The need for an archive

The Mills Archive is a centralised archive and library that allows users to store and retrieve information and records about traditional mills and milling. It was set up in response to an expressed need to preserve and where possible integrate the various threatened sources of information on the windmills and watermills of the UK and the rest of the world.

Searches will also include information from other collaborating organisations where mill collections are held. The Internet is the most useful gateway to the collection, but facilities will also be made available for researchers to visit the library to consult books and other material

The fate of collections

Large general archives may accept material but often can only act as a safe warehouse. There is a need for a specialist repository not only to care for mill-related collections but also to make the material available to researchers and enthusiasts over the Internet. Three issues are paramount.

Preservation

• Time is running out for old collections;
• paper is bulky to store and may deteriorate rapidly;
• films, slides, photographs (including microfilm) and video and audio recordings age even more rapidly;
• even modern electronic media are not permanent;
• business archives such as those of millers and millwrights are also vulnerable and contain much valuable information.

Knowing what is available

• Most collections rely on personal memory, although some collectors create manual or computer-based indexes;
• all indexes, however created, may suffer from the idiosyncrasies of the compiler or the nature of the collection, or make assumptions about the knowledge and needs of the user;
• many indexes are just aide-mémoires for the collector and rapidly lose their value as the collection grows and the collector ages.

Access to the collection

• Even when you know an item exists, can you get hold of it?
• finding things in your own collection can be a challenge; it is even worse when the collection is elsewhere;
• in theory the Internet allows easy access to catalogues and digital images held on different sites;
• in practice, access to the best historical information may be restricted or difficult and there are many copyright and standards issues to trap the unwary.