Edith Ditmas

Edith Ditmas (1896 – 28 February 1986) was an English archivist, historian and writer. She is thought to have had a master of arts degree from the University of Oxford and was unmarried.[1]

Edith Ditmas

Biography

Edith Margaret Robertson Ditmas was born in Weston-super-Mare in 1896. She was an influential official of the British Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux, whose journal she edited. As general secretary of what became the Association for Information Management (ASLIB) in 1946–1950, she called strongly at the Empire Scientific Conference for "a combination of government encouragement and private initiative" in developing specialized information services. This approach was to prevail.[2] She also took over the editorship of the Journal of Documentation from 1947 until 1962.[3]

In retirement, Ditmas turned to writing guidebooks. For a long period, she was a resident of Benson, Oxfordshire, and completed a thorough history of it in 1918. This circulated in typescript and was published posthumously in 2009, with addenda of information on subsequent archaeological research and of early maps.[4] The one surviving picture of Ditmas was taken on a Women's Institute outing, the WI being one of her abiding interests.[5]

Edith Ditmas died on 28 February 1986.

Selected works
  • 1923, Ezra and Nehemiah. SPCK, London.
  • 1942, "Special library in time of war". In: Proceedings of the 17th Aslib Conference. London 1942, pp. 52–55.
  • 1956, Gareth of Orkney. Faber, London. Novel.
  • 1970, Tristan and Iseult in Cornwall. Forrester Roberts, Brockworth.
  • 1973, A Short History of Benson Church, Oxfordshire. British Publishing, Gloucester.
  • 1979, Traditions and Legends of Glastonbury. Toucan Press, St Peter Port.
  • 1973, The Legend of Drake's Drum. Toucan Press, St Peter Port.
  • 1981, Glastonbury Tor: Fact and Legend. Toucan Press, St Peter Port.
  • 2009, The Ditmas History of Benson. Pie Powder Press, Wallingford.

References
  1. Liam Sloan (9 November 2009). "Benson's history is in print at long last". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
    Vera Chapman (1975). The King's Damosel (PDF). Pollinger Limited. ISBN 978-1-905665-32-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2023. Many years ago, Edith Ditmas, who was at Oxford with me,....
  2. Dave Muddiman (2008). "Public Science in Britain and the Origins of Documentation and Information Science, 1890-1950". In W. Boyd Rayward (ed.). European Modernism and the Information Society. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 9780754649281. Retrieved 31 January 2023 – via Google Books.
  3. Richard Kimber (1 April 1986). "Miss Edith Ditmas: An Appreciation". Journal of Documentation. MCB UP Ltd. 42 (4): 217-224. doi:10.1108/eb026794. ISSN 0022-0418. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  4. "National Library of Wales - E. M. R. Ditmas Papers". Archifau Cymru Archives Wales. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  5. "The Ditmas History of Benson". Books in Print. Pie Powder Press. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2023.

Bibliography


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