On Wednesday 30 April 2025 we will be hosting the first of an ongoing series of short talks about some of the fascinating records within the archives at Dorset History Centre.
So what’s going on?
Once a month Dorset History Centre will be hosting a short talk about some of our records led by one of the team. These talks will be happening on the last Wednesday of each month as follows:
- 30 April
- 28 May
- 25 June
- 30 July
- 27 August
- 24 September
- 29 October
Each talk will be somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes in length – we hope this will be ideal for those who might want to escape the office at lunchtime; or who are already in Dorchester for the regular market day; or indeed for anyone else who might like to join us!
But what will the talks be about?
Dorset History Centre holds over half-a-million records, each talk will be about a few selected records from this number!
We will be showing off a range of different records from our collections to give visitors a better idea about what we hold, about some of the stories you can discover, and about some of the different record types that there are within our repositories. Each talk might not have a theme, but we hope that they will all be interesting!
Surely this will cost me something though, right?
Nope!
All the talks will be absolutely free, just drop in for 12.30pm and come and listen to one of the team tell you about some of the records from our collections.
If you enjoy yourself, then we would love to see you again at the next talk in the series; and if you really(!) enjoy yourself and would like to make a donation to our charitable support organisation Dorset Archives Trust, there is a donations box in reception (though this is entirely up-to you!)
This sounds like it will be really interesting – I’m sure there are so many things you can show off?
Absolutely! From family history records to house history records, from business records to social clubs, from 965 to 2025, we really do have a huge range of material stored in our repositories!
Many people do not know the types of material we hold, or what might be useful to them, and hopefully these talks will give you a taste of the different sorts of records and stories which are held here.
Ok, so remind me of the details once more…
On the last Wednesday of each month, at 12.30pm, staff at Dorset History Centre will be showing off a small sample of records from our collections. This will be a short talk, lasting up-to 30 minutes, and it will be free to attend. Each talk will be about different records from within our collections.
All of the talks will be happening at Dorset History Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester, DT1 1RP.
Sounds fun, I will be there!
Great – we look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 30 April for the first one!
Is the topic announced in advance please.
Hi Hugh, sorry for the late response to your query. For the first couple of sessions we have been announcing the topic a week-or-so beforehand, but this is under review and it is likely that we will try to announce the topics earlier going forward. As this is a new thing for us, we are still trying to work out the best ways of making things work for everyone!