I have volunteered with the GWL for a little over a year now, and have been fortunate enough to be involved with many wonderful projects. My favourite of these has been my most recent undertaking. Earlier this year a new collection was donated to the library’s archive, and Nicola, GWL’s archivist, asked if I would make it my personal project. As it is my hope to be an archivist one day, this was perfect experience for me. And so I became acquainted with the late Dorothy Dick.
The collection consists of photographs and memorabilia from throughout Dorothy’s life, and they piece together a picture of the kind of person she was. Dorothy was born in 1905 to a relatively wealthy family in either Bearsden or Milngavie. There is very little to show for her early childhood, most likely due to the disruption of the First World War. From the age of 13 she attended St Leonard’s School for girls in St Andrew’s. For me, one of the most interesting things about Dorothy was her career path. It seems that she began as a nurse in the 1930s and after passing her driver’s test in 1938/39; she was put on the roll to be an ambulance driver for the St Andrew’s Ambulance Association, Glasgow.
Dorothy kept her first aid manual and also a safety manual issued during the Second World War, outlining what to do in the event of a gas attack. Both of these manuals are part of the Dorothy Dick Collection at the GWL.
The collection also holds a great number of photographs that have, in a sense, helped me get to know Dorothy. She was a very sociable person and she often took holidays up and down the country with either friends or family. She was a dog lover; there are many pictures of the dogs she owned throughout her life. In 1930 Dorothy entered her dog, Frisko, in ‘The Tail Wagger’s Club’, the collection contains a copy of the membership.
She was also an organised and practical person. Most of her photograph albums were labeled and dated, and she also transcribed some of her old hand-written letters and documents. It is amazing the life stories you can discover through the belongings people leave behind. I feel privileged to be keeping the memory of Dorothy alive, even if only in a small way.
