Running a windmill as a miller wasn't any different than operating a small business. Millers incurred expenses in the form of supplies and maintenance, and generated profit by offering the services of their mill to grain farmers in the surrounding area. This register, kept by (first name) Vestergaard, offers a rich window into the day-to-day operations of the windmill during its years of operation in Nørre Snede. 

Each page of this log features a different vendor bringing grain to the windmill. From left to right, the register details the date, the type and amount of grain/flour, the cost per yield, and the total cost billed to the farmer. 

There is a wealth of information in these pages and we encourage you to have a look for yourselves. We are working on a guide to help with deciphering the text which will be uploaded here once available. 

To download the full document, click here. 

PLEASE NOTE: This is an unusually large file and might take several minutes to process before viewing. It will download as a .zip file which will have to be extracted before viewing. Once the file is finished downloading, right click on the file, and select "Extract All" to unzip the file. 

This is a collection of theoretical and sketches and notes compiled by Herman Christensen during his training as a mill builder (møllebygger) in Haslev, Denmark. The drawings reflect the intensive theoretical and architectural studies that millbuilders underwent to master their craft. Along with his father and brothers, Christensen worked on repairing and modernizing windmills in Denmark before he immigrated to the United States in 1925. 

Christensen stayed in New York, where he found a career in carpentry and construction. He married a Danish-American in 1927 and had a son by 1930. The ever-expanding city offered plenty of opportunities for workers with Christensen's talents, but not right away. In 1933, in the rippling wake of the Great Depression, Christensen wrote of the massive unemployment and stunted urban development affecting New York City. Though the tide would soon turn and he retired in Southold as a heavy construction foreman many years later.

During his retirement, Christensen caught wind of what was happening in Elk Horn in the news. When he saw that a Danish windmill was being built in Iowa, he volunteered his services to spend two weeks in Elk Horn and oversee construction. His comprehensive knowledge of mill-building that he retained from his youth proved vital for the project as he helped Elk Horn's volunteers overcome some of the more complicated stages in putting the old windmill back together.

Christensen's notes and sketches were donated to the Danish Windmill by his family. In 2009, the Danish Windmill was awarded $1,800 by the Shelby County Community Foundation to digitize the materials and produce an exhibit that remains on display in our video room today. 

To download the full portfolio, click here.