Archive of Interesting mills - by Ron Cookson (17 April 2001)

Apart from the many publications on wind and water mills, researchers often need to see original historical documents and pictorial records that might not be so easily obtained.

The relevant information may be stored, but not necessarily well indexed in:

• One of the main archives such as the National Monuments Record; the Rylands Museum; the SPAB or the Science Museum. These collections require phone calls and possibly visits to check material. Although a visit may still be necessary, the Templeman Library special collections of wind and water mills give more detailed indexes on the Internet of the Muggeridge, Davies and Holman Collections.
• Individual collections and private archives scattered around the country. Few of these are accessible via the Internet.

A New Initiative has therefore been launched to establish:

• A new specialist archive to store, care for and preserve important collections of mill-related material.
• A new charitable trust to bring together the different needs of researchers and serious collectors.
• An Internet gateway to the indexes and high resolution digitised images of key material in the archive.

As the project is still in its early days there is plenty of opportunity for you to find out more and have your say on how it should develop

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