Rag Paper Manufacture in the United States, 1801-1900

Outlining the early history of the U.S. paper industry, this book provides details on paper manufacturing from the early 1800s, when American paper was created almost entirely by hand out of cotton and other plant fibers, to the discovery of wood-pulp paper and the introduction of commercial-grade paper machines during the post-Civil War period. It discusses paper machine manufacturing, major U.S. mills, the papermaking traditions of Dutch and German immigrants, the politics of papermaking, and the eventual expansion of the paper industry from New England to the forests of the Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest. Two appendices provide a census listing of more than 1,100 U.S. paper mills, along with a directory of more than 1,300 mill owners and companies. The book contains around 70 illustrations and diagrams of major mills and relevant manufacturing technologies.