Got something that will keep?

Do you have a Devon-related precious piece of paper, or book or photograph, or lots of them? Maybe they are yours, or you've inherited them, or found them in a house clearance, or bought them in a sale? The Devon Heritage Centre will be delighted if you would lend or donate them to their comprehensive archive. If you'd rather keep your memories by your side, but worry about what might happen to these treasures after you die, you could file a Devon Document Donor Card with them... well, it can feel like you are donating a part of yourself, so 'Donor Card' is very appropriate. A Friends of Devon Archives' Document Donor Card will ensure that they are preserved.

HERE'S a link to download a copy of the Document Donor Card.


"The Devon Document Donor Card is intended to save original papers relating to Devon such as diaries, letters, recipe books, manuscript maps, accounts, surveys, school records, deeds and leases. We are also interested in old photographs and unusual or rare printed papers... Staff at the.. Devon record offices will be able to advise whether particular material is of interest."
http://www.foda.org.uk/main/projects/donorcard.htm
Please note that some information on this link is out-of-date. - The Westcountry Studies Library has relocated to the Devon Heritage Centre.

The Devon Heritage Centre in Sowton

used to belong to British Telecom - obviously! Long corridors at the Devon Heritage Centre still have miles of wires from the days of  British Telecom.

Now, the vast rooms and corridors, at Great Moor House, hold  a splendid archive of anything on paper which has to do with Devon. There are photographs which exist nowhere else. Some of the photographs are on glass negatives. Here's the only known photograph of  the Exeter church of St Mary Major as it was around 1850. Sorry, but the top of this photo, of the photo, is chopped off, but the actual photo shows the curved roof of the tower. The church was originally 12th or 13th century. It was rebuilt in 1865, but the Victorian church was finally demolished in 1971. All that remains of St Mary Major today is an iron cross on a concrete plinth, inbetween Exeter Cathedral and Tinley's cafe. The site of St Mary Major could be the oldest Christian site in Exeter. Read all about the sad demise of St Mary Major HERE

A small, dedicated staff of around 20, together with a handful of volunteers, work constantly to keep up with the influx of material to the Devon Heritage Centre.
 New arrivals come in all sorts of containers.

These documents are lucky. They will no longer deteriorate; forgotten and neglected. They will be given an initial catalogue number, examined with great care, and the deterioration process will be halted. If they are damp, they will be put into the document drying rooms and left to gently lose their excess moisture.
When they are dried, they will be cleaned with care and affection... everyone at the Devon Heritage Centre is passionate about the documents that are entrusted to them.

In the cavernous map room, experts take what are sometimes crumpled, torn and motheaten maps, and restore them. Here's an old machine which still does an excellent job. It can iron the maps and documents to enable state-of-the-art technology to finish the restoration.

As well as documents, the Devon Heritage Centre is guardian of many valuable and unique books. Here's a selection:

Boyd's Marriage Index Devon

Shillingford St George Parish Register 1565 - 1837

Starcross Parish Register 1815 - 1837

Kenn Parish Registers

East Teignmouth Parish Register: Baptisms 1665-1834. Marriages&Burials 1666-1857

Teigngrace Parish Register 1689 - 19..

Cornish Parish Registers

Whatever documents/photographs/maps/books you have, be assured that giving or loaning them to the Devon Heritage Centre will ensure their preservation.