December 23rd 1935. All the Christmas parcels were in the post, so what was there to stop us from making merry in the really old fashioned way in England – at the expense of some one else’s labour! Nice to think we could get up Christmas morning in leisurely mood, pry into “stockings” and eat… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 23rd December
In 1935 an anonymous author penned a journey through Dorset and Hampshire, a journey undertaken between the 23rd and 28th December 1935. We have transcribed this account and we will be publishing an extract each day during this period, 85 years later. Part one of this journey will be published later this morning, and then… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: An introduction
We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851. December 1851 We’ve reached the last month of 1851, and the final in our series of blogs! This month, the weather is a truly English mixed bag – hard frost, mild rain,… Read more The Diary of John Foss: December 1851
In the local studies library at the Dorset History Centre you can find a large collection of journals. These journals are packed with fascinating articles and are often an underused resource. In this new series of blogs we will be highlighting some of the interesting articles within them! This is the third in our series… Read more The Journals of DHC: 1930s
We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851. November 1851 The penultimate month of the year, November is frosty and clear, although there are some stormy nights throughout. The railroad continues to be a topic in the village, and it… Read more The Diary of John Foss: November 1851
It’s Explore Your Archive launch week! This is a national campaign highlighting the work of archives and all the wonderful things we hold in the collections. Each day this week has a theme – from communication to celebration to light. You can follow along with the hashtags daily on Twitter. Here we will look in slightly more detail at Sunday’s theme of home. Home Home will mean different… Read more Explore Your Archive!
Recently, we received an email from a member of the public enquiring about an ancestor of theirs who was a non-conformist Reverend in Dorchester for some years, James McClune Uffen. We found some papers and a photograph within the Dorchester Congregational Church collection (NP.5), which included a fascinating journal detailing a journey he took from… Read more Reverend Uffen’s Leaving Dorset!
Weymouth, for obvious reasons has a close and varied relationship with the sea, whether that be through trade, fishing, naval activity or the attractiveness of the town and its beaches to tourists. Whilst the sea appeals to us for the aforementioned reasons, it also presents very real dangers. The Dorset coastline either side of Weymouth become the final resting place of hundreds of vessels, many of which resulted… Read more Weymouth lifeboat – stories of heroism at sea
In the local studies library at the Dorset History Centre you can find a large collection of journals. These journals are packed with fascinating articles and are often an underused resource. In this new series of blogs we will be highlighting some of the interesting articles within them! This is the third in our series… Read more The Journals of DHC: 1920s
Working on digitally preserving photographs in the Cyril Diver Collection has uncovered some interesting insights into Cyril Diver’s early conservation work. Diver’s fascination with nature began as a young soldier during the First World War; he studied snails in the trenches as a distraction from the horrors that unfolded around him. Forerunner During the 1930s,… Read more Revisiting the Cyril Diver Collection
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