Edith Margaret Robertson Ditmas (1896 – 28 February 1986) was an English

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and writer.

Biography

Ditmas was born in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

in 1896. She studied English Language and Literature at

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The ...

, and received a Second Class Honours degree and also a master of arts degree from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. 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. She also took over the editorship of the ''

Journal of Documentation The ''Journal of Documentation'' is a double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal covering theories, concepts, models, frameworks, and philosophies in information science. The journal publishes scholarly articles, research reports, and critical re ...

'' from 1947 until 1962. 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. The one surviving picture of Ditmas was taken on a

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

outing, the WI being one of her abiding interests. 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

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ditmas, Edith 1896 births 1986 deaths English archivists English women non-fiction writers People from Weston-super-Mare Women archivists Writers from Somerset English women historians 20th-century English historians 20th-century English women writers