FIELD TRIP #2

0 Comments   1 Which came first- the demand for more paper, fueling production, or that more paper was made so people found ways to use it? The demand for more paper came first. As a result, the paper machine was invented by Nicolas Louis Robert in 1798. This machine made the process of making paper automated; people no longer needed to pull, couch, and press the sheet by hand. The machine would make damp sheets of paper in which papermakers would only have to hang them to dry. However, the beginning of papermaking is often associated with China where Chinese Emperor Ts’ai Lun ruled. 2 Who was the museum’s founder and what are some interest facts about his life? William Joseph was born in 1883 into an Ohio family with a history of printing and publishing. He uses the nickname Dard Hunter, but the origin of “Dard” is not known. When he spent time in London he fell in love with European papermaking and printing and expressed his desire to have his own private press making books by hand by his own labor. He was a proponent of the Art and Crafts Movement, based on the idea that anything made by a human is more worthy than anything made by a machine. Over the course of 10 years in the 20s, he published three books to share his lifelong research on hand papermaking and printing. Another interesting fact was that his second paper mill which was started up was a commercial failure, but was crucial in inspiring other successful handmade papers mills that exist to this day. 3 How do you find out information in an age before the internet and before easy trans-continental communication? Before the internet and easy trans-continental communication information was much harder to come by. Information was often told by word of mouth as many of the books would either belong to people with economic prosperity or the church. If you were not in one of these classes or a scholar with access to a library, it would be difficult to obtain information about most information as before the printing press recreating books was a time consuming and expensive task. 4 How would you describe paper making to someone who has never done it before? Papermaking is a process that has been going on for a very long time.  The first paper made like we make it today was made in China around 105 AD.  Historically, recycled cloth was used to make paper; today, wood fiber is used.  Papermaking is an intricate process. Put simply, the process really has three main stages: pressing, drying, and finishing.  The fiber is first heated and molded, then pressed, dried, then polished and sized. This was at first done all by hand, but near the end of the 18th century, a machine was invented that could make paper itself.