Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None

Use Restrictions

Consult repository for information

Preferred Citation

Clifford Currie Collection on Colvin Run Mill, MSS 06-45, Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library

Acquisition Information

Acquired by the Friends of Colvin Run Mill in 1999 and gifted to Fairfax County Public Library’s Virginia Room in 2003.

Processing Information

Chris Barbuschak, December 2019
EAD generated by Ross Landis, 2023

Historical and Biographical Information

Clifford Randolph Currie, an expert Canadian millwright engineer, was born in Round Hill, Alberta, Canada on December 23, 1918. In addition to rebuilding Colvin Run Mill, Currie reconstructed the Roblin’s Mill in Toronto’s Black Creek Pioneer Village in 1960.

Colvin Run Mill, a c.1811 merchant’s mill built in Great Falls, Virginia, was owned by the Sheppard, Carper, Powell, and Millard families throughout a 120-year period. In 1965, the Fairfax County Park Authority acquired the Colvin Run Mill property through condemnation proceedings from Bernard B. Bailey who had purchased the mill in 1934. The Park Authority hired John B. Campbell, a well-known mill restorationist, to make plans to restore the mill and assess its condition. It soon became evident that restoration would not be a simple project due to the mill’s dilapidated state and structural deficiencies. Campbell recommended that the Park Authority hire Clifford Currie to direct the mill’s restoration.

As superintendent, Currie directed the daily work, prepared the engineering drawings, and carried out the restoration plan for Colvin Run Mill from 1968-1972. Currie documented the painstaking restoration efforts through logbooks, drawings, and slides which are included in this collection. Construction moved at a slow pace due to Currie’s insistence on crafting and using authentic tools and materials necessary for recreating a 19th century mill. After four years of construction, the Park Authority re-hired John Campbell as millwright-engineer to complete Currie’s work in May 1972.

The restored Colvin Run Mill officially opened to the public on July 8, 1972. Currie successfully rebuilt the building as an authentic working 19th century mill with functioning water wheel and interior gearworks. That same year, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors designated the mill and surrounding property as the Colvin Run Mill Historic Overlay District in order to protect the mill’s environment and the visual character of Colvin Run Road.

In September 1975, the Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects presented the Fairfax County Park Authority with an award for excellence in craftsmanship for their restoration of the mill. The U.S. Department of Interior listed Colvin Run Mill on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. In May 2001, ASME International designated the mill as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

Clifford Currie died on May 3, 2004 in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Scope and Content

The Clifford Currie Collection on Colvin Run Mill consists of 0.75 linear feet and spans the years 1967-2003, the bulk of which dates from 1967-1972. The collection contains Currie’s handwritten logbooks, oversized engineering design drawings, and 422 slides taken during the restoration of Colvin Run Mill from 1968-1972. Included in the collection are typed transcriptions of the logbooks prepared by Marjorie Lundgard in 2002 and of the slide collection indexed by Bob Lundegard and Nick Yannarell in 2003.

Related Material

None

Separated Material

None

Index Terms

• Colvin Run Mill
• Currie, Clifford R. (1918-2004)
• Fairfax County Park Authority
• Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Fairfax County
• Mills and mill-work -- Virginia -- Fairfax County

Adjunct Descriptive Data