Dorset History Centre has a close relationship with Kushti Bok, Dorset’s Gypsy Roma Traveller-led charity which celebrates the travelling lifestyle, the local history of GRT families and advocates for the rights of GRT people, whether settled or mobile or living at one of Dorset’s Council’s sites. While working with Kushti Bok, DHC has been able… Read more GRT History Month: Listen to the story of Gary Orange
Hello, I’m Ruth and I began working as the Thomas Hardy Project Archivist in mid-March. I have moved down to Dorset from West Yorkshire, where I was working at Special Collections and Galleries in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. Over the next sixteen months I will be creating a detailed catalogue of… Read more The Thomas Hardy Cataloguing Project is Underway!
Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust was set up in 2014 as a renovation project to save the old Methodist Chapel that was built in 1818 in Tolpuddle by some of the men who later became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs. The Chapel was listed as a Grade II* building at risk. Following extensive building works and… Read more Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust
In January 2024 Dorset History Centre will be undertaking two collections weeks and we will be closed to the public for this period. Whilst staff and volunteers will be getting on with the important work we have to do during this period, we have a couple of guest blogs for our readers, starting with this… Read more All There Waiting
At over 33,000 records and counting, the Bankes collection is rich with stories about all sorts of things relating to Dorset, Britain, and the wider world. Following its cataloguing between 2015 and 2018, the collection has gone on to regularly be one of our most popular collections; with hundreds, if not thousands of documents from… Read more The Bankes Associates
A crowdfunding appeal by Dorset History Centre and partners Dorchester is home to the finest archive of material by and about Thomas Hardy in the world – that is, the primary sources which support and inform any new research into Hardy and his contemporaries. The archive is recognised by UNESCO as a collection of international… Read more Unlocking the Archives of Thomas Hardy – Dorset’s literary giant
Kushti Bok is the voice for Gypsy, Roma and Travelling people in Dorset, and for the last three years our Community Engagement Officer has worked closely with the organisation. We’re hoping that a strong relationship with Kushti Bok will lead to better representation of these communities in the records we store. We’ve learnt a great… Read more Reverend Roger Redding MBE, Chaplain to the Gypsies and Travellers
When women are storytellers, what narratives are told? This is the question Michele O’Brien and Alice Flynn of Valise Noire Storytelling Theatre explored with those who have experienced male violence against women in their latest project as part of BEAF Festival 2021. Over eight weeks the group met regularly, writing in response to archive materials… Read more Women of Words
‘We love the look of your activities – can we try them?’ This was the message we received from the Stability4U group back in January. The group, made up of young adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities, had spotted us in an online directory. They were desperate to get beyond the lockdown and reconnect… Read more Creative engagement in 2021
For three weeks in July 2021 Dorset History Centre has hosted three students undertaking work experience. For obvious reasons, this year has been very different to previous years, with the students having to work remotely for large parts of their time, with the occasional day in the building learning about collections. The students have written… Read more Work Experience 2021: Edna Bolton and the importance of oral histories
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