Dorset History Centre Survey 2025

Overview

Dorset History Centre is the official archives and local studies service for Bournemouth, Christchurch, Dorset and Poole, based in Dorchester. Archives are records created by a wide range of organisations and people which are kept for their value as evidence of the past - the "raw material" of history. Our collections date from the 10th century to the present and include a wide range of formats, from paper and parchment to audio-visual and digital. Archives are important for everyone in society: they help people research family history, local history, academic research, and provide evidence for legal purposes. Dorset History Centre is open to the public free of charge for research.  In addition we also have a programme of events such as talks and workshops and we work with a variety of organisations to help people enjoy and benefit from using archives. More information about the kinds of archives we hold can be found on our online catalogue and also on the website of Dorset Archives Trust, a charity which supports the work of Dorset History Centre.

Why your views matter

We are in the process of applying for external investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help expand our storage (now over 95% full) and services to the public. We want to understand better who currently uses us, and who doesn’t yet but might do in the future. We also wish to understand the levels of demand for different types of activities. We would be very grateful for your time to fill in this anonymous survey to help us make the case for additional investment in the History Centre. 

Please contact us by email at archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or phone 01305 250550 if you need the survey in another format or would like to respond in a different way, like a paper survey.

Please note, any data collected follows Dorset Council's privacy policy.