FODWC PROJECT
What to do with boxes - and boxes - of unique material (manuscripts, notebooks, personal belongings) of some of the best loved Forest of Dean authors and poets being offered to Reading the Forest? This was the situation in 2021. RtF had established links with the children, grandchildren and decedents of Forest writers as the team researched and sought permissions to share their amazing work. "We have some boxes of papers...would anyone be interested in them do you think?" And so the Forest of Dean Writers Collection Project was born.
The project led by University of Gloucestershire in partnership with the Dean Heritage Centre was made possible with a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and of course the hugely generous donations of materials by the families. In just over two years, from November 2023 to March 2026, the team of staff and volunteers acquired, catalogued and conserved more than 4,000 items. These included unpublished and never-before-seen works, notebooks, works in progress, poems, novels, children's stories, illustrations, publishers's proofs, personal and business correspondence, plays, radio scripts, photographs, newspaper cuttings, personal items...
During the project new archival volunteers were recruited and trained; schools workshops were designed and delivered with four schools; co-created outreach exhibitions & events were put on in the Forest, further afield and online. Along the way masses of new discovereis were made about our Forest writers, from newly discovered works, to biographical details and previously hidden talents!
Project volunteers gave more than a 1,000 hours of their time making all of this possible. There was a special focus on supporting 18-25yr old volunteers and several of these have now gone on to universities to study heritage or history courses.
As well as short films, social media, exhibitions and events, the project also produced a new book. Newly discovered work by nineteenth century female labouring class poet Catherine "Kitty" Drew now in the collection was included in the new book published at the end of the project – the first book published by the new Dean Heritage Centre imprint: The Complete Works of Catherine Drew (2026) edited by Roger Deeks & Jason Griffiths.
A small number of items from the collection are on display (on rotation) at the Dean Heritage Centre now and there are plans to display much more of the collection in future. In the meantime anyone can view items from the collection in the Centre's Gage Library research room - just contact the museum and book an appointment. You can see extensive lists online of what's held in the collection - just go to the Dean Heritage Centre's collections pages here.
Finally (for now) a HUGE thank you to everyone who worked on and with the project, especially the generous families who so kindly donated their treasures to the collection, and the amazing team of volunteers.
The project led by University of Gloucestershire in partnership with the Dean Heritage Centre was made possible with a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and of course the hugely generous donations of materials by the families. In just over two years, from November 2023 to March 2026, the team of staff and volunteers acquired, catalogued and conserved more than 4,000 items. These included unpublished and never-before-seen works, notebooks, works in progress, poems, novels, children's stories, illustrations, publishers's proofs, personal and business correspondence, plays, radio scripts, photographs, newspaper cuttings, personal items...
During the project new archival volunteers were recruited and trained; schools workshops were designed and delivered with four schools; co-created outreach exhibitions & events were put on in the Forest, further afield and online. Along the way masses of new discovereis were made about our Forest writers, from newly discovered works, to biographical details and previously hidden talents!
Project volunteers gave more than a 1,000 hours of their time making all of this possible. There was a special focus on supporting 18-25yr old volunteers and several of these have now gone on to universities to study heritage or history courses.
As well as short films, social media, exhibitions and events, the project also produced a new book. Newly discovered work by nineteenth century female labouring class poet Catherine "Kitty" Drew now in the collection was included in the new book published at the end of the project – the first book published by the new Dean Heritage Centre imprint: The Complete Works of Catherine Drew (2026) edited by Roger Deeks & Jason Griffiths.
A small number of items from the collection are on display (on rotation) at the Dean Heritage Centre now and there are plans to display much more of the collection in future. In the meantime anyone can view items from the collection in the Centre's Gage Library research room - just contact the museum and book an appointment. You can see extensive lists online of what's held in the collection - just go to the Dean Heritage Centre's collections pages here.
Finally (for now) a HUGE thank you to everyone who worked on and with the project, especially the generous families who so kindly donated their treasures to the collection, and the amazing team of volunteers.
