The Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking is a research institution and public museum dedicated to the preservation of the history of paper and paper technology. Located inside the Paper Tricentennial Building at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the museum features the largest collection of paper and paper-related artifacts in the world, including watermarks, papers, tools, machines, and manuscripts. Changing exhibits focus on

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

art, and a permanent exhibit details the science and technology used in

papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is Pulp and paper industry, made using industrial machinery, while handmade pape ...

History

Originally called the Dard Hunter Paper Museum, the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking began in 1939. The original museum was created by Dard Hunter and located at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. Hunter filled the museum with various artifacts representing the art of papermaking. Few people visited the museum while it was at MIT and eventually it was moved to a smaller building on campus. In 1954 the then Institute of Paper Chemistry of

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton () is the county seat of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States, with small portions extending into Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet and Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago counties. Located on the Fox River (Green Bay tributary ...

offered the museum a prominent place on its campus. Hunter became the museum's curator, a job he held until his death in 1966. In 1989 the Institute of Paper Chemistry was relocated to

and renamed the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. The Dard Hunter Collection was packed and moved as well. Supporting this collection is one of the main goals of the Friends of Dard Hunter (now the North American Hand Papermakers), an organization that promotes hand papermaking and the other arts practiced by Hunter. During the spring of 1993 the museum was re-opened inside of IPST and renamed the American Museum of Papermaking. During this time the museum continued to grow, and a traveling exhibition program was instituted. In 1996 the museum received a substantial donation from the

James River Corporation James River Corporation was an American pulp and paper company based in Richmond, Virginia, once the largest paper manufacturer in the world. History The company was founded in 1969 as the James River Paper Company by Brenton Halsey and Robert W ...

. As a result, the museum's name was again changed, this time to the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking, in recognition of Robert C. Williams, the co-founder of the James River Corporation. Williams had been a student at the Institute of Paper Chemistry and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. In 2005, through a donation from the Mead-Witter Foundation, an additional exhibition space was added to the museum. This new space was named the George W. Mead Education Center.

References

External links

Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking official website
{{authority control Georgia Tech Museums in Atlanta Industry museums in Georgia (U.S. state) University museums in Georgia (U.S. state) Art museums and galleries in Georgia (U.S. state) Museums established in 1939 1939 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

Papermaking in the United States