The work of an Archive Conservator is diverse. One day could be spent looking through a microscope, consolidating flaking pigment with a 000 brush, the next we could be using a backing hammer to shape the spine of a book. A Conservator’s toolkit needs a plethora of tools to ensure we have the right instrument… Read more Tools of the Conservation Trade
Volume 6 of Hutchin’s Extra Illustrated covers Weymouth and Dorchester. The Dorchester section is dominated by documents relating to Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assize. There is even a 48-page biography of Jeffreys bound into the volume. There are several documents connected with Dorchester Gaol, including plans of the new gaol, pictures of the old one and an image of King George visiting the Prison. The new Gaol was… Read more A Gaol, a Guide and a Man of Great Girth
In the third of a series on the railway plans we hold at Dorset History Centre, Jenny Barnard, the Conservator here at Dorset History Centre details the problem of conserving the large railway plans we hold. — The railway plans present a complex conservation challenge due to three main aspects: their size, the material from… Read more The challenges of the railway plans…
Dorset History Centre has been working with the recent Voices from 1918 project which has been utilising sources within our collections to tell the tales of the people in the last year of the Great War and its aftermath. — Sometimes we can use an account of an event recorded in a diary and do more… Read more “Did they get a U-Boat?”
Thursday 6 June 2019 is the 75th anniversary of D Day. This important landmark of World War Two will be commemorated across the country, and much of Europe. D Day holds particular significance for Dorset as the county was in the front line of the build up to the invasion of Europe. Soldiers from America,… Read more D Day on the Home Front
The fifth volume of Hutchins Extra Illustrated contains some very old documents and has a focus on the towns and villages around Beaminster. Perhaps the most notable are a set of three documents giving grants of land at Marshwood to the Cary family. These date from the 1300’s, the earliest being from 1312. There is… Read more Antiquities, Adventurers and an Actress
In the second of a series on the railway plans we hold at Dorset History Centre, Colin Divall, emeritus professor of Railway Studies at the University of York, describes why the railway plans are such an important source of information. — Building railways meant land, and land meant property. By the 1830s, when mainline railways… Read more The Importance of the Railway Plans and Sections
At Dorset History Centre being inspired is our bread and butter. We are often lucky enough to find cardboard watercress sandwiches or secret letters; delicate flower pressings or romantic love poems – amongst just some of our recent discoveries! Nothing is more pleasurable to us than sharing our records, and the Stepping into Nature project… Read more Inspired by Archives!
Dan, Jade, Melissa and Olly, students from Bournemouth University are bringing us a series of blogs about their work with some of our Oral History interviews. Part one: Meet our new bloggers Part two: From Dairy Farmer to the Dorset Game Larder Part three: Of Kings and Countryside — Over the last two terms, we have been… Read more A Journey Through Sound
On 1 April 2019, Dorset County Council (DCC), along with the district and borough councils, was succeeded by the new unitary Dorset Council. DCC was thus in operation for 130 years, over which time it administered a large part of Dorset’s local services from roads, libraries and small holdings to social care, country parks, Trading… Read more 130 Years of Dorset County Council
Recent Comments