Volunteer Profile 1

Volunteer Profile

We thought it would be nice to find out a bit more about the people who volunteer with DAT/DHC.

Name: Julia

Lives: Wimborne

Why do you volunteer with DAT/DHC? I was just finishing up my Masters in Local History and I had done quite a lot of research at the History Centre, when I saw a poster asking for a volunteer to help with DAT’s marketing and website, I thought I could help so I got in touch and ended up as a Trustee!

What do you love about archives?  For me it is the little insights into the lives of ordinary people that I love, you can get all the big details from history books but you wouldn’t know about children being told off for picking flowers in Bournemouth Gardens or an altercation between two gentlemen attending Wimborne Society for Acquiring Useful Knowledge (I seem to remember one kicked the other down the stairs!)

Favourite historical person?  That’s difficult, I think maybe my Great great great grandmother Margaret Dolby, she had a full life, crossing the Atlantic three times, becoming a widow with a young child before marrying my GGG grandfather, having a number of children (one of whom as my GG grandfather), she died after hitting her head in the street before the age of 50.  I managed to piece together her story with just census and birth/death certificates which I think demonstrates how much information you can get from these sources.  It makes me think of all the other lost stories there are in the archives, nothing world changing but just giving us an insight into people’s everyday lives.