60/31

This is a skimmer, used for skimming cream from milk. It has a round, perforated, brass head and a wooden handle. It was purchased from an antique shop by Miss A. Sheppard of the University of Reading’s Department of Dairying.

1 milk skimmer: metal; wood; good condition

MERL miscellaneous note, Greta Bertram, 25 January 2013 – Objects 60/22–60/31 were all used by the ‘Department of Dairying’ at the University of Reading. The name of the department has changed several times over the years, as has its location. It began as the British Dairy Institute in 1888, and was based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, until 1908. It later became the Department of Dairying and was based at the Shinfield Estate in Reading, which was purchased by the University in 1921. In 1982 it became the Dairy Unit of the Department of Food Sciences on the Whiteknights Campus in Reading. See ’The University of Reading, Department of Dairying, the history of an unusual university department over its first hundred years’ by James Rothwell for full details. A memo from Margaret Fuller at MERL to Miss A. Sheppard at the Department of Dairying in 1960 asks whether the three curd breakers (60/24/1–3), a wooden skimmer (annotated by Miss Sheppard as being a ‘butter scoop’) (60/25) and a large coopered item (annotated by Miss Sheppard as being a ‘Cheshire cheese mould’) (60/23) were used in the Department. Miss Sheppard has annotated that ‘all were used in the department when at Aylesbury between 1888–1908’., MERL ‘History Artefacts’ card – ‘Description: A round skimmer made of brass with a straight wooden handle which has two rings cut into the end. The handle is fixed to the skimmer by means of an iron joining piece which is rivetted into position. // Use: For skimming cream from milk.’

Wood, Metal

Sheppard, Miss Anne (Agent)