Volume 3, Number 5
Nov 1990

Paper History Events

The Library Company of Philadelphia, one of the oldest libraries in the nation, has been collaborating with Friends of Historic RittenhouseTown in celebrating the 300th anniversary of papermaking in the U.S. They found some early manuscripts in their collection relating to William Rittenhouse, and some actual paper made by him, and put them into their exhibition, which is titled "From Linen Rags Good Paper Doth Derive." There will be a videotape of papermaking by the original methods in a restored 17th century Dutch paper mill. The Rittenhouse mill is being restored too, by the Friends group, which is constructing a scale model and publishing a brief account of the mill. Together the library and Friends group are presenting lectures, demonstrations, workshops and other events. For information call the library ( ) or the Friends ( ).

A three-day symposia on key events in American papermaking history, "From Rittenhouse to Twinrocker," is being sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for the Book, which expects to draw an audience of papermakers in addition to rare book librarians, art historians, artists, bibliographers and others. There will probably be little emphasis on recent history. Speakers: Cathy Baker, Terry Belanger, John Bidwell, Howard and Kathryn Clark, Gordon Marshall, Paul Needham, Leonard Schlosser and Helena Wright. There will be working demonstrations of all equipment at the UICB Oakdale research and production papermaking facility. Write UICB Paper Conference, Center for Conferences and Institutes, Iowa Memorial Union, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.