http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/ Mill Writing Blog en admin@millsarchivetrust.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-03T14:57:55+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/dirty_deeds/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/dirty_deeds/#When:13:57:55Z Do you have any deeds of mills and related buildings that you are keeping somewhere safe (like a bank)? If so then read the alarming story below from an archivist in a London borough, and think about retrieving them and donating them to an archive to make sure they are protected!A local resident came in. She had been paying her bank to store her house deeds and other legal documents. The bank suffered a major sewage flood and documents were soaked. Customer and many others received letters asking them to agree destruction or come and collect the deeds. The customer arrived at bank to be given sodden bundle of deeds with the suggestion to store them in her shed and be careful of sewage contamination. The bank has agreed to pay £100 towards cost of conservation and distress. Anyone else as outraged as me? Should I even be surprised? Another archivist commented: A cynic might even suggest that it's a good deal more surprising that they didn't just throw the lot away.  Clearly as archive professionals we're all likely to be at the polar opposite end of the spectrum of regard for historic documents, but there are many people out there - some of whom, I'm sure, work for banks - who would regard deeds as worthless old bits of paper or parchment.  You have been warned!!! Archive 2012-05-03T13:57:55+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/the_english_heritage_archive_-_12_million_items_to_look_through/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/the_english_heritage_archive_-_12_million_items_to_look_through/#When:15:31:57Z The National Monuments Record (NMR) is now known as the English Heritage Archive and their Chief Archivist, Mike Evans, has provided a useful description of how to search the 12 million items they hold. Mike's email is reproduced below. Well worth a visit!English Heritage is the guardian of a remarkable range of data, photographs and other archive items related to the historic environment, previously managed as the National Monuments Record (NMR). One of the most important developments in recent years is the online facilities we have been developing to give you round-the-clock access to them. To better reflect the services we now offer, the name National Monuments Record (NMR) will no longer be used. From now on, our archive, comprising around 12 million items relating to England’s historic environment, will be called the English Heritage Archive. This will continue to be housed and curated in Swindon where we have a Public Search Room (open Tuesday – Friday, 9.30am – 5.00pm).  You can search our online catalogue at www.englishheritagearchives.org.uk. This includes photographs dating from the 1850s to the present day, as well as reports, drawings, and plans of English buildings and archaeological sites. You can already view 93,000 images here, free of charge. By 2015 we aim to add 500,000 more.  For aerial photographs and spatial data, please contact the Archive Services team at archive@english-heritage.org.uk.  For listing information and local historic environment records, we encourage you to go to the Heritage Gateway at www.heritage-gateway.org.uk. This is a portal to 49 resources, including over 50% of local English Historic Environment Records, the National Heritage List for England (all nationally designated assets), and 6 other national resources including Images of England.  If you can’t find what you need, please don’t hesitate to email us at archive@english-heritage.org.uk. We will try our best to help.  Mike Evans Chief Archivist The English Heritage Archive The Engine House Firefly Avenue Swindon SN2 2EH Archive 2012-04-30T15:31:57+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/are_you_passionate_about_mills/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/are_you_passionate_about_mills/#When:20:10:48Z If you are, why not visit the Mills Archive in Reading and help us to celebrate our tenth anniversary? We have so much to show you; you can discover the stories behind the mill heroes of the 20th century and meet some from the 21st!   Of course we have thousands of photographs and documents to look through, but we also have volunteers who can help you find what you are looking for. If you are interested, then so are we. This informative article features in the current Mill News and is available as a 4-page A4 reprint. A PDF of the paper is available in the Related Articles below or free of charge by emailing your postal address   Archive, Events, Publications 2012-04-27T20:10:48+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/if_you_ever_needed_a_reason_for_joining_the_spab_mills_section/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/if_you_ever_needed_a_reason_for_joining_the_spab_mills_section/#When:10:49:16Z Well - here it is! The new A4 format for Mill News is combined with impressive and varied content and is a delight to hold and read.There are, as you would expect, a number of interesting articles and shorter pieces, but what immediately strikes you is the professional look of the publication. For those interested in mills, the editor and her team have put together some stunning illustrations, taking full advantage of the format.  They have set themselves a challenging standard for the future - and good luck to them. The efforts of the individual or team behind publishing newsletters are often taken for granted. Looking at this new approach, makes one realise just how rich our mill resources are and how skilled are the contributors in getting across the message.  This first edition of the new era will become a collector's piece - so if you are not a member make sure you sign up and insist on getting a copy! You can do this here Mill Groups, Publications 2012-04-25T10:49:16+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/mills_archive_on_the_archives_hub/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/mills_archive_on_the_archives_hub/#When:08:38:39Z The first Mills Archive collection can now be viewed on the Archives Hub.The Archives Hub is a website where archive repositories from across the UK upload their catalogues so that the country's archival material can be searched in one place. My project over the last two months (funded by the Vodafone World of Difference scheme) has centred around revising our catalogue entries to send to the Hub. The first collection, an album of photographs of windmills taken in the 30s and 40s by a Mr Reid, is now available for viewing on the Hub. I've been unable to find out anything about Reid, other than the following few facts, gleaned from a note inside the album: He lived at Rawdon, Upper Packington Rd., Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire; he died in 1955; his widow, Mrs R Reid, donated his photos to the SPAB Mills Section in his memory in October 1956. If anyone knows more about him, please get in touch! Archives Hub, Archive 2012-04-23T08:38:39+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/burum_windmill_disaster_-_the_netherlands/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/burum_windmill_disaster_-_the_netherlands/#When:14:31:43Z 8 April 2012 - a sad day in the Netherlands.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCChzqhmjME Jon Cook (SPAB and TCMG) commented:  A very sorry sight from the weekend when Burum Windmill in the Netherlands was destroyed by fire…  This was an important mill in its area – an historic mill with much original fabric. News of Mills, Mills outside the UK, Windmills 2012-04-13T14:31:43+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/who_was_stephen_buckland2/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/who_was_stephen_buckland2/#When:15:27:58Z I have been working on the Stephen Buckland Collection, thanks to the Vodafone World of Difference scheme, for the past five weeks and I am slowly building an idea of who Stephen was as a person.I feel that a collection as complicated as Stephen's cannot be understood without understanding the person behind it. Many of you will not have met Stephen, or indeed know who he was, and because of this I have composed a small biography on him, with the help of a biography by Michael Harverson, published in 'Mill drawings by Stephen Buckland' which is available to purchase from The Mills Archive shop. To keep this post short, please follow this link to my Vodafone blog where you can read my full account. I shall be posting updates on my work in the coming weeks. Keep reading ... Archive, Stephen Buckland 2012-04-06T15:27:58+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/latest_tims_newsletter_is_stunning/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/latest_tims_newsletter_is_stunning/#When:19:53:36Z The latest issue (Spring 2012) contains an amazing 37 pages of articles and images relating to mills in many countries around the world. As a demonstration of the breadth and interest of the subjects available, TIMS publications are second to none and this one is freeTIMS E-News is a downloadable PDF and you can subscribe here  For mill enthusiasts, the riches in this issue seem endless: A Survey of National Mill Days in the USA and Europe Details of the TIMS bookshops (including our TIMS shop)  Details of membership and forthcoming publications (free to members) 20 pages of mill news from arround the World Articles on Australian roller flour mills, sesame mills in Lemnos, Greece, spelt milling in South Africa and smaller items on mills in Turkey  a painting of a 3-man treadwheel "noria" in America and and a poem from the USA Books reviewed  De l’eau à la lumière, Un siècle d’énergie hydroélectrique en France, Pierre Crausse & François Vieillefoss Windmühlen by Helmut Dollhopf The horizontal windmill of Andros, an engine, a craft, an invention (Ο ταβλόμυλος της Άνδρου, μια λαϊκή μηχανή, μια τέχνη, μια εφεύρεση), by George Speis. Congratulations to George Speis and Katerina Toutouza for producing an excellent publication.   News of Mills, Mills outside the UK, TIMS, Watermills, Windmills 2012-04-04T19:53:36+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/brixton_windmill_shortlisted_for_prestigious_award/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/brixton_windmill_shortlisted_for_prestigious_award/#When:15:07:34Z Brixton Windmill has been shortlisted for a Museums and Heritage Award for Excellence 2012.The awards celebrate best practice within museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, and Brixton Windmill has been shortlisted in the Restoration or Conservation category.   Other attractions shortlisted in this category are the Dean Heritage Centre in the Forest of Dean, the White Tower in the Tower of London, the Extraordinary Ordsall Hall in Salford, and the Watts Gallery near Guildford in Surrey.   Jean Kerrigan, Chair of Friends of Windmill Gardens, said: "FoWG are really proud to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award. It is a testament to the great community support there is in our borough for Brixton Windmill.   "In partnership with Lambeth Council, owners of the building, and with the careful work of  project architects Dannatt Johnson, this unique remnant of rural life has been conserved in the heart of inner London. The project to restore this Grade II* listed windmill was enabled by generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  "It would be wonderful if a small community-led project like the restoration of Brixton Windmill won this competition ahead of such important heritage sites as the Tower of London. We've all got our fingers crossed!"   The results will be announced at an awards ceremony on 16 May. The Friends of Windmill Gardens look afer the mill and are Friends of the Mills Archive. More information may be found on the Featured Mills page on our website. News of Mills, Windmills 2012-03-25T15:07:34+00:00 http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/1.5m_windmill_dream/ http://www.millsarchivetrust.org/index.php/blogs/more/1.5m_windmill_dream/#When:06:51:39Z LYTHAM’S iconic windmill is set to be turned into a prime 21st century attraction. The Lytham Heritage Group has applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the lion’s share of funding for a £1.5 million conversion project.Thanks to William Hill for his email mentioning the full report in the Lytham and St Annes Express . This describes an initial bid for which the Heritage Group would have ultimately to raise £426,000. If they get the go ahead  the Group will hope for public support for match funding and a network of volunteers worth £86, 650. Lytham Heritage Group is a Friend of the Mills Archive and more can be found on our Featured Mill page Those who know the mill and its location next to the lifeboat house will wish the project well   News of Mills, Windmills 2012-03-19T06:51:39+00:00