Biographies of women who have made a significant contribution to the history of milling Amy B Smith (b 1962)Dr E Cora Hind (1861-1942)Eva Ekeblad (1724-1786)Helen Wilkinson Slater (1774-1812)Margaret E Knight (1838-1914)Maria Christina Bruhn (1732-1808)Maria Telkes (1900–1995)Sybilla Righton Masters (c 1676 -1720)Tabitha Babbitt (1779-1853) Publications in our library that discuss or illustrate the role of women…
Author: Liz Bartram
£75,000 grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation for “Hidden Heroes” project

I am delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant of £75,000 by the Garfield Weston Foundation. This is the second largest grant we have ever received and comes at a time when Covid-19 has introduced extra challenges and curveballs for the charity sector. We have all felt the effects of the pandemic…
Milling in 19th century Norway
While sat in a meeting in our Founders’ Room, my eyes travelled across the spines of the antiquarian books visible from my seat, and I couldn’t help but notice a small, gold-decorated book covered in tan-coloured leather. The name of the book was too small for me to read from a distance. After the meeting…
National Lottery celebrates its 25th birthday!
November 2019 marks the 25th anniversary since the National Lottery was created. Since the foundation of the Mills Archive in 2002, we have been awarded more than £330,000 from the Lottery, through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Their support has transformed what the Trust has been able to achieve. Before I joined the Mills Archive…
Help save the Rex Wailes Collection
Today we are launching our campaign to raise funds to help preserve and make available the Rex Wailes Collection. Read on to find out more about this significant collection and how you can help to conserve and make the gems in his collection publicly accessible. We received the Rex Wailes Collection after long-term talks with…
The Mills Archive receives a nationally important collection from the Science Museum
The Mills Archive Trust is pleased to announce that it has received one of the most important mill collections of the 20th century from the Science Museum. The material was assembled over decades by the late Rex Wailes OBE, who was an engineer and the leading consultant for the repair of windmills. Rex’s passion took…
The Mills Archive receives the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
We are thrilled to announce that the Mills Archive has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. To receive this award, equivalent to an MBE for organisations, is a great honour. This accolade represents the valuable contributions and commitment of all our volunteers that make the Mills Archive a success. The Queen’s Award for…
Mills – and our supporters – make the world go ‘round
In the New Year, we launched an appeal for funds towards a new project, ‘Mills make the world go ‘round’. We had been promised £15,000 by the Foyle Foundation, but only if we could secure an additional £8,645 that was needed to carry out the work. Thanks to the generous contributions of our Friends and…
Succession breeds success: one year on
At the time of writing this article we are one year into our National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported project, Succession Breeds Success, and I find myself reflecting on what’s been achieved so far. Here are my top 3 highlights from the project so far. You might recall our announcement in February 2018 that we had received…
Help save your industrial heritage!
Please support “Mills make the world go ‘round’”, a vital project that needs your help. The Foyle Foundation has pledged £15,000 if we can raise £8,645. We need your help to raise the remaining funds needed to open up the Archive to wider interest groups through an important part of the nation’s heritage with far-reaching relevance:…