A repurposed Seandar diary for 1925 measuring 9.5 cm x 15 cm recording an 8 day tour of windmills, most of which located in Cambridgeshire. Planning notes for the trip list mills to be visited each day (as well as recommended inns in which to dine/stay).
Notes are made for the mills listed in 'Place access points' below, occasionally accompanied with dimensions and drawings. Mills which have been demolished are also recorded. A list of those mills not visited is given at the back.
Unindexed mills visited include Polton Mill, Shepreth End post mill, a tower mill at Bradley and the remains of tower mills at Chesterton, Boxworth and March.
Mills at Histon, Waterbeach, Yelling, Fen Drayton, Somersham, Warboys, Susards Farm, Madingley and St John's Highway are marked 'non-est'.

A repurposed Lett's diary for 1936 measuring 7.5 cm x 11.5 cm, containing measurements, notes, calculations and drawings on a variety of engineering and milling matters including the mills listed at 'Place access points' below.

Reference is made to a number of sea or tide meals including unidentified ones at Denham, Wadebridge and St Austell, Cornwall and also to 'Butshead Tide Mill' [Budshead?] at St Budeaux. There are also 8 pages of notes under the headings 'Beech' and 'Stock' detailing the equipment/set-up within two unidentified mills. A further unidentified mill mentioned is 'Little Bentley Mill'.

Further notes on tide mills record that, 'porpoises came up at Barrow Hill Tide Mill, Abridge [Heybridge?], Maldon Essex'. A record is also made of '7 Tide Mills on North coast of Norfolk in the Burnhams'.

A repurposed pocket diary for October 1933 measuring 6.5 cm x 9 cm containing notes on the mills listed at 'Place access points' below. These include more detailed notes about: the toll board and exterior cleats at Llanddeusant, Anglesey; some drawings under the heading, 'Windmills for the Generation of Electricity, Institute for Research in Agricultural Engineering, University of Oxford'; a reference to 'Parsonage Mill' at Eastbourne 'painted by Hine'; a reference to a book of photos of Eastbourne town hall showing mills in the 1870s and referencing, 'E.L.B. 50 years ago'.

A small pocket notebook (measuring 7.5 cm by 11 cm) containing notes on Gayton, Ashdon and Sh[aw] Mills and notes "per Mr P. Davies" about a Mr Horton of Hythe regarding the use of sack hoist chains by his father and grandfather, W.B and J. Horton, respectively.

A repurposed Army field message book labelled, "Various notes should be transcribed. Gt Hazely, Ramsey, Ivinghoe" and comprising research notes, drawings and measurements from visits to the identifiable mills listed at "Place access points" below. Ivinghoe is more commonly known as 'Pitstone Windmill', Wailes noting a date of 1627 carved in part of the interior.

A repurposed Army field message book labelled, "Shiremark, Aythorpe Roding, Seaton Ross" containing 8 pages of an undated draft narrative about post mills and paltrok mills. The notebook also contains research notes, drawings and measurements from visits to the following mills: Shiremark Mill, Capel on 12 November 1933 (9 pages); Aythorpe Roding on 1 October 1934 (4 pages); Preston Mill, Seaton Ross on 6 April 1935 (3 pages). Lastly, a long list of 81 windmills, each with what seem to be a key feature noted against them (e.g. "Billericay - collapsed", "Bozeat - winch on tailpole"). Interspersed are notes about two, seemingly unrelated businesses: the Belden Manufacturing Co., Chicago and E.M. Denny & Co, a soft cheese processing plant.

A repurposed Army field message book labelled, "Cambs, Essex, Suffolk, 1927".

1. The first section of the notebook begins with a schedule of windmills to be visited in Cambridgeshire noting whether a photo is required and who is to be met. Notes, measurements and drawings are taken at each of the identifiable windmills listed at "Place access points" below.
2. The middle section of the notebook, written in a brown-coloured ink, plots co-ordinates/directions for various places (possibly mill locations) throughout Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex. This section of the notebook also contains a copy of a 1902 letter from Press Bros. of Great Yarmouth to Sidney Russell of Windmill Hill, Cranbrook, Kent, giving details as to a particular mill's construction/workings.
3. The next section of the notebook features 56 pages of notes from Wailes' four day trip to Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in June 1927. Notes, measurements and drawings were taken at each of the identifiable windmills listed at "Place access points" below. Amongst the notes are two sections of narrative diary entries from the trip (including an interlude involving a hedge and a ripped pair of breeches). Noting the recent (1926) loss of Fressingfield, Wailes observes that, "working mills must occupy my time. Derelicts must be content with photograph only".
4. The penultimate section comprises 15 pages of lists of windmills in Sussex, Suffolk, Surrey, Essex and Kent.
5. The last section is a detailed account of a visit to Thurston, Rougham Common and Pakenham mills on 15 December 1934. Wailes' notes for Thurston Mill are marked, "Examined with Paisley", recording that the mill had been moved from about 1.5 miles nearer Pakenham about 200 years ago and that a mill had been on that site in James II's reign.

Bundle of research notes on:

• a draft address/paper relating to the Newcomen Society and the emergence of the term, 'Industrial Archaeology' (pre 1970);
• Thaxted Mill (30 November 1964);
• Broxted Mill (24 July 1938);
• an unidentified author's 'list of Post Mills In Essex that I know' addressed to 'Mr Wailes';
• brief typed notes on mills at South Ockenden, Stock and Southminster (undated);
• 8 pages of notes taken from the 'Historic Monuments Commission of the Province of Quebec' (Proulx, 1928) and from the 'Legal Archives of Quebec'. The focus is on historic 'Banal' and 'Seignorial' mills of Canada, including those listed at 'Place access points' below as well as notes about several unindexed mills (a 'First known mill on the Island of Orleans', 'Windmill [or Banal Mill] Saint Famille','The Mill Pointe aux Trembles', 'Fleming Mill, Ville La Salle', 'The Banal Mill, Vinceloth Signeur, Cap Saint Ignace', 'The Banal Mill, Grondines', 'old windmills at Fort Erie, Niagara and Windmill Point, Prescott' and the 'Old Windmill Sandwich'. An unidentified mill at 'Saint Plerve' is also noted;
• a brief note on the depiction of mills in art, 'This is not place to illustrate derelicts but mills when in their glory...' (undated);
• labels for plates in a paper or book, most of the items depicted being described as, 'in the possession of the author', for example, 'Puzzle jug inscribed, 'The Miller, the house & the mill but where is the Donkey'.

A Reporters' Notebook containing:
Northants: notes taken from 'Northants Notes & Queries, New Series, Vol.4, 1912-1920' relating to: a 1609 grant by James 1 of a post mill at Kettering; the history of an unindexed tower mill (located on the site of a former post mill on Rockingham Road, Kettering) which was demolished in 1893; 18th c. maps of Kettering showing the location of various mills and a 19th c. print showing a post mill at Peterborough; also notes about the post mill at Seaton, Rutland which was demolished in 1917 as well as the nearby watermill, Henry Royce being said to have worked at both mills as a boy.
Suffolk: research notes relating to Suffolk windmills including construction dates, operational status in 1926,1939 and 1955 and including the notable features listed in 'Subject access points' below.
Windmill restoration: eight pages of draft narrative rehearsing the demise of wind and watermills since the late 19th c. and extolling the efforts of John Russell to restore and preserve Union Mill, Cranbrook. The narrative rehearses the preservation efforts made by a number of local authorities (counties listed in 'Place access points' below) arguing that it should be essential for such work to be their responsibility.
Windmills still in operation: notes running from back-to-front in the notebook listing, 'How many still in use', which are 'Workable' and 'When used and why'.

Notebook measuring approx. 10.5 cm x 16.5 cm and marked on the inside cover 'c.1972' containing a list of mills (one page per mill), at varying levels of detail (those with more content being listed at 'Place access points' below). The first half of the notebook is devoted to watermills but the second half features windmills (mostly smock and post mills). Notes on several of the windmills reference the work of JM Heathcote. Cross references to maps/page numbers of books occur throughout.

A repurposed diary for 1945, cover removed and measuring approx. 7 cm x 13.5 cm, containing brief notes on a variety of milling matters (as well as other topics, particularly music). The notes include: a memo regarding a call to Matheson of the National Trust regarding Bourne Ponds Mill, Colchester; a 3-page list of mills, possibly depicting the development of windmills through time (from 'The Windmill Psalter' to 'Napolean's Raft'); a list of Lincolnshire mills. There are more detailed notes about the mills listed at 'Place access points' below, including Partington's Mill, Auckland, New Zealand (unindexed).

A repurposed, leather-covered diary for 1948 measuring approx. 7.5 cm x 14 cm and containing a list of mills for which photographs were required. Also contains notes of a visit to Upminster Windmill with brief recommendations as to repair/conservation.

A repurposed Lett's diary for 1935 measuring 7.5 cm x 11.5 cm, containing measurements, notes, calculations and drawings on a variety of engineering and milling matters including the windmills itemised at 'Place access points' below. Reference is made to the impact of gales at Winchelsea (which eventually blew down in gales in 1978 and 1987).

A repurposed Lett's diary for 1930 measuring 7.5 cm x 10 cm, most of the pages being blank, but containing a list of the Suffolk mills itemised at 'Place access points' below, with brief descriptions for each one. These include details of the current mill owner (where applicable) and their condition (or date of demolition, if applicable).