Collections
The Dorset History Centre holds a wide range of archive collections created by organisations, families or businesses based in Dorset. It holds records for the Church of England parishes in Dorset, including parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. It also holds some records for other denominations. The Centre also holds the historical records of the County Council, the district and borough councils and predecessor bodies. Other such public bodies represented in the collections include the local courts, prisons and hospitals.
Business archives include:
- Poole Pottery
- Gundry of Bridport, rope makers
- Stewards of Ferndown, plantsmen and garden centre
- Eldridge Pope of Dorchester, brewers
- Cosens of Weymouth, paddle steamer operator
Family and estate collections include:
- Bankes family of Kingston Lacy, including the travel papers of William John Bankes
- Fox-Strangways family, Earls of Ilchester
- Weld family of Lulworth Castle
Additionally it holds two library collections. The first is the Local Studies Library, which includes books, magazines and journals on the history of the county on the region. The other is the Dorset Authors Collection – books by (and about) Dorset writers including Thomas Hardy, William Barnes and the Powys brothers. The oldest document in the collection is a charter from the Saxon king Edgar granting land in Cheselbourne which dates from 965 AD.
Read more about this topic: Dorset History Centre
Famous quotes containing the word collections:
“Most of those who make collections of verse or epigram are like men eating cherries or oysters: they choose out the best at first, and end by eating all.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)