The June issue of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine contains a double-page spread featuring an item from the Michael French Collection
‘Gem from the Archive’ is one of the magazine’s monthly features. In it Mildred discusses one of her favourite records from our rich collections, in this case the Michael French Collection. The document is a letter of tender for a roller mill plant dated 1894. She writes about how this document reflects the changing times of flour milling and the challenges faced by a small family business.
Documents like this are particularly important to The Mills Archive because they highlight the evolution of flour milling in the late 19th century and the challenges and opportunities presented by the introduction of roller flour milling technology. This letter of tender represents the importance of social history and the people involved in milling in addition to the developing technology.
You can either pick up a copy of the magazine from all good newsagents, or purchase the digital copy here, or visit The Mills Archive and read the article in our library, along with other issues of family history magazines we have appeared in over the years, or read it here.
If you are interested in the history of roller flour milling you might like to visit our new roller flour mill pages on our website that are currently being developed. We have a regular e-newsletter that explores our plans to create the world’s first Roller Flour Mill Archive and Library. If you would like to receive this e-newsletter please contact us using our contact form here.