Last week we enjoyed a visit from a group based at The Eling Experience in Hampshire, who were looking for an introduction to archiving to help them in understanding and recording material related to their own mill – Eling Tide Mill.
The Eling Experience received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.3 million in 2015 to carry out essential conservation of the mill, develop the heritage centre and improve their outdoor spaces. Part of this project involves a group of volunteers from Winchester University, who are looking to identify which images and documents are held at the mill so that they can be catalogued and – it is hoped – eventually made available to the public.
The staff and volunteers – including their miller – started by learning about what archives are, how to decide which records to keep and ways to catalogue them. This session was led by our Archivist Nathanael, who then moved on to talk about the different ways that records can be stored and made available, such as through digitisation.
In the second half, Nathanael and trustee Mildred showed some examples of our Archive’s own material relating to Eling Tide Mill and we had a wider discussion of how to store and package vulnerable items and how to handle them safely to avoid damage.
After a behind-the-scenes tour of the Archive, the Eling group left with some reference material and ideas on how to approach their own cataloguing project. We wish them the very best in their work.
To find out more about the Eling Experience Project and for updates on their work and when the site will be reopening to the public, visit their website here.
Eling Tide Mill is a Heritage Partner and you can read more about the history of the mill on our own website here.
If you are interested in finding out more about the different bespoke training that we can offer, do get in touch with me and I would be happy to discuss it further. You can reach me at friends@millsarchive.org