At the Mills Archive we recently made our first foray into delivery online webinars, on the topic of caring for archival collections.Two webinars held over two weeks looked at all aspects of archival care, including archival cataloguing, preservation of the physical items and the world of digital collections.The webinars were a repackaged version of courses…
Author: Nathanael Hodge
Windmills of Nantucket – Rex Wailes
In 1929 Rex Wailes visited the island of Nantucket during his trip to the USA and Canada. This is his write-up of the history of windmills on the island: Smock mill, Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, USA – REXW-GPN-C-080 Although at present there is but one windmill on Nantucket, there have been a number of others, and records…
Priority Collections
Getting our priorities in order With 286 collections in our archive, ranging from 1 to over 200 boxes in size, it is important for us at the Mills Archive to determine which collections are the most significant. This helps us to know what material to focus on when applying for funding and working with our…
Sketches by Thomas Hennell
This sketch, showing the machinery in an unnamed mill, is one of a number drawn by artist Thomas Hennell and rescued as part of the Rex Wailes collection, now preserved by the Mills Archive. The life of Thomas Hennell Portrait of Thomas Hennell, by friend and fellow artist Vincent Lines. Thomas Hennell was born in…
Work experience at the Mills Archive
I’m coming to the end of my two weeks of work experience at the Mill Archive Trust, having originally applied for the placement in order to gain a different perspective on the History A Level course which I will begin in September…
Form of an Appointment of an Agent of Millers
This week’s gem from the Owen Ward Collection gives a glimpse of the role mills would have played in an invasion of Britain by Napoleon. The French Revolution of 1789 plunged Europe into lengthy wars. The Treaty of Amiens of 1802 between Britain and the new French leader Napoleon Bonaparte led to a brief respite…
Toy Theatre
This week’s Gem is an unusual item from the Alan Stoyel Collection. It is a set of papers with images for the characters and scenes of a toy theatre play, “The Miller and his Men”. In the early 19th century the toy theatre was one of the most popular children’s toys. You could buy a…
1552 Indenture
It’s time for the third in our series of 21 gems of the Mills Archive. In the last two newsletters we looked at both the oldest and the largest artefacts we hold. This week we are looking at the oldest document in our archives, a legal deed in the Mildred Cookson collection dating from 1552.…
Mills on the Chelmer
This week’s newsletter is another extract from the writings and sketchbooks of John Munnings (1916-1987), this time on the mills on the river Chelmer, Essex.Many of the mills around Chelmsford were run by members of the Marriage family. Much of my knowledge about this family derives from Llewellen and Samson Marriage, who I used to…
The Threshing Sledge
Two weeks ago our newsletter featured the oldest artefact held by the Mills Archive, the rotary quern from the iron age. This week’s gem is the largest item in our collections: a threshing sledge from Alan Stoyel’s collection. The history of the threshing sledge Threshing is the stage in the processing of grain which follows…