Thomas Hardy

The Museum holds the world’s largest collection relating to Dorset-born Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) – one of the most important writers of the 19th century. It includes many paper items, together with clothes such as Hardy’s embroidered christening robe, his sister’s stunning red silk bustle dress, and a striped scarf that he lent to his gardener. The core of the collection was gifted to the Museum by the Hardy family in 1937, and the archive was placed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2012.