Archive stories

Beales, bombs and evidence within the archives

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Bournemouth suffered a devastating aerial assault when 23 May 1943, a German ‘Tip and Run’ raid attacked the town.  The incident is well recorded as the cost in human lives and physical destruction was severe with a reputed 130 deaths and the levelling of over 50 buildings.  Amongst the premises badly affected were two large hotels, the Metropole and Central, as well as Beales Department Store where… Read more Beales, bombs and evidence within the archives

The Rena Gardiner collections

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Recently, we have been exploring the work of Dame Elisabeth Frink, as part of our project to catalogue the Frink collection held at Dorset History Centre. However, Frink’s is not the only collection of artistic material we hold… — “It is a quiet region, without drama in either landscape or architecture; yet although each of… Read more The Rena Gardiner collections

Collection Spotlight: The Baskett Family Collection

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The Baskett Family collection, D-719, is spread over three boxes, two containing documents and one full of photographs. The documents were clearly collected by someone who was interested in history and many of them contain notes about family history and pedigrees of families related to the Basketts. When you find an entry for the pedigree… Read more Collection Spotlight: The Baskett Family Collection

“The Gypsy Camp” by Raymond Wills

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DHC houses the Local Studies Library,  a reference library which houses publications about Dorset’s past, and we are always keeping an eye out for new books to add diversity and depth to the collection. This summer we have added “The Gypsy Camp” by Raymond Wills, the local ‘Gypsy Poet’. Ray is an author and poet from… Read more “The Gypsy Camp” by Raymond Wills

Royal Weymouth Volume 4: Horatio and Hair

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The fourth and final volume of ‘Royal Weymouth’ contains perhaps the most unusual addition of any of the books by Broadley that we have looked at in our blog series – some of Lord Cathcart`s hair, which was in an envelope that had been stuck into this volume. Lord Cathcart was a Scottish general who… Read more Royal Weymouth Volume 4: Horatio and Hair

Black Voices Matter

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In recent weeks the Black Lives Matter movement has shone a spotlight on the importance of making sure that history reflects the lives of all people and we have found stories of black people in the records from our archive that may surprise you.  It is easy to think that in a predominantly white rural county such as Dorset there are few stories to discover, but we were able to… Read more Black Voices Matter

Archives A-Z: K is for Kings and Queens

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A quick search of the catalogue reveals that we hold over 4,000 records relating to Kings or Queens, which is a rather large figure given Dorset’s relative removal from Royal life! As with everything though, you can scratch away at the surface and find that this figure is swollen by the ‘other’ records, ones which… Read more Archives A-Z: K is for Kings and Queens

Collection Spotlight: Audrey Mary Walder

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At Dorset History Centre we have lots of collections of varying sizes, and in previous blogs have explored some of the bigger collections. Now, in the first of a new series of blogs, we want to shine a light on some of the smaller, less well known collections that we hold to demonstrate that every… Read more Collection Spotlight: Audrey Mary Walder