OUR NEWS

Christine Dowland who was deputy county archivist at this office for just over ten years from 1995-2005 died at the end of June, after a short illness.

Christine lived in Havant and commuted by the Southsea-Ryde hovercraft to the Island daily. Whatever the weather she would arrive unfailingly on time: only the suspension of all cross-Solent services by Wight Link and Hovertravel would defeat her. She was able to make appreciable inroads into our backlog of cataloguing, giving priority to those collections most likely to be of use to family historians. As well as producing catalogues of high quality, she helped to make the collections more accessible by pioneering the Record Office website. She ensured that the site was easy to navigate, well-illustrated, and full of relevant information. The work that she undertook was greatly appreciated. She became the Record Office’s expert on the impact of the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of information Act. This involved giving advice to many Isle of Wight Council departments on Records Management, helping to ensure the permanent preservation of the next generation of archives.

Christine had previously worked in Gwent, and after leaving the Island went on to act as the Records Manager for the University of Portsmouth.
She will be greatly missed.