Hey everyone, I hope all is well. Just another update on how my project is going, and a few more things I’ve discovered that I hope you find interesting (I certainly did)! By now you might have seen some of the catalogue entries on the Finnish mills from Rex Wailes’ outstanding collection. As they’ve now all been created you can see the extent of his work – at over 500 envelopes full. As I type I’ve just reached half way in the scanning process too, reaching 600 photographs alone. One of the hardest things I’ve found – rather than the cataloguing itself – is to actually decipher the handwriting on the back of the images in some cases!
With a bit of help we’ve just about got there, so there is now a little more information for you on the catalogue about what some of the more unusual pieces of machinery are. There are several other things in the collection beside photographs, too. For the most part this is SPAB Mills Section report cards, filled with plenty of detailed notes about each mill visited. It also extends to typed reports and the occasional letter or post card either sent or received by Rex.
Later on in the collection pictures of some rather unusual types of mill are included. These work shingle machines, and are called skeleton mills. The name alone intrigued me and I soon found out that this means the frame of the mill is there but it is without any sort of panelling to enclose the inside workings of the mill. These mills look very elegant, and stand out among their weatherboarded counterparts for many reasons, not just because of their striking appearance as shown in the picture above.
The six-sailed mill at Korteniemi Farm, Letku, Tammela, Häme is testament to this, and is used only for making wooden shingles at the rear. While some more traditional-looking mills do operate a shingle machine in addition to having mill stones, skeleton mills are unable to grind flour (or similar) because of their limited structure. The complete lack of protection also means that maintenance time and cost would completely override any potential produce, of which the quality could never be guaranteed.
Regarding other types of mill in the same province, Häme, one that is recorded in almost perfect detail is Lepaa Mill, situated in the ground of the State Gardeners’ School in Tyrväntö. With a 46 foot high tower when recorded on 1st August 1963, this mamsel or smock mill had a complete structure, although four small “sham” common sails were attached to a “faked” windshaft, and the mill was “completely gutted. It was redeemed by the fact that it retained the original bearings, and that a mill can often look externally more majestic with sails to indicate its full potential. A quick sketch of the windshaft is included on the report card, and despite the black and white accompanying photographs we are told that the shingles on the side of the mill are painted Falun red. You can see this for yourself in the accompanying photograph:
All of this information, and much more, in Wailes’ intriguing collection, is available at the Archive upon request (an email in advance in order to organise a visit would be perfect), and you can see and construct for yourself a picture of each different mill. You will be able to see which of the many styles you like best and how you think each of them should have been preserved. Each province, village or even owner keeps their mills in a slightly different way, with them all now containing different machinery and put to many alternate uses – whether museum, monument or manufacturer. Lots of components of the collection are online already, with more being added each day, as part of the international expansion of the Archive’s available collections.