Author: Hannah Pearce
Hi everyone. My name is Hannah and I am this year’s intern from the University of Reading. I started work at the Mills Archive just under a week ago, 3 days after the end of my first year exams. You may already be familiar with this charity and perhaps you are a mill enthusiast. As for me, I had no prior knowledge of mills, of what an archive consists of, or of how a charity is run and made sustainable. So as you can imagine, I was more than a little apprehensive. I had a steep learning curve ahead of me.
On my first day I was introduced to Liz Bartram, the Development Manager, who I am to work closely with throughout my 3-month internship. She outlined the Archive’s plan for an appeal that will centre on the 198 collections that they have in storage and within their databases. I had a vague idea of what a collection consisted of e.g. photos and documents, but to work on an appeal, I would need to understand more about why the collections are so important.
To understand why the collections are vital, I talked to volunteers who are interested in mills, and volunteers who like myself had no prior knowledge of mills before they came to work at the Archive. First off, I spoke to Mrs Mildred Cookson who ran a mill by herself for 30 years. For her, the Archive is important to safeguard against the inevitable loss of information about the history, technology, and people associated with mills. Also, she feels strongly that this information must be protected for future generations. Mildred donated her own vast collection of postcards, illustrated trade catalogues, billheads and sale particulars to the Archive, which was one of the 4 Foundation Collections.
I then talked to other people who work at the Archive such as the Librarian and Information Manager Elizabeth Trout, and Claire Wooldridge, who is the Learning & Engagement Manager for an ongoing HLF-supported project at the Archive called “From Quern to Computer”. Neither Elizabeth nor Claire had prior knowledge of mill – much like myself – and they became interested in mill collections for different reasons. Elizabeth is interested in social history and became interested in mills through learning how communities are affected by the presence of mills. Claire’s interest in mills developed through her other interests in heritage and archives.
Talking to Mildred, Elizabeth and Claire enabled me to understand the variety of ways people are connected to mills, and how vital it is for the Archive to preserve the information about them, for future generations. I also realised that there are hundreds if not thousands of potential mill enthusiasts in the world, who are just waiting to discover their passion for mills, through collections such as Mildred’s.
All in all, my first week at the Mills Archive was very engaging, enlightening and most of all fun. I had no need to worry about my lack of knowledge, as everyone was keen to explain what and why they do what they do for the charity. Also, all of the staff and volunteers were very welcoming, so I quickly felt that I was part of the team. I look forward to learning more about people’s personal connections to the collections next week!
A photo of the team:
