February 09, 2015

09/02/2015: Milling Journals of the past at the Mills Archive

by Mildred Cookson, The Mills Archive
First Published in Milling and Grain, January 2015


Milling is the other highly regarded milling magazine to have been published in Victorian Britain. It had similarities to The Miller, mentioned in my previous article (Grain & Feed Milling Technology November - December 2014), but also important differences. First published a little later than The Miller, in 1891, Milling declined and seemed lost to the industry until rescued and re-launched by Perendale Publishers as Grain and Feed Milling Technology.
 

http://issuu.com/gfmt/docs/mag1501/14

Through them the magazine has survived, now reaching Volume 126.  Covering new technology in the milling industry, the new owners link back to their roots in grain milling and have formed a strong link with the Mills Archive. In the last issue, Grain and Feed Milling Technology, announced its rebranding as Milling and Grain with a very neat time line, showing how the magazine has progressed through the years bringing us up to date with this exciting new monthly publication.

Milling in its early days became a household name to those connected to the production of grains and those who milled them. From the very first magazine we can read many items discussing matters that are still relevant today. Topics include the grain market round the world with prices of wheat and other cereals, machinery adverts for roller mills, elevators, silos and profiles of eminent millers.

Milling was a classier journal and is in a slightly larger format than The Miller; it took pains with its style and type-face and had a greater feeling of permanence. It was soon printed on a heavier shiny paper and concentrated almost entirely on roller flour milling.  The layout started with notes from the English counties for the week along with weather reports and items on English wheat, fires, handling of grain etc., along with a lovely photograph of a mill or mill-related subject in that particular edition.

As well as many advertisements, these old issues have many full-page photographs of mills, both traditional and modern, usually emphasising the roller system in place. Examples of these full-page photographs adorned many an office wall and smaller versions illustrate this article. The illustration often accompanied a through description of the mill and its machinery. Where traditional mills were described they frequently included the miller’s view on competing with roller milling.

It is interesting to read, in each of the older editions of Milling, a paragraph on what was happening in the USA taken from the Weekly Northwestern Miller, published in Minneapolis. As well as back numbers of the Miller and Milling, the Mills Archive holds many issues of this important magazine from the 1890’s onwards. We have just received from Satake an almost complete run complementing our holdings and covering the 1920s to the 1950s. This magazine will be the subject of my next article.

To find out more contact me on mills@millsarchive.org
 

Read the magazine HERE.
 

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine GFMT
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.


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