Vintage Film Shows Crane Rag Papermaking in 1926

Quite a while ago, I came across a reel of really old film in a mill basement at Crane. Being the curious type, I wanted desperately to find out what might be shown. And I figured that whatever was on the film was worth preserving. I took it to the photo shop where I had done business (film) for many years and they were kind enough to transfer the film to VHS - oh yeah - cutting edge - that's me.

Little did I know that the advance of technology would be so fast-paced. Last week, I came across the VHS in a box in the archives and figured I needed to get current again. I was able to dust off our old VCR and, after many false starts, bit the bullet and got a machine to convert the tape to 1s and 0s.

So, to make a short story long, I hope you enjoy this film. It's about 10 minutes long. It's a little rough, but heck, it's old. It really is a fascinating look at how rag paper was made in the day at Crane's Bay State Mill. Much has changed in the intervening years, but those of us who know the company well will recognize some machinery that's still being used. In a while, I'll post the rest of the film, which shows paper being made into stationery.

Enjoy, fellow paper-lovers.

Chasing Sloppy Environmental "Journalism"

From the headline, you can probably sense a certain level of frustration. That's because I've had to spend entirely too much time in an otherwise really busy week chasing after a story on the internet entitled: "Try Out the 5 Best Kinds of Tree-Free Paper. From hemp to poop, here are 5 ways to find and use paper made from just about everything but trees."

Fine. Paper made from hemp, elephant poop, sugarcane waste, bamboo and kenaf makes a cute story. And some of these options are perfectly reasonable alternatives to paper made from trees. I know the people who make them and they have been colleagues in the tree-free movement for years.

But to publish "the 5 best kinds of tree-free paper" without mention of cotton-fiber papers is irresponsible. Especially as the original publisher of this list is one of The Discovery Channel's websites. And especially since I've worked with The Discovery Channel for a long time to develop several of their documentaries featuring tree-free paper. Sheesh.......

Of course, an article like this coming from a publisher with such credentials, gets picked up by other "green" internet publishers as gospel. No questioning; no checking; no Googling. Just a cute story that requires no work.

So, every day, twice a day, I do a keyword search for "tree-free paper" to see who else has picked up this story. And then I have to sign up and leave a comment just to get cotton-fiber papers into the conversation. Any responses yet? Actually yes. I had a follow-up comment from one blog site admitting that they should have considered other, more main-stream options. So, maybe it's not all wasted time.

I suppose the lesson here is that there's good news and bad news these days. Stories travel fast. When they're good stories, that's good. When they're bad stories, they're just plain bad stories no matter what the medium.

The other lesson is, I guess, that although tree-free, recovered cotton-fiber papers have been around for 2,000 years; that they are the most widely available tree-free papers to consumers; that they are the finest quality paper to this day; that they will last longer than we have the ability to test for....they still need constant reintroduction to new generations.

I could use your help spreading the word.

Dang; there's another site with the same story. Gotta go........

Cotton Rags and Crane Paper

Cotton rags and Crane paper have been inseparable for more than 200 years. Cotton rags were among the first raw materials used for papermaking in China, and they continue to be a mainstay for Crane to this day. There's a reason for this. Cotton rags make the finest-quality paper available - with a crisp rattle and a soft feel. Cotton rags are pure cellulose, the stuff of which paper is made. There are no contaminants; no need for the harsh chemical treatments required for other raw materials, so letters written on cotton rag paper will last for generations to come.

The cotton rags used to make Crane papers have a couple of additonal benefits as we attempt to become more environmentally responsible in our paper purchases. Crane's cotton rags are a recovered resource, diverted from the solid-waste stream, and they are completely tree-free.

Back in February of 1801, 23-year-old Zenas Crane and his two partners had just signed the deed to purchase land and water rights on the Housatonic River in Dalton, Mass., and were preparing to build their first mill once the Berkshire weather cooperated. They had everything they needed except perhaps the most valuable of commodities - cotton and linen rags. Back then, linen was a common material used to make garments, and was used either together with cotton rags or separately for an all-linen sheet. From Worcester, out in the middle of the state, Zenas and his partners sent advertisement copy to Phinneas Allen, publisher of the Pittsfield Sun, a local newspaper, asking the womenfolk of the area to save their rags. Here is their first ad.



We must assume that this eloquent request was indeed met with "due encouragement," as the mill began making Crane's first papers as soon as the ice was off the river.
The original building constructed in Dalton was a one-vat mill. The main part was two stories, with the upper part used as a drying loft. The mill had a daily output of 20 posts - a post being 125 sheets of paper.

After the mill got into production, it wasn't long before housewives learned the thrift of saving their rags. They left them at one of a series of pickup points throughout the area to be gathered by one of the three partners. Eventually, rags became so valuable that they became a form of barter currency along with meat, produce and dairy products.
Business quickly evolved into a good-news, bad-news scenario for young Zenas. He was an excellent salesman, making successful forays to Albany, N.Y. and Boston and all points in between. And his mill was turning out the most favored papers in these markets. That's the good news. The bad news was that every new order accentuated the need for more rags than local houseswives could supply.

In desparation, Zenas contacted a dealer in New York City, who could ship rags to Dalton up the Hudson River by packet boat to Troy and then from Troy to Dalton in horse-drawn wagons. Eventually, the scraps from textile mill would come all the way from Europe. The first indication of a successful delivery is in a letter from Zenas to his dealer in June of 1811:

"Our wagons arrived late last night from Troy with eleven bales of rags consigned to us by the sloop John Hancock. Upon examination, the contents met with our approval, and they promise ready conversion into our paper."

Thus began a long tradition of purchasing cotton rags from garment manufacturers. For almost two centuries, they have proved to be the highest-quality supply of cotton rags, as they are perfectly clean and easily sorted by color and grade early in the recovery process.

Each year, garment manufacturers produce millions of pounds of trimings while making all sorts of cotton clothing. These trimmings are destined for the landfill, with the exception of those selected by Crane for making its fine 100% cotton papers. So, just as was the case in 1801, cotton rags are an environmentally responsible raw material, and they just happen to make the finest paper available.