#16 Follow-up on a Papermill

Reading Time: 18 minutes

Featured image from Image by Bohdan Chreptak from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/photos/books-old-antique-literature-4812032/

Welcome back again everyone! Not trying to just copy and paste my own information again, but…

This is super late, but hopefully I have fixed all of the issues with technology! So, please let me post a belated Happy Chinese New Year, and well wishes and happy celebrations to those that celebrate Feast of Saint Brigid, Imbolc, Groundhog’s Day, and Black History Month!

I am slowly getting back into a routine, and tackling the big projects again, so look out 2022! This week we are following up with last weeks episode by talking about Papermills-the history of paper, the history of mills themselves, and figuring out which book was published first? Finally, we will wrap up this episode by talking about the Brown Company, a mill that closed down in the 1980s, but left a lot of research and information behind. 

TRANSCRIPT:

It’s time for Architecture, Coffee, & Ink.

15 second Intro song

Hello, this is Hollywood C. and you’re listening to Architecture, Coffee, & Ink. A podcast dedicated to introducing concepts, detailing out designs, and tackling the architecture you might not realize the meaning behind. I’m your hostess and I am here today to start introducing you to the designs that make you wonder why.

tag line:  So I ask you to brew your coffee, grab your sketch book and pen, and let’s begin.

Hello Everyone! Or should I say Rabbit, Rabbit! If you happened to have downloaded this episode before getting out of bed this morning. Which is supposed to be good luck if you say it at the start of a new month. I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel like I was struggling to adjust into the new year, and then finally got just the right level of napping in over the weekend, and that I am now ready to tackle it all. I have been struggling with the blog account and now that it is finally fixed and ready to go, I can start changing it around and uploading the missing post from last week and this one later on this afternoon. As well as finally finish up and finish off updating my portfolios and websites. With me graduating in May, it seems like there is so much you want to include, and scaling down is always the hardest to do, plus, I personally love to continue to update drawing and portfolios as I go-because the me who walked through the doors four years ago, having never touched photoshop, to the me now, who literally cannot imagine a day without some form of sketching are very, very different people. 

But finally settling down into a routine, and finishing up unpacking from my winter move means I can start to live again, and what better way, then to start tackling some of the follow-up episodes and requests, and planning and researching BONUS episodes when I need a small break from my thesis. But this week, we are going to pick up back where we last left off, and follow up on the interview with Gage Manuel from last week, where he spoke to us about papermills. Some of you emailed to request the follow up, as you are interested in the history of the papermill itself and how the building structure has evolved over time, as well as a look at the ups and the downsides.

I’ll start by quoting myself exactly from last week, “a papermill is a factory devoted to making paper, including toilet paper, stationary, and cardboard, depending on the individual location and the needs of the community, and resources.”

And I will add on to this very basic definition that it includes the capital and the economics. Later on in the episode, we are actually going to be discussing a case study of a papermill  no longer exists. Before we start, I again want to disclaimer, you should always check your sources, check your facts, and more importantly check me-I should never be your only information source.

The major modern problem with the word ‘papermill’ and goodness, I still forget no one can see me, I totally just used air quotes, is that it is actually used extremely loosely. In academia, you have definitely heard of papermills before, but it is referring to the fake paper websites. So, there are places, you can get illegal and falsified papers, with fabricated stories-called paper mills, and no, I am not just referring to the ones that students purchase, though that is a small part of it. These papers are actually extremely dangerous-they provide false and harmful information, indiscriminately. So, often times you will hear the phrase papermills associated with this idea of misinformation. Now, when you get into the actual factories I am referring to, this idea of misinformation or harm doesn’t go away, and in some regards, I think that original practices undoubtably strengthen that connotation.

Papermills also have an issue of being a catch all term, that can include human, animal, and water powered mills. As you most likely have guessed, the power source comes from exactly what is stated, human provide the power, animals provide the power, and water providing the power. As Gage stated, the location is one of the most important parts aspects of determining where they place the mills, and what type of power source is going to used. So, before I start into the history of paper mills, I am going to back track slightly into the history of paper making as a whole, then slide into papermills, and finally conclude with some of the machinery and the case study. Because, human powered mills, actually ties way back into the origins of paper itself.

Paper originates as far back as 105 AD, and was credited to Ts’ai Lun or Cai Lun, who lived from 62CE to 121 in China. He was a eunuch who served Emperor Hedi of the Dong Han Dynasty, and during his time at court, he came up with the idea of using bark, and other materials to create paper. It is in fact the same person, just one name was Romanized. As they were originally writing on silks and stones, this idea of using a lighter, cheaper material took off. Eventually, it ended up spreading across the trading routes, and you can trace the introduction of paper and when it was used in each new area pretty clearly across the routes. Unfortunately, the issues began pretty quickly, as often is the case with a new invention-while the idea and concept of printing helped paper take off, materials were needed. The original methods used rags, and wastes, in addition to the barks, so it wasn’t until the 1800 that the idea of wood pulp was introduced. The name paper, actually comes from papyrus, like the plant. Using the leaves, the Egyptians used it to create their writing materials. They are honestly very beautiful plants to look at, I will see if I can find a picture for the blog, but fingers crossed.

Here is where my sources get a bit fuzzy, so when I was reading up on this, I got several sources to mention a book was published that launched forward paper making and some that made it sound like it was the first to be published on the wood pulp method. And several different sources made it seem like it was a manual about the process of papermaking, but, when I was attempting to find it, I could only find two books about religion being credited as the first to be printed on machine made paper or wood pulp. I am 100% certain that this is a question I could eventually answer, but it would take a lot longer than the few weeks I spent researching this episode, so let me tentatively promise to see if I can get back to later, because I really didn’t want to push this episode back. But my current research lead me to believe that in 1802, a book titled, “The Mathematical and Philosophical Works of the Right Rev. John Wilkins, Late Lord Bishop of Chester” was credited by to be the first book on wood pulp paper. While a second book, “An Abstract of the Whole Doctrine of the Christian Religion with Observations. From a Manuscript in Her Majesty’s Possession. The First Book Stereotyped by the New Process” is credited with being the first to be printed from a Stanhope press. The reason I bring that up, is that the only manual’s about the process I was able to find, weren’t published until after that, so the first book was credited to be published in 1802, the second in 1804, and the pamphlets I am guessing of the new process that revolutionized the world in 1806. So, if  so, it explains why some of the sources just threw a 1800 and added an s at the end. It seems like a lot of nuisances and mis-written articles. That’s completely ignoring Mathias Koops, who held the patient for recycling paper-something that was issued around April 28, 1800, for patent no. 2392. But again, why do we care as architects, designers or  just you dear listeners? Because, with that change in the process, came a change in the needs and the demands on the space involved to make paper.

Papermills themselves, were believed to be human and animal powered for the earliest versions, and switched later on to the water-based power. It seems that the references are pretty scattered, so I will only mention the definitive ones, and skim through the history, because this topic is complicated enough on its own and doesn’t need my help muddling the waters. Human and animal powered were definitely known to be used by both Muslims and Chinese first, including a reference to one Baghdad in 794. Unlike those, water powered seems to be pretty elusive to pin down-I am not saying that they didn’t have them, but its more that all of my sources contradicted themselves and it seems they argue against each other, and I even check out the Wikipedia pages and sources. I am guessing, from reading, that there is a translation issue at play. It seems like some refer to them as industries or give them titles. Unfortunately, the languages that the original documents and references are in are not ones I speak or read, so I can’t offer any insight on these 11th century [at the latest] documents. If someone does know, please reach out, I would love to speak with someone who has studied the original texts. But starting in 1282, with the Kingdom of Aragon, we can start documenting the incorporation of water powered mills, officially. Meaning, that a new limitation of design is the proximity of water. From there, we see the first stirrings of the Fourdrinier machines, which is the paper machines you can see on YouTube videos today-in fact I included a link for a video of one of the machines working-or its current modern equivalent that I will be posting on the blog. The original was patented in 1799, by Nicholas Robert, and installed on behalf of the brothers Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, where it will evolve over the years until it becomes the modern day machine that it is now. There is four sections of the machine: a wet end, wet press section, calendar section-which is located at the end, and a dryer section. As you may have guessed, the process takes the materials, gets it moist and into a paste, presses it into the sheets you expect, then dries and finishes it with a gloss. There is much more to the process, but, because of the vastness of all of the topics being covered today, I am keeping it kinda light and sticking with the basics. 

Gage did a great job explaining the papermills and production, so please go back to the previous episode, “We’re on a roll with an interview of a Papermaker”-he choice the title of the episode. Instead, I am going to move onto the social impacts of the industry, as my spark notes history into the previous two topics has taken up enough of everyone’s time. Like any industry, there is some places that do it great, and attempt to mitigate the impact they have, in others, they exploit and degrade both the workers and the environment. Some of the worst in the world, are removing native populations and creating ‘green desserts’ or monocultures of farming that offer little to no positive giveback to the environment. Some remove livelihood simply by revoking access and habitat to animals  and areas that were traditionally used by locals. Healthwise, mills have historically been a source of chlorine bleaching, mercury, lead, and phosphorus among other heavy metals. While steps are being taken to remove these, and starting to regulate the progress, the previous chemicals can cause reproductive issues, allergies, and attack the immune and endocrine systems. That being said, I did mention last week how some families were completely dependent on the mills for employment, a sentiment that was confirmed by my guest. I think that the discussion last episode highlighted what a socially responsible company looks like. Gage mentioned how they give back to the community and attempt to give back extra energy, and the safety steps and practices used. I won’t repeat the whole conversation, but please go back and listen, especially if you want to learn more about how they are recycling the materials and progress of that. There has been multiple legislation at various levels introduced across the world to improve the processes, and I encourage you to research on your own to find out as much as possible about both sides of the issue. Unfortunately, with the length of the episodes, I won’t have time to talk about it, but a paper was written that I included among the sources that did a “50-state analysis” on economic contribution-if you get the chance and are interested in jump starting your own research, it might not be a bad starting point.

Now, finally, we are going to be talking about the most important part, the case study! So, I am going to be talking about the Brown Company, in part because they closed, but mostly because the history stretches from 1852 until 1980. The story begins in Portland, Maine, and moves to the final location of Berlin, New Hampshire, where the headquarters would eventually end up. The firm was originally founded underneath John B. Brown, Josiah S. Little, Hezekiah Winslow and Nathan Winslow. From the original founding, they eventually incorporated a railway, dam, and gristmall. Originally this was underneath a group of people, including John B. Brown and William Wentworth Brown, who would later gain complete control of the company-eventually causing the name of the company from H. Winslow & Company to the Berlin Mills Company, and finally the Brown Company in 1917. Eventually, the company went bankrupt in the 40s, which lead to the eventual selling of the company to the James River Corporation. But, the company is actually the responsible for several different products over its time, including, the most famous to me, Nibroc Paper Towels-don’t recognize the name? You should, they are the first type of paper towels, and originally were sold to be places into little metal containers you could mount on the walls of bathrooms so you can pull them out. Nibroc is actually Corbin, the inventors, last name spelled backwards, but you can still order them from the Gorham Paper and Tissue company, among others, however, the Gorham is actually one of the original locations of the Brown Company that was just split and sold when the rest of the company was. The other reason I picked this location is that Plymouth State University and a few others actually have a digital archives of almost 11,000 photographs. All down at the request of the a professor on campus. http://digitalcollections.plymouth.edu/digital/collection/p15828coll3/search I am including the link on the blog, so you can see the various mills that they had, which stretched up into Canada, as well as the aerials of the plants, and interiors. It will show you a look across multiple years, which I think is more invaluable then me describing the collection. The photos are in a documentary I believe, as well as just readily available on the internet. I figured that in light of the abstract topics I covered today, finishing with a well-documented case study was just what the doctor ordered.

But once again a big thank you to all my listeners! I know I say this every week, but please: Please rate and review. If you liked it, loved it, hated it, let me know. I love feedback, and hearing from everyone, and more importantly, sparking conversation.  We again have a Facebook page and private group, both of which are under the same name: Architecture, Coffee, & Ink, which is again, pretty young. https://architectureink.design.blog/, is the website,  Everything will be linked in the show notes.  I will be posting the transcript and some images on the blog later in the afternoon, so please keep an eye out for that, but as always,

May your coffee mugs be full, and your ink wells never run dry.

60 secs end song re-looped.

SOURCES:

“Andrew Wilson Prints the First Book Printed on Machine-Made Paper, the First Book Printed on a Stanhope Press, & the First Book Printed by the Foulis & Tilloch Method of Stereotyping, as Improved by Earl Stanhope.” Andrew Wilson Prints the First Book Printed on Machine-Made Paper, the First Book Printed on a Stanhope Press, & the First Book Printed by the Foulis & Tilloch Method of Stereotyping, as Improved by Earl Stanhope : History of Information. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4294.

Baffoni, Sergio. “Pulp & Paper Industry: Social Impacts and Little Development.” Environmental Paper Network. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://environmentalpaper.org/2017/05/pulp-paper-industry-social-impacts-and-little-development/.

“Brown Company.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, May 24, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Company.

“Cai Lun.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cai-Lun.

CONTENTDM. Accessed February 3, 2022. http://digitalcollections.plymouth.edu/digital/collection/p15828coll3/search/page/1.

“Environmental Impacts of the Paper Industry.” Clean Water Action Council – Paper Industry. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.cleanwateractioncouncil.org/issues/resource-issues/paper-industry/.

“EPA Must Regulate All Toxic Air Emissions from Pulp Mills.” Earthjustice, April 23, 2020. https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/epa-must-regulate-all-toxic-air-emissions-from-pulp-mills.

EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.epa.gov/guidance.

“Fourdrinier Machine.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/technology/Fourdrinier-machine.

“FTC v. Procter & Gamble Co., 386 U.S. 568, 87 S. Ct. 1224, 18 L. Ed. 2d 303, 1967 U.S. Lexis 2780.” CourtListener. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/107412/ftc-v-procter-gamble-co/.

globalequipment100. “122’ (3100mm) Trim Paper Machine Printing & Writing, Text, Cover, Specialty Grades.” YouTube. YouTube, July 6, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi4wBPWxxEs.

Green, Jenny. “How Does Recycling Paper Help the Environment?: Shred-IT UK.” Shred. Shred-it, July 28, 2015. https://www.shredit.co.uk/en-gb/blog/sustainability/how-does-recycling-paper-help-the-environment#:~:text=Recycling%20paper%20helps%20to%20reduce,can%20contribute%20to%20climate%20change.&text=Best%20of%20all%2C%20according%20to,cubic%20yards%20of%20landfill%20space.

Green, Miranda. “Environmentalists: Paper Mills Likely Major Source of Chemical Pollution in Waterways.” TheHill, May 21, 2018. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/388615-environmentalists-paper-mills-likely-major-source-of-chemical?rl=1.

“Languages Used in Medieval Documents.” Languages used in medieval documents – The University of Nottingham. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/medievaldocuments/languages.aspx#:~:text=Three%20main%20languages%20were%20in,language%20in%20the%20same%20document.

“Myth: Paper Is Bad for the Environment.” Two Sides North America, September 14, 2021. https://twosidesna.org/paper-is-one-of-the-few-truly-sustainable-products/.

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“Papermaking.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/technology/papermaking.

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Rule, Rebecca. “A Brief History of the Brown Paper Company: Summer 2012: Articles: F.” Northern Woodlands, June 11, 2012. https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/a-brief-history-of-the-brown-paper-company.

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“To Substitute for Linen Rags Mathias Koops Issues the First Book Printed on Recycled Paper, with an Appendix Printed on Paper Made from Wood Pulp.” To Substitute for Linen Rags Mathias Koops Issues the First Book Printed on Recycled Paper, with an Appendix Printed on Paper Made from Wood Pulp : History of Information. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=2922.

The world counts. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Environmental_Impact_of_Paper_Production.

The world counts. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Environmental_Impact_of_Paper_Production.