Earlier this year we welcomed a student, Kayleigh, as a supported volunteer for a week. During that time she learned more about what we do, and spent some of her time researching Reverend Thomas Rackett… — Reverend Thomas Rackett was the vicar of Spetisbury, who lived from 1756 – 1840. A tiny document in our… Read more A Tale from the Theatre…
In the summer we were joined by Debbie, as our new Past Lives Future Proofed Community Engagement Officer. We’ve given her a couple of months to get to grips with the role and learn about how DHC works, and now we wanted to introduce her to readers, and explain a little more about what she… Read more Introducing Debbie
In July we welcomed two students to Dorset History Centre for a month to learn about what goes on behind-the-scenes at an archive. As part of this placement, the students have written blogs about their time with us, and what they have got out of the placement. Last week we introduced you to Lara, who… Read more Work Experience 2026: Cat
In July we welcomed two students to Dorset History Centre for a month to learn about what goes on behind-the-scenes at an archive. As part of this placement, the students have written blogs about their time with us, and what they have got out of the placement. We will bring you Cat’s thoughts next week,… Read more Work Experience 2026: Lara
In May our Reprographics Officer Tara left Dorset History Centre for pastures new up in Scotland. Tara had been part of the DHC since the autumn of 2023, working behind-the-scenes digitising records for customers, or creating surrogate copies of fragile or at-risk records. On the blog today, she reflects on her time at DHC… —… Read more Farewell from Tara!
At Dorset History Centre, we were delighted to have the opportunity to archive the records of Wessex Water and its predecessor companies. With the contract running until April 2027, this has now been a work in progress for us since Spring 2025 and is overseen by our archivist, Emma Blowers, assisted by Collections Assistant, Chris… Read more The Wessex Water Project
In our regular newsletter we have a feature which challenges our readers to identify where historic photos were taken. In most cases we know where these pictures were taken before we share them to the public as part of the feature, but every now and then we come across some pictures which truly stump us.… Read more Where were these pictures taken?
Welcome to our annual Year in Review, highlighting the varied work of the Archives and Records team, from archival documents to archaeological finds, and vital active records. We are glad to work with partners across Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole; something we as a small service would not be able to do without collaborative… Read more Year in Review: 2025
Over a couple of weeks in November and December 2025 we undertook our now annual Collections Fortnight. This is a time we close to the public to work on our collections behind-the-scenes, addressing projects we otherwise would not be able to when we are open. This year was a complicated year, as short-term plans had… Read more Collections Fortnight 2025: What Did We Do?
In the summer we were joined by our new Collections Assistant Chris who is working on the Wessex Water archive alongside Project Archivist Emma. We wanted to introduce readers to Chris on today’s blog… — Hello everyone. My name’s Chris and I joined the Dorset History Centre as a Collections Assistant in July 2025. Previously,… Read more Welcoming Chris to Dorset History Centre!
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