Behind the scenes

Archival Types – Business Records

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Business records are those records that are created by a business that have a long-term value to the business itself, its stakeholders and future generations.  They can include paper records, electronic records, audio recordings, videos and photographs. Most of the material produced by any organisation is ephemeral and of little use after the function that created it is ended.… Read more Archival Types – Business Records

Disaffected and Unruly People – Poole in the 1680s

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In this blog, Jenny Oliver and David Watkins from Poole Museum explore a recent purchase made by Dorset Archives Trust and what it can tell us about the history of Poole… — Dorset History Centre with funding from Dorset Archives Trust has recently acquired a letter, undated but probably late 17th century, making a number of apparently unrelated points… Read more Disaffected and Unruly People – Poole in the 1680s

The Digital Problems: Capturing the Coronavirus

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As archivists we are often taking in documents long after the events they relate to have passed, sometimes hundreds of years later! But as the way we create and store documents has changed we have changed our practices to include more proactive collecting. Modern media, including digital files, are much more fragile than paper and parchment. Risks include file… Read more The Digital Problems: Capturing the Coronavirus

Archival Types – Photographs

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The invention of photography coincided with an unprecedented advancement of technology and science, transport and communication.  It was also a time of great inequality, poverty and the desire for social reform.  Photography allowed the documentation of all of this as ‘real-life’ images, having previously relied on artists interpretations.  It changed the way people perceived themselves and the world around them.   We are all likely… Read more Archival Types – Photographs

Archival Types – Film and sound

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For most people the word ‘archives’ conjures images of dusty basements crammed full of old documents.   It’s true that Dorset’s archives contain millions of paper and parchment documents dating from 965AD (though neatly boxed and not dusty!). But this is not the whole story. We collect all types of media and are much more interested… Read more Archival Types – Film and sound

Archival Types – Title deeds

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People often view ‘family history’ and ‘house history’ as two separate endeavours with two distinct end results. In reality, the two are inextricably linked. To attempt to do your house history involves as much searching for the people who lived there as it does searching for the address, or the location. The lives of houses… Read more Archival Types – Title deeds

Protecting the work of Dame Elisabeth Frink

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When the Dame Elisabeth Frink archive arrived at the Dorset History Centre, it came with some unusual items.  Along with a number of bronzes are eight small groups of plaster maquettes, the largest of these measuring no more than 30cm high.  Maquettes are preparatory models that sculptors make to help them visualise the final piece… Read more Protecting the work of Dame Elisabeth Frink

Review of the Year

Dorset History Centre – Year in Review 2021

2021 was a year of adapting to live with Covid as the vaccine roll-out and warmer weather increased public confidence to come out and to return to places like DHC.  The team has worked hard to make the building a safe and welcoming place and has continued to work on a wide range of activities as our Year in Review document shows.  We continue to receive significant quantities of important records and to see increased access to archives via our web services and through remote enquiries.  Thanks to our supporters in Dorset Archives Trust, we have been able to acquire important archives for the public collection.  We value your feedback on the services DHC provides and hope that 2022 offers greater opportunities to provide access to collections and heritage here in Dorset.

With best wishes

Sam Johnston

Service Manager for Archives and Records

Please click on the above image to open a larger version, that can be magnified and explored!

Archiving the Archive

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As well as collecting archives from all around the county we are keen to preserve materials from a little closer to home. For many years archivists have been adding to the Dorset Record Office collection (D-1931). Yes – we archive ourselves!

As with other organisations, we are interested in keeping records which reflect the activities we are engaged in and the decisions we make. This includes projects we have led such as the Unlocking the Bankes Archive project and the Diary of RSM George Beck.

A recent office tidy-up revealed a rather fun group of photographs of the Record Office of yesteryear. We think they were taken in the 1980s – when the Record Office was based at County Hall. The service moved to the current Dorset History Centre building in 1991.

The searchroom of course looks slightly different – then featuring drawers of index cards rather the computers we use now. However the interest in curious documents – whether they be long, small, holey or nibbled – remains to this day!

Keep an eye on our Twitter account (@DorsetArchives) for more from this collection and how things look now!