AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Charles Town, West Virginia
From Rags to Wood Pulp to Riches: How Advancements in Papermaking Ignited the Communications Revolution in Antebellum America
Submitted By
Susan Florek
#5539701
HIST 520 D001 Spring 2017
Graduate Seminar in U.S. History
Professor Debra Sheffer
July 30, 2017
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Introduction
In his epic historic volume recounting the communications and transportation revolutions occurring simultaneously during period of Antebellum America, Daniel Walker Howe proclaims that, ‘the invention of telegraphy represented a climactic moment in a widespread revolution of communications,’ adding, ‘other features of this revolution included improvements in printing and paper manufacturing; the multiplication of newspapers, magazines, and books; and the expansion of the postal system.’ With these advancements in communication and progress in transportation, the stage was set for an inundation of free expression expected after the Revolution. Having unleashed social aspirations by promising ‘freedom of speech, or of the press,’ the passage of the First Amendment in 1791 generated an unprecedented demand for news and newspapers. As the new nation grew from 4 million in 1790 to 13 million in 1830, new readers, including ‘immigrants, free blacks and woman’ sought out more reading materials for education, business and pleasure. Even the experience of reading itself changed during the early nineteenth century, emphasizing extensive exposure to many printed texts rather than repeated, intensive examination of the same ones.’ The surprisingly high literacy rate created a demand that was not being satisfied. Although the processes for making more cost-effective paper was invented in 1844 , not until the method and materials were tested and perfected decades later, was wood pulp paper made available in the America and around the world. When it finally was, books, newspapers, magazines and every type of ‘information-transfer’ dependent on paper experienced a surge in production, which set the stage for the ‘Communications Revolution’ in the 19th century.
In 1844, the same year Samuel Morse tapped out his first successful long-distance telegraph message, ‘What Hath God Wrought,’ two paper manufacturers from the cold regions of Germany and Nova Scotia, seeking financial backing for patents, were contemporaneously sending out samples of what would be the most important addition to the evolution of mass communications involving print production; the invention of wood-pulp paper. ‘Up to the middle of the 18th century, the paper had been made from rags, but as these became unobtainable in sufficient quantities, some substitute had to be found. First straw and afterwards wood pulp, was successfully employed and paper made from the latter is now in universal use. Its cheapness materially aided the newspapers and stimulated the printing the printing machine manufacturers to renewed efforts in devising presses of still greater speed and efficiency.’
Foundations for the ‘Communications Revolution’ in the 19th century could not have occurred without available and affordable advancements in writing and printing materials, making economically viable to disseminate the growing demand for information. The United States patent and business laws at the time also made it easier to test and perfect these advancements creating a deluge in the allocation of information once the transfer from rag paper to wood pulp paper was complete. In this essay, I will explore the events leading up to the development of affordable paper made from wood-pulp and the invention’s significant impact on the ‘Communications Revolution.’
From Revolution to Evolution
In 1776, John Dunlap printed copies of the Declaration of Independence to be delivered throughout the colonies, on imported Dutch papers, some of them watermarked with the English royal cipher. Even after the war, in 1788, fine paper copies of The Federalist were printed on English paper, which also adorned the king’s insignia. Ironies like this were not lost on a magazine editor who complained that senators had been sending out letters watermarked with a royal crown. During the Revolutionary War, self-sufficiency of the paper trade became a matter of national importance. British blockades and the depredations of privateers disrupted trans-Atlantic commerce and impeded the delivery of foreign goods, including paper of all types, from low-quality newsprint to top-of-the-line banknote grades. Shortages of newsprint caused publication delays and aggravating changes in quality and format when printers ran out of their regular supplies and resorted to unsatisfactory substitutes.’
After the war, republican ideology required informed citizenship, so while reading newspapers was once considered an entertaining diversion, was now regarded as a duty. ‘Everyman,’ Thomas Jefferson declared, ‘should receive those papers and be capable of reading them,’ because government was now based on ‘the opinion of the people.’ The Revolution had succeeded in encouraging extensive reading by generating news and then requiring that citizens be well informed. After Independence, printing flourished on an unprecedented scale as changes in public tastes generated a self-perpetuating growth in the production, distribution and consumption of print. Rollo G. Silver describes these American vanities as, ‘New democratic beliefs that all citizens should have the opportunity to partake equally of available knowledge’equally capable of mastering profitable knowledge and that knowledge has power were reinforced by the thrust of social and economic forces: a rising population, the rapid and sustained increase in manufacturing and the pervasive appeal of migration.’ While the Post Office Act of 1794 gave rise to more magazines, ‘satires, lampoons, and advertisements became standard features in Post-Revolutionary American newspapers.’ And by 1830 some papermaking communities were on their way to becoming major publishing hubs.
The High Cost of Rags
In 1832, Americans could now rely on their own resources to produce all they needed of this critical commodity. They succeeded in building a thriving and self-sufficient infant industry, which grew in size and sophistication while they gained political and economic independence from the mother country. Proprietors of paper mills obtained raw materials, recruited skilled labor, adopted technological innovations, and attracted capital investment in hundreds of manufactories scattered throughout the nation, not just in industrial centers near eastern cities but also in remote factory villages close to the frontier.’ Bostonians took the lead in technological innovation, but papermakers in the Philadelphia area still maintained the largest concentration of mills, at least thirty-six altogether.
Paper, made from rags, was slow to process and expensive to buy and American mills consumed vast quantities of linen and cotton rags. The proprietor of a typical mill operating on a fulltime basis would need to obtain around 20 tons of rags per vat per year. Ordinary rags cost around $100 a ton in 1820, a standard price cited in more than forty census returns. The Philadelphia Price Current for 1823 indicates that domestic rags cost from $60 to $120 a ton, foreign rags from $80 to $140 a ton.
Another persistent problem during the colonial period was the shortages of rags. Even in the 1790s, the situation was desperate enough that Massachusetts papermakers reminded their customers of their plight with watermarks bearing the plaintive motto ‘SAVE RAGS.’ American paper manufacturers also tried to cope with the cost and scarcity of rags by adopting the bleaching process, a means of using cheap colored rags to produce acceptably white writings and printings. Newsprint and almanac paper were the cheapest and most common articles in this category during the colonial period. By 1820 newsprint was larger and more expensive, while the value of the paper produced in the United States grew from $1,689,718 in 1810 to $3,000,000 in 1820, thus showing a great increase despite the large importations of paper from Europe. In 1831 it was estimated that the quantity of paper manufactured in the United States during the year 1830 amounted to more than seven million dollars.
The Demand for Reading Material Exceeds the Supply
Few could have anticipated the surge in readership by so many different factions of the growing population and the insatiable desire for available reading material in Antebellum America. As free and enslaved people grasped, and actively created, opportunities to learn to read and write, increased enrollment in schools was reported across the nation, from grade school to newly founded colleges contributing to the rise in literacy. Also, as the growing library system allowed the masses to obtain formerly unattainable reading materials and the demand for a larger variety and quantity of texts was intensified, Americans were no longer content with borrowing books’they wanted to own them. Among the more popular literature purchased by the masses at this time were: travel guides, which included maps and listings of new routes, new states and territories and population statistics ; ‘true crime pamphlets, especially murder stories, which were the staple fare of popular culture print in cities like Philadelphia, from the American Revolution to the invention of the penny press in the 1830’s.’ In the 1840’s, reading for pleasure was becoming an acceptable form of recreation, a position supported and detailed by American poet and author, Edgar Allan Poe in a December 1844 edition of the Democratic Review. The demand for modern American authors were quickly replacing the re-read reprints of classic English writers.
For those who missed the opportunity to attend school, cheap instruction books became available providing reading, history lessons, and religious stories, which helped non-English speaking citizens to learn to read and write. Three printers were listed out of the 800 African American tradesmen listed in the 1838 Register of trades of the colored people in the city of Philadelphia and districts contributing to the rise in abolitionists materials being printed in Antebellum America as, ‘Many calls for justice and liberation came from African American authors who printed their own works.’ From this newly diverse audience of the printed word sprouted a new generation of American authors, which would contribute to the spread of ideas that would initiate change in mid to late 19th century America.
The Need for Speed
During the early 19th century, ‘As the railroads, technologies of steam printing and printing from stereotype plates aided the new nation’s publishers in reaching a national market’s demand for more literature, the continued population growth and geographical expansion outstripped the nation’s communication, transportation and financial capabilities.’ Continued improvements in such areas as railroad expansion, mail delivery, and patent laws contributed to the ‘Communications Revolution’ by revolutionizing the speed by which information could be distributed. By mid-century, the urgent need for cheaper paper became evident as the demand for information and the speed by which it was disseminated outstripped the supply.
Not only did railroads ‘dramatically shorten travel times, but they helped to reduce costs of supplies and inventory for American companies leading to rapid urban development. According to Howe, ‘If the railroads did not initiate the industrial revolution, they certainly speeded it up,’ which could also be said about the communications revolution as well. Travel guides would have to completely rewrite their work to reflect the additions of new territories and railroad lines, a point reflected proudly in the Preface of Tanner’s 1844 travel guide.
In 1828, the United States Post Office had 74 officers for every 100,000 people. In 1831 a force of 8,700 postmasters delivered 13.8 million letters and 16 million newspapers. By 1840, those numbers rose to 40 million letters and 39 million newspapers meaning that the Post Office had far-reaching effects creating a national communication infrastructure that brought information about the outside world even to the most isolated areas of the country. In this analysis of the history of the United States Post Office, Richard John proclaims that, ‘The Communications Revolution was a highly-complicated event’ adding that it also, ‘Most obviously involved the transmission of an unprecedented volume of newspapers, letters and other kinds of information through time and over space.’
The U.S. patent and copyright institutions were carefully calibrated to ‘promote the general welfare.’ To accomplish this, the framers of the U.S. system self-consciously made several important provisions, including lower fees, impersonal administrative procedures for handling applications, and the requirement that a patentee be the "first and true" inventor anywhere in the world.’ According to B. Zorina Khan, in her book, The Democratization of Invention: Patents and Copyrights in American, not only was this the first modern patent system, but its policies were the most liberal in the world toward inventors, aiding in the rapid rise in inventions in the 19th century. The author explains, ‘When markets expanded, these inventors contributed to the prompt creation of new technologies and improvements, many of which proved to be valuable in both economic and technical terms. American patent and copyright institutions both promoted a process of democratization that not only furthered economic and technological progress but also provided a conduit for the creativity and achievements of relatively disadvantaged groups.’ Another advantage that American inventors and businesses shared in was by the mid-1840's, some national patent agencies had begun to publish periodicals, such as Scientific American, that ‘printed complete lists of patents issued, provided news about the latest technological developments, featured articles about how inventors could profit from their ideas, and provided extensive space for classified advertisements placed by patent agents and lawyers soliciting clients, inventors seeking partners with capital to invest, and patentees hoping to sell or lease rights to their technologies.’
The Story of Selling the Idea of Wood-Pulp Paper
In 1844 there was patent in Germany for a machine for grinding wood for the manufacture of pulp. The inventor, Friedrich Gottlob Keller, beating Canadian Charles Fenerty to the finish line, sold the patent to the firm of Henry Voelter's Sons, who afterwards used the pulp in the manufacture of newspaper. After numerous improvements in Keller's invention, and a quarter of a century after it was patented in Germany by Keller, this wood-pulp machine was destined to play an important part in the United States. Due to much skepticism, after the paper was made the inventors found great difficulty in selling it because many printers felt that they could not use it being afraid that paper made from raw wood would injure their type or ruin it, so and they declined. His selling agents, Rice & Kendall, of Boston resorted to all sorts of devices to get this paper to sell, but they were finally obliged to deliberately supplying the Boston Herald paper made from this wood monthly, without saying anything as to the nature of the paper, Eventually, the Boston Herald found that they preferred it and said that it worked very well. Although satisfied with the new paper, it was months before the establishment was aware that they were using wood paper. This finally established the use of that class of paper and there was no trouble after that in selling it. The fact is that it absorbs the ink better and works much better for printing than other paper does, and works particularly well in rapid presses."
Experiments with a better method, known as the sulfite process, were first conducted in Paris in 1857 by two American brothers, Benjamin and Richard Tilghman, and then successfully developed in Sweden and England. It was not until 1882 that C. S. Wheelwright of Providence operated the first American paper mill to use sulfite pulp commercially. In succeeding decades, the sulfate processes ensured that wood pulp would increasingly replace rags as the primary raw material used to produce the paper needed to meet an ever-increasing demand and market. Although, wood fibers began to be mixed with rags in very small amounts in the 1850s to produce the paper used in books, not until the 1870s did wood fiber predominate.
A Rags to Riches Story
John Sartain, a Philadelphia artist born in 1808, lived long enough to witness the advantages and consequences the ‘Communications Revolution’ had on the lives of acquaintances caught up in the throws such massive technological changes. His book, The Reminiscences of a Very Old Man, 1808-1897, quite possibly printed with wood-pulp paper, was written toward the end of a long century of seeing some friends prosper, like George Lippard and some suffer in poverty, like Edgar Allan Poe. Sartain dedicates a good portion of a chapter in his book to Poe, recalling the time when the famous poet sold him the poem, The Bells, only to find out that he was the third person that the unfinished work was sold to by the author. Unfortunately, Poe fell victim to the more relaxed copyright laws during his time and died before he could reap the benefits of his considerable efforts. One Scholar has reliably calculated that Poe’s lifetime earnings as a professional author, editor and lecturer amounted to only $6,200.
On the other hand, another writer during the same time, George Lippard profited financially from the mass production of his work during his lifetime , however the consequences of this were exposed in a biography written nearly a century after the author’s death at the age of 32:
He turned his attention to a study of the Revolution, and began to write what he termed "Legends," of the epoch. These became so popular, and produced such a deep impression upon his readers, that the latter were confused and regarded the romances as historical fact. The "Legend" of the bell ringer of the State House, and his grandchild, awaiting the signal to ring the Liberty Bell, was made so convincing that even to-day there are thousands who believe the incident was an actual happening. Lippard had such an earnest, convincing manner that his readers did not regard his books as fiction, and one of his greatest fictions, the picture of Washington kneeling in the woods at Brandywine, has found its way into some respectable histories. Lippard then became a lecturer, and related his "Legends" in courses given before Institutes and Literary Societies in Philadelphia, and in many parts of the country. Their popularity caused him to print them in The Saturday Courier, which resulted in the circulation of that weekly, within a few months, reaching the then astounding figures of 70,000 copies.
This account in 1930 of fiction being mistaken for fact is a theme that is being repeated today as we deal with the onslaught of information in electronic form during this 21st century ‘Communications Revolution.’ The Liberty Bell story, ‘Ring, Grandfather! Ring!’ that Jackson refers to managed to grace the June 1864 cover of Graham’s Magazine, which published a series of Lippard’s ‘Legend’s’ about Washington that year’ stories that found their way into 19th century history books. Stricter copyright laws which included specifying creative works, helped to eventually separate fact from fiction. Added regulations may also help discern the ongoing confusion created by today’s massive dissemination of information.
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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Davis, Charles Thomas. The manufacture of paper: being a description of the various processes for the fabrication, coloring, and finishing of every kind of paper. Philadelphia: H. C. Baird & Co.; London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1886.
Lippard, George. "The Fourth of July, 1776." Legends of the American Revolution — New Series, Legend 27th. Philadelphia: Saturday Courier; January 2, 1847.
Mitchell. Mitchell's Traveller's Guide Through the United States, Containing the Principal Cities, Towns, &c. Text Only. Philadelphia: Hinman & Dutton, 1838.
Register of trades of the colored people in the city of Philadelphia and districts. Philadelphia: Merrihew and Gunn, Printers, 1838.
Sartain, John. The reminiscences of a very old man, 1808-1897. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1899.
Tanner, Henry Schenck. The American Traveller, or, Tourists' and emigrants' guide through the United States. New York: T.R. Tanner, 1844.
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