Dorset history is filled with remarkable women. To celebrate Women’s History Month this March, we wanted to take a look at just a few of the types of records we hold here at Dorset History Centre that reveal something of their lives.
Industry: Dorset Buttons
The Dorset Button was an object of beauty, created with the skills of everyday women working within the cottage industry of Dorset. Over 4,000 women and children from the Shaftesbury area alone were employed by the button industry at the height of its productivity in the 18th and 19th centuries. We hold several books and original documents relating to the button industry, such as this apprenticeship indenture from 1746.
Records collected more recently include the oral history recording of Marion Howitt who worked at Dorset Buttons, in our Dorset Sound Archive: https://archive-catalogue.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/records/DSA/237/1/1. We also still collect the digital newsletters of Anna McDowell, who continues to make Dorset Buttons in Shaftesbury (https://archive-catalogue.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/records/D-2531).
Artists: Dame Elisabeth Frink
Elisabeth Frink is an internationally recognised 20th century British sculptor, who settled in the Dorset countryside in 1974. Dorset History Centre holds the archive of Frink which includes photographs, drawings and research notes. With the help of several private donors, a grant from the Henry Moore Foundation and support from the Dorset Archives Trust, an archivist was appointed to catalogue and repackage the collection during 2019-2020.
Communities: The Women’s Institute
Dorset History Centre holds a large collection of material relating to Women’s Institutes across the county. One of the most interesting items we hold is the W.I. War Book (https://archive-catalogue.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/records/W-19/1).
We continue to catalogue other collections owned by women, including author Sylvia Townsend Warner. Dorset Archives Trust are currently leading a fundraising appeal to create a full catalogue of her archive collection which includes diaries, letters, photographs, and drawings.
