The first Saturday of June, as well as being an open day for the public, saw the Dorset History Centre raise its portcullis and host a celebration of Dorset’s people during the Civil War and the records that tell their stories. Proceedings were opened by Tim Goodwin, the county’s leading authority on this period, who… Read more From Culture Wars to Conflict – Dorset in the Civil War
Merry Christmas from all of the team at Dorset History Centre! We hope you have a peaceful and relaxing festive season, and we look forward to welcoming you to Dorset History Centre in 2026. — A reminder of our opening hours over this festive period: We will be open with our usual opening hours (9am-5pm)… Read more Merry Christmas from Dorset History Centre
Between Monday 24 November and Saturday 6 December 2025, Dorset History Centre will be closed to the public for two weeks for our annual Collections Fortnight. This period offers us a chance to work on collections and material which need attention, but that we are otherwise unable to get to when we are open. You… Read more Collections Fortnight 2025
Dorset History Centre is the official archives and local studies service for Bournemouth, Christchurch, Dorset, and Poole. Whether you’re tracing your family tree, digging into local history, or looking for legal records, our collections are here for everyone. More information about the kinds of archives we hold can be found on our online catalogue and also on the… Read more We NEED You!
Dorset Council has become one of the first local authorities to formally extend the retention period (i.e. the timeframe that documents are kept prior to review and potential destructions) for the records of adopted and care-experienced people. Until recently, adoption records have had a 100-year retention period after which they may be retained, or equally… Read more The records of Adoption and Care-experienced people – preserving life stories at risk of destruction
Last autumn, Jacqui Halewood, Dorset History Centre’s long-standing Principal Archivist retired. We were joined in November by Claire Skinner, stepping into the role with us, and in today’s blog we wanted to introduce you to Claire… — January is traditionally a time both to look back and to look forwards. I would therefore like to… Read more Introducing our new Principal Archivist
Everyone at Dorset History Centre would like to wish all of our customers, readers and supporters a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and peaceful New Year. — Should you wish to visit us over Christmas, our opening hours over the festive period are as follows: We look forward to welcoming you to Dorset History… Read more Merry Christmas!
On Wednesday 27 November, Dorset History Centre’s Principal Archivist, Jacqui Halewood, will be celebrating her last day with the service before a very well-earned retirement. Jacqui has been with the service since 2000, and have overseen a lot of change in her time at DHC! Before she finishes, we asked her to reflect on her… Read more Jacqui Halewood: The end of an era!
Dorset History Centre is delighted to report that in July 2024 it received confirmation of its Accredited status from The National Archives. This is the second full accreditation review that the service has undergone – the first being in 2017. This was supplemented by a mid-point ‘light touch’ review in 2021. Accreditation is an important… Read more Accreditation by The National Archives and why it matters
Dorset History Centre will be closed to the public for two weeks between Monday 25 November and Friday 6 December 2024 as we undertake Collections Fortnight. Following the successful similar two-week period held in January 2024, we have assessed the volume of customer enquiries and visits we typically receive throughout the year and have concluded… Read more Collections Fortnight: 25 November – 6 December 2024
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