The Paper Industry in Eastern North America, 1860-1930

John Clark, Lafayette College
Deryck Holdsworth, Pennsylvania State University

By the advent of the Great Depression, papermaking had expanded across both the United States and Canada from its original socio-technological hearths in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Using mill level data in a historical GIS, the diffusion and survival of mills is visualized, and the industry leaders are noted across six time-steps. Over time, sole-proprietor ownership was joined and subsumed by ever larger corporate entities operating highly capitalized, technologically sophisticated mill complexes at often remote locations. The shifting market demands for newsprint, book paper, cardboard and consumer tissue led to regional and local specialties; several of these are highlighted as case studies.

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 Presented in Session 225. The Social and Economic Landscapes of New York City and Beyond