Everyone at Dorset History Centre would like to wish all of our customers, readers and supporters a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and peaceful New Year. — Should you wish to visit us over Christmas, our opening hours over the festive period are as follows: We look forward to welcoming you to Dorset History… Read more Merry Christmas!
This Christmas, Project Archivist Ruth Burton and National Trust Intern Emma Allen-White have been looking for all things festive in the Thomas Hardy archive. In Under the Greenwood Tree, Thomas Hardy wrote one of the most vivid and evocative descriptions of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in fiction. The book begins: ‘On a cold and… Read more Merry Christmas from the Thomas Hardy Archive!
It’s nearly that time of year when we meet up with family, eat far too much food and take photos of each other wearing hideous lovely festive jumpers in front of the tree. Nowadays there will no doubt be digital photos, but what about all those old family photographs filling up space in your home?… Read more Caring for Your Photographs at Home
Following the success of our previous Collections Fortnight, held in January 2024, staff at Dorset History Centre recognised that there is an ongoing need to spend two weeks each year working on many behind-the-scenes things that we cannot otherwise do when we are open to the public. We also learned that January is not an… Read more Collections Fortnight: December 2024
Continuing our look at life in the village of Sydling St Nicholas in 1947, these images and annotations tell us of the excellent relationship with the County Medical Officer’s team of health visitors. The health visitors would give advice to expectant and mothers of young children and would undertake health checks on the little ones.… Read more Life Through a Lens: A Post-War Dorset Village (Part 2)
On Wednesday 27 November, Dorset History Centre’s Principal Archivist, Jacqui Halewood, will be celebrating her last day with the service before a very well-earned retirement. Jacqui has been with the service since 2000, and have overseen a lot of change in her time at DHC! Before she finishes, we asked her to reflect on her… Read more Jacqui Halewood: The end of an era!
In February, we introduced our three apprentices on the Archivist and Records Manager course, Level 7 – Lillian from the Records Management team, and Kate and Anna from the History Centre team. As of October 2024, they have completed their first year of learning! Anna has pulled together a retrospective of what they’ve been up… Read more One Year In – the apprentice’s first year
As Remembrance Sunday rolls around again for the UK, at a time of saddening and shocking conflict in Europe, the Middle East and around the world, words can fail us. So, for our Remembrance blog this year we are borrowing from John Berger and presenting a ‘picture essay’ – images to invite your own reflections… Read more Reflecting on Remembrance
In yesterday’s blog, we published an account of the ghost of John Daniel, who died in Beaminster in 1728. His relations and neighbours suspected he had been murdered by his stepmother, and their suspicions were only heightened when the ghosts of John and his mother – and an apparition of John’s coffin – were spotted… Read more The Ghosts of Beaminster: How to Get Away With Murder?
Several weeks ago, we came across a spooky document in the Weld of Lulworth Archive (D-WLC/Z/22) headed “A True Account and Narrative of an Apparition in the parish church of Beaminster in the County of Dorset”. Of course, this merited further investigation! After all, who doesn’t love a ghost story at Halloween? It’s not clear… Read more The Ghosts of Beaminster
Recent Comments