The TIMS Constitution can be downloaded here.

1.   Title

The Society shall be called The International Molinological Society (or TIMS).

2.   Emblem/badge

The Society’s emblem/badge shall be as illustrated above, having a depiction of a post mill (side profile) within a circle representing a water wheel. Around this circle shall be set the following:
The International Molinological Society  ·T·I·M·S·.

3.   Molinology

Molinology is the study of mills and other mechanical devices which use the energy of moving water or wind, or the strength of animal or human muscle to power machines for purposes such as hammering, grinding, pumping, sawing, pressing or fulling. More particularly, molinology aims to retain the knowledge of those traditional engines which have been rendered obsolete by modern technical and economic trends.

4.   Objects

The objects of the Society shall be:
a)   to promote all aspects of molinology worldwide;
b)   to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of knowledge and information on molinology;
c)   TIMS shall be a non-profit making Society and its objects shall be promoted by all legal means.

To meet these objectives the Society shall:
-    organise Symposia at regular (maximum 5 year) intervals; publish papers presented at such Symposia in the form of Transactions;
-    organise Mid-term Tours at regular intervals between the Symposia;
-    oversee the compilation of a Dictionary of  Molinology in at least four languages;
-    encourage the compilation of a register of all known mill sites;
-    publish material on molinological subjects considered suitable by the Council;
-    assist in the co-ordination of national molinological activities if considered suitable.

5.   Membership

Membership of the Society shall be open to all individuals and organisations interested    in the objects of the Society.

6.   Finances

6.1    Society’s year:  

The Society’s year begins on 1st January and ends on 31st December.

6.2    Membership fees:

The main source of finances of the Society are the membership fees. The different membership fees shall be determined by the General Meeting on recommendation of the Council.

6.3    Financial Report:

The yearly Financial Report of the Society shall be considered by the Council for adoption, taking into account the review of the accounts and report by two ordinary members of TIMS, which were elected by the General Meeting. Adoption of reports by Council precedes submission to the General Meeting. The Financial Reports shall be submitted to the General Meeting for approval together with the review reports of the two members.

7.   Council

7.1    The management of the Society shall be in the hands of a Council, all of whom shall be members of TIMS. Membership of TIMS. Council shall depend in no way on membership of another organisation.

7.2    The Council shall comprise 3 Officers, 2 Symposium Chairmen and Ordinary Members. Also the Editor(s) of the publications of the Society in the Bibliotheca Molinologica series and of the bi-annually International Molinology, are Council Member. The Ordinary members shall each come from a different country. The Ordinary members shall each come from a different country.

7.3    The Officers are the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer.

7.4    Ordinary members and Officers shall seek election or re-election at the General Meeting. Not more than 3 Council Members shall come from one country.

7.5    Ordinary members and Officers shall retire after a maximum span of 4 Symposia/the three intermitting periods or 12 years, whichever period shall be the longer.  

7.6    Symposium Chairmen shall be the Chairman of the current Symposium and the next Symposium, to be elected at the General Meeting.

7.7    Council will meet at least once a year. Council shall be summoned in writing by the President at least 8 weeks prior to a meeting. 7 persons shall form a quorum.

7.8    The Council can appoint Corresponding Members, that have a specific role within the Society. They are invited to attend the Council Meeting. Corresponding Members shall retire when their function is deemed ended by the Council.

7.9    The Council shall in its yearly meeting elect one of the Ordinary Council Members as Vice President. He will replace the President when the President for a longer period is not available to perform his tasks. The period of vice presidency starts when being elected and ends with the election of the new Vice President in the yearly Council Meeting in the next year.  

8.   General Meeting

8.1    The General Meeting of the Society shall be held in conjunction with each TIMS Symposium, or else at a time and place chosen by the Council.

8.2    The General Meeting shall be announced in writing, mailed to each member at least 12 weeks in advance. The Secretary shall notify all members of the Agenda and nominations for election to the Council. Items for inclusion in the Agenda should be brought to the Secretary’s notice 15 weeks before the General Meeting.

8.3    All motions shall be decided by a majority vote. In the event of a tied vote, the President  shall have a casting vote.

9.   Extra-Ordinary General Meeting

An extra-ordinary General Meeting can be summoned by not less than 25 members (representing at least 5 countries). Notice of such meeting shall be mailed to all members at least 12 weeks in advance of the meeting.

10.  Amendments

The Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds majority of members present at a General Meeting, provided that notice of the proposed amendment has been given to all members by mailing this at least 12 weeks in advance.

11.  Language and Measurements

The standard language of TIMS shall be English and all measurements shall be in metric.

12.  Dissolution

The Society may be dissolved by a two-thirds majority of members voting at a General Meeting. In the event of the dissolution of the Society any assets shall be distributed among the national molinological societies or museums, according to the number of members from each country. Assets thus distributed shall be given to those societies or establishments meeting the objects stated in 4 above. In the event of dissolution any material held copyright by TIMS will be available for use by all participating molinological societies or museums.

We would appreciate it when you print out the brochure and make it available to persons that visit your mill and/or show interest in mills or TIMS as an organisation.

The brochure should be printed double-sided on a single A4 sheet and then be folded, so that an A5 size brochure results.

The TIMS Brochure is available in several languages, and if applicable, the contact details of the local or regional TIMS representative are included.

If a country is not listed below one of the general TIMS Brochures should be taken.

To download, just click the appropriate brochure:

General TIMS Brochure English

General TIMS Brochure Russian     Thanks to Tatjana!!

TIMS Brochure USA

TIMS Brochure UK

TIMS Brochure Poland

TIMS Brochure Romania

TIMS Brochure Germany

TIMS Brochure Greece

TIMS Brochure France

TIMS Brochure Belgium & The Netherlands

Molinology is the study of mills and other mechanical devices which use the energy of moving water or wind, or the strength of animal or human muscle to power machines for purposes such as hammering, grinding, pumping, sawing, pressing or fulling. More particularly, molinology aims to retain the knowledge of those traditional engines which have been rendered obsolete by modern technical and economic trends.

                                                                            Sugar Mill in Brazil (1662)

The International Molinological Society (TIMS) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. TIMS is an international organisation and as such respects the various regulations for privacy and data protection such as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) for the European Union. The Data Controller, in terms of the GDPR, is TIMS.
This Policy covers TIMS in relation to the collection and use of the personal information you give us, and the rights you have over the way your information is used.
We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make any significant changes we will advertise this on the website or contact you directly with the information.  Please check this page occasionally to make sure you are happy with any changes.
If you have any questions about this Policy or about your personal information held by the Society, please contact TIMS via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via post to: TIMS Secretary, E.A. Steendam, Aegidiusstraat 218, 3061 XT Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

What type of personal information we collect

The type and amount of information we collect depends on why you are providing it.
If you are joining us as a member, we will ask for your name and contact details (your full address, email address, and your phone number). And we will ask you to indicate the type of membership (normal or partner membership) and your year of birth to be able to determine whether you are entitled to a junior membership. We may also ask you for reasons for your interest in our society, and how you got to know about us.
When you are paying by credit card for your subscription or a purchase, your card information is not held by us, it is collected by our third party payment processor who specialises in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. In case you paying via bank transfer or cheque your bank account data is collected by the bank you have chosen for your payment.
NOTE: the TIMS Symposia, TIMS Midterm Excursions and privately organised tours (by TIMS members) are organised by independent organisers. The personal data collection associated with these events is done solely by these independent organisers, which, as such are responsible for the protection of your privacy and personal data.

When we collect information

We may collect information from you whenever you contact us or have any involvement with us for example when you:
•    join as a TIMS member
•    visit our website (see our Cookies policy below)
•    subscribe to our free email newsletter TIMS E-News
•    attend the TIMS General Meeting and enter your name in the attendance list
•    contact us in any way including online, email, phone, SMS, social media or post

We collect information:
1.    From you when you give it to us directly: You may provide your details when you ask us for information, or contact us for any other reason.
2.    When you use our website, cookies are used.  See the information about the use of cookies under that heading below.
3.    When you use our Digital Library on our website, information about your downloads is recorded and stored.
4.    When it is available on social media: depending on your settings or the privacy policies applying for social media and messaging services you use, such as Facebook,  you might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services.

How we use your information

We will use your personal information in a number of ways. These may include:
•    sending you communications related to being a member of our society, with your consent, including information about our activities. You can opt out at any time.
•    maintaining our organisational records and ensuring we know how you prefer to be contacted
•    seeking your views on the activities we carry out so that we can make improvements
•    providing you with the information you have asked for

Our reason for processing your information

The use of your information for the purposes set out above is because one or more of the following applies:
•    It is necessary for us to hold and use your information so that we can carry out our obligations resulting of you being a member of TIMS.
•    It is necessary for us to hold and use your information so that we can send our TIMS E-News newsletter to you.
If you have registered an online account (to be able to access the member-only pages, such as the TIMS Digital Library), you can unregister by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can also unsubscribe from our email newsletters by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of the email or fill out the unsubscribe form under https://www.molinology.org/index.php/publications/tims-e-news/unsubscribe-e-news

How we keep your information safe

We understand the importance of security of your personal information and take appropriate steps to safeguard it. Carefully considered security measures are in place to protect the TIMS computer server from attack and to ensure banking information, such as direct debit forms, is stored securely. We ensure that only TIMS officers and country representatives manage your information. No data transmission over the internet can however be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to safeguard your information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you provide online and you do this at your own risk.

Who has access to your information?

•    TIMS officers and country representatives
•    Analytics and search engine providers

When you are using our secure online payment pages, your payment is processed by a third party payment processor, who specialises in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. If you have any questions regarding secure transactions, please contact the involved third party.
We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so under any legal obligation and may use external data for the purposes of fraud prevention and credit risk reduction, or where doing so would not infringe your rights, but is necessary and in the public interest.
Other than this, we will not share your information with other organisations without your consent.

Keeping your information up to date

We appreciate it if you can let us know should your contact details change. You can do this by contacting us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or by post to TIMS Secretary, Aegidiusstraat 218, 3061 XT Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Our use of cookies

Cookies are small pieces of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enable the server to collect information from the browser. They are stored on your hard drive to allow our website to recognise you when you visit.
Our website uses cookies only for tracking purposes. These enable us to recognise repeat visitors to the site. By matching an anonymous, randomly generated identifier, we're able to record specific browsing information such as how you arrive at the site, the pages you view, options you select, and the path you take through the site. By monitoring this information we’re able to make improvements to our sites to better serve visitors.
You can block any cookies from any website through your browser settings. For more information about how to disable cookies in your browser please visit www.aboutcookies.org
Flash cookies make it quicker and easier for you to access sites on subsequent visits that use Flash technology. Deleting them means you may have to re-enter information each time you visit the same site. But just like any cookie, you can delete Flash cookies by going to the Settings Manager for your Adobe Flash Player. You will be taken to the Adobe website, which lists the websites with the cookies in your browser. Just click Delete opposite the relevant website.
If you share the use of a computer, accepting or rejecting the use of cookies will affect all users of that computer.
You can find out more detailed information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org, which gives details on how to delete cookies from your computer. For information on how to do this on your mobile phone browser, please see your handset manual.

How long we keep your information for

We will hold your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the relevant activity.
If you cease to be involved with TIMS we will archive your information as part of the Society’s historic record. If you lapse or resign as a member we may contact you for up to 2 years afterwards about rejoining.
Credit and debit card details are not stored by the Society.

Your rights

You have the right to request details of the processing activities that we carry out with your personal information through making a Subject Access Request. Such a request can be made by sending an email with as subject “Subject Access Request” and as contents a description of the requested details, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Subject to certain safeguard or limitations and exemptions you also have the following rights:
•    the right to request rectification of information that is inaccurate or out of date;
•    the right to erasure of your information (known as the “right to be forgotten”);
•    the right to restrict the way in which we are dealing with and using your information; and
•    the right to request that your information be provided to you in a format that is secure and suitable for re-use (known as the “right to portability”);
•    rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling including profiling for marketing purposes.

To exercise any of these rights, you should contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the TIMS Secretary, Aegidiusstraat 218, 3061 XT Rotterdam, The Netherlands..

If you are not happy with the way in which we have processed or dealt with your information, please let us know by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the TIMS Secretary, Aegidiusstraat 218, 3061 XT Rotterdam, The Netherlands. If in your opinion, we were not able to solve your concern or request to your satisfaction, you can complain to the data protection authority in your respective country. For the European Union, further details about how to complain can be found in the following document: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Policy may be changed from time to time. If we make any significant changes we will advertise this on our website or contact you directly with the information. You are advised to check this Policy when you consider giving your personal information to us.

This Policy was last updated in December 2021.

>   Anders Kragh Jespersen († 2003)

>   Kenneth Major († 2009)

>   Derek Ogden

>   Yves Coutant

>   Michael Harverson († 2017)

>   Berthold Moog

>   Yolt IJzerman

>   Tony Bonson

>   Stephanos Nomikos

Our Secretary, Tarcis van Berge Henegouwen, looked into the history of TIMS, and

wrote an article, which can be downloaded here.