Behind the scenes

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

Posted on No Comments on Archiving the Archive

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!

The Dame Elisabeth Frink Project – an update

Posted on No Comments on The Dame Elisabeth Frink Project – an update

The exciting one-year project to catalogue the collection of sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink, who spent the last 16 years of her life in Dorset at Woolland, near Blandford Forum, has now been running for three months.  Project Archivist, David Johnston-Smith, has now designed a catalogue structure and is currently working his way through the approximately… Read more The Dame Elisabeth Frink Project – an update

Music, medical miracles, and mills

Posted on No Comments on Music, medical miracles, and mills

Volume 10 of Hutchin’s Extra Illustrated mainly focuses on North Dorset and includes Shaftesbury, Gillingham and Cerne Abbas. — The volume contains a large amount of material connected with the Earls of Shaftesbury, including letters, portraits, printed leaflets and a poster advertising some music composed in honour of the Countess of Shaftesbury and her daughter… Read more Music, medical miracles, and mills

Work Experience and Herrison Hospital

Posted on No Comments on Work Experience and Herrison Hospital

Earlier in the year Dorset History Centre had two work experience students join us for a month. In the second of three blogs they have written, Maddie talks us through her experience… — As part of my second year of Museum Studies at Reading University, I undertook a work placement at DHC, in particular indexing… Read more Work Experience and Herrison Hospital

Tough Grades: Conserving the Railway Plans

Posted on No Comments on Tough Grades: Conserving the Railway Plans

In a previous blog, our volunteer Clare discussed working on the ‘grade 2’ railway plans, and explained how the conservation grading system works. Here, Jenny, our Conservator, takes us through what is required for those plans graded 3 and 4, those with significant damage or active deterioration. — Of the original 132 railway plans, there… Read more Tough Grades: Conserving the Railway Plans

Work Experience and Dorset Heritage Week

Posted on No Comments on Work Experience and Dorset Heritage Week

Earlier in the year Dorset History Centre had two work experience students join us for a month. In this blog, Sarah talks us through her experience… — Throughout July I was lucky enough to complete a work placement at the Dorset History Centre. I have studied the different aspects of archiving including public services, cataloguing… Read more Work Experience and Dorset Heritage Week