Peter Millington was born and raised near Eastwood, Notts. He performed with the Nottingham’s Owd Oss Mummers in the 1970s. He studied information science at Leeds Polytechnic, and spent his career as an information professional in scientific research establishments. While studying, he established contacts with the Survey of Language and Folklore, University of Sheffield, and the Institute of Dialect and Folklife Studies, University of Leeds, both of whom provided much material support. He was a founding member of Traditional Drama Research Group (TDRG) in 1981. While researching for his PhD on ‘The Origins and Development of English Folk Plays’, he put much of his source information onto the website that eventually became www.folkplay.info. He graduated in 2002, and continued to run the website until 2005 when the TDRG took control. He has run the complementary Master Mummers website (http://www.mastermummers.org/) since 2007. His other folk drama interests include Caribbean folk drama, textual analysis and geographical distributions. He is currently (2018) researching the customs and traditions of the island of Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic Ocean.
The bulk of Millington’s field collecting was in the 1970s, in Nottinghamshire and nearby counties, when traditional Guysers were still active. Thereafter, he concentrated on gathering, organising and analysing folk play information. This resulted in ‘An Interim List of Nottinghamshire Folk Plays and Related Customs’ (1980).
The original manuscripts are held by the collector. Copies of most of the earlier items are held in:
- Local Studies Library, Central Library, Angel Row, Nottingham, NG1 6HP, England
Email: local_studies.library@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
Website: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/sitemap/lc_local_studies_library
(Nottinghamshire material only) - Manuscripts & Special Collections, Library, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, England
Email: mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk
Website: http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.uk/
(Reference Ba P) - Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture, Leeds University Library, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, England
Email: special-collections@library.leeds.ac.uk
Website: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/activities/lavc/
The collection may be available to researchers by appointment. Contact via petemillington@virginmedia.com.
Most Notts items in the collection are listed at: http://www.mastermummers.org/notts/NottsBibM.php. The archives and libraries that hold copies may have their own catalogues
“The Origins and Development of English Folk Plays”, PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield, May 2002, downloadable from http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13/