Paper
Are you reading this on-line or are you
holding an actual newsprint edition of Our Towne Bethlehem? Paper is still
ubiquitous in our lives despite the digital age we live in. I don’t know about
you, but lots of paper, both old and new, comes across this historian’s desk.
The history of paper is of course entwined
with writing. People have been pursuing the desire to record things for
thousands of years using such devices as clay tablets, barks and animal skins. This
desire to write things down and save them for the future is a uniquely human
trait. Just think of the deeply ancient cave paintings in Lascaux, France.
While not writing as we think of it, those images still communicate something
human across the ages.
The invention of paper goes back to China with
the oldest pieces being over 2000 years old, dating to 179 BCE (BCE means
before the common era.) Paper at its essence is cellulose, the building block
of plants, which has been broken down and suspended in water. The cellulose fibers are then scooped out onto a screen and allowed to dry. This thin layer
of fiber binds together to create a sheet of paper. Cellulose can come from
many vegetable sources such as linen, hemp, silk, cotton, even seaweed. Most
common today is paper from wood pulp. Modern makers of high-quality writing
papers still boast their cotton rag content.
By the 8th century, paper was
highly used in the Arab world especially as intellectual pursuits such as
science and math flourished. Better, easier to produce writing surfaces were needed.
Europeans resisted paper for a long time. Parchment, stretched animal skin (a
higher quality of which was known as vellum) worked just fine, at least up
until the 1500s when the printing press came along. Interestingly enough, there
was a period when parchment and paper overlapped. Copies of the famous Gutenberg
Bible were printed on both paper and parchment.
Bethlehem’s archive of paper documents varies
widely. The oldest ones are land records, deeds and indentures from the late
1700s. Most use a pre-printed form that is filled out in cursive hand writing. Road
records, town board minutes, and vital records were entered into large bound
journals. Old newspapers feel very different from modern versions. Old
clippings printed on high cotton or rag content are soft and somehow foldable. Modern
clippings, meaning those from after wood pulp came into widespread use in the mid-1800s,
are brittle and fine.
A favorite set of hand written documents are
John R. Adams’ journals. He wrote daily in pencil in small, pre-printed diaries,
chronicling his life in Delmar. They date from July 2, 1900 to August 13, 1903,
a time when John was in his late 60s. He died in 1905. You might recognize the
family name. His father and mother,
Nathanial and Rhogenia Adams, basically established the hamlet of Adamsville,
now known as Delmar.
Here are a few examples of John’s writing from
a snowy February when icy roads were the best for sleighing.
February 4, 1902.
Tuesday. Cold & raw snowing at intervals all day but not much snow ground
covered with ice and snow. Sleighing excellent – more teams on road than there
has been seen in many a day. Hay, wood, logs, stone & in fact everything
that needs to be hauled. All home not much doing except chores. Heavy snows in
the western part of N.Y. Roads blocked mail delayed – no freight. Samuel some
better, but not over his cold yet.
February 5, 1902.
Wednesday. Fair Cold & Sunny. Sleighing grand – an icy bottom not a
bare spot. Sharp horses are indispensable – had ours sharpened this a.m. Rec’d
notice of being drawn as Juror in U.S. Court.
February 6, 1902.
Thursday. Very fair and bright sunshine day, but cold. Sleighing 1st
class. Russ & I went to Albany this a.m. Took 9 doz eggs @ 35c. Home 11:30
…Louise & I @ Phipps to the Euchre club, home at 1:00 a.m. quite a
gathering 22 in all. a pleasant evening.
February 7, 1902. Friday. Fair, bright
sunshine but cold. Sleighing grand. Home all day. Nothing doing. Rec’d bills of
J.S. Messifield 13.98 …Squally in the afternoon not much snow.
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| Mr. Degenaar of Bethlehem reads his newspaper with the family dogs circa 1930. |
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| An advertisement regarding a horse stolen from Henry Vanderzee of Onesquethaw, town of Bethlehem, from the Catskill Recorder, November 4, 1805. |
Also, visit the Crane Museum of Papermaking. https://cranemuseum.org/
The museum is a short hop over to the Berkshires, a small museum but well worth the trip. When we were there they had hands on papermaking activities plus a nice little shop. Nowadays, Crane makes very elegant stationary plus ALL of modern U.S. currency paper. That fancy 100 dollar bill with all its anti-counterfeiting measures crafted in? Made right next door in Massachusetts!
