2025 was a very successful year for the archive, with exhibition collaborations, important donations and archive walks.
We now look forward to building on these achievements in 2026 and so here are some of our plans and aspirations for the coming year.
The South West Heritage Trust exhibition on Hope Bourne brought a new audience to our collection of her artwork and writings. We plan to bring a version of the exhibition to an Exmoor location to make it accessible to local people and visitors alike. This will also launch a new book to be published by the Society about Hope’s life and her newspaper columns which is currently being written by Sara Hudston, nature author and Guardian columnist.
We hope that our enthusiastic team of volunteer transcribers, who have been working on material for this book will be able to transfer their skills to other collections such as the Hazel Eardley Wilmot and Ernest Mold archaeological diaries and letters. Having these transcribed will make them more accessible for future research.
A new focus for our archive team is the collection of photographs, pamphlets and books by Alfred Vowles, and we aim to work with Dovery Manor Museum in Porlock and with local collectors to build our knowledge of Vowles and his work.
We are also planning further walks around the archaeological discoveries of Hazel Eardley- Wilmott, archive-themed talks and workshops, and work on the cataloguing of our map collection.
If anyone would like to get involved with any of these activities, please get in touch with the society. We are always keen to welcome more volunteers to our team.
Graeme Horn, Archive Volunteer
