealed a rather fun group of photographs of the Record Office of yesteryear. We think they were taken in the 1980s – when the Record Office was based at County Hall. The service moved to the current Dorset History Centre building in 1991.

The searchroom of course looks slightly different – then featuring drawers of index cards rather the computers we use now. However the interest in curious documents – whether they be long, small, holey or nibbled – remains to this day!

Keep an eye on our Twitter account (@DorsetArchives) for more from this collection and how things look now!

Rev. John Hutchins – author of a cursed book?

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Following on from our series of blogs on the Extra-illustrated Edition of Rev. John Hutchins’ ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset’ we have been looking in more detail at the author and the troubled history of his book. — John Hutchins was born on 21st September 1698 in Bradford Peverell. He was… Read more Rev. John Hutchins – author of a cursed book?

The Dame Elisabeth Frink Project – an update

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The exciting one-year project to catalogue the collection of sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink, who spent the last 16 years of her life in Dorset at Woolland, near Blandford Forum, has now been running for three months.  Project Archivist, David Johnston-Smith, has now designed a catalogue structure and is currently working his way through the approximately… Read more The Dame Elisabeth Frink Project – an update

The Diary of John Foss – January 1851

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We regularly take in new accessions, ranging from parish registers to glass plate negatives. Last June, we received an innocuous looking notebook. Whilst not particularly exciting from the exterior, it is in fact a detailed diary, written in 1851 by farmer John Foss. It gives a daily account of life on a dairy farm in… Read more The Diary of John Foss – January 1851

Dorset History Centre’s Big Archive Birdwatch 2020

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With it being the RSPB’S Big Garden Birdwatch in January, it got us thinking about how we could join in by keeping our eyes peeled for different birds in our archive. While on the lookout we came across a variety of different feathery friends hiding amongst the shelves. These are just some of our favourites.… Read more Dorset History Centre’s Big Archive Birdwatch 2020