A new virtual exhibition: “Bahnriss?! Papier I Kultur” (Web Break?! Paper I Culture)

By Wiebke Hauschildt (Online editor)

On the occasion of the World Book Day on 23rd April 2017, the virtual exhibition "Bahnriss?! Papier I Kultur" (Web Break?! Paper I Culture) will be launched which is based on a special exhibition that was shown in Leipzig in 2016. The exhibition, which is the result of the cooperation between the German Museum of Books and Writings of the German National Library in Leipzig and the German Digital Library, takes a close look at the eventful history of paper in 17 chapters and goes from the rag business of pre-industrial times to security watermarks and abandoned newsprint paper plants right on up to the present day.

When the German Museum of Books and Writing of the German National Library dedicated a special exhibition to the world of paper and now makes an excursion into the internet, a media which is far-distant from paper, it does so, not only because the institution has one of the largest collections on the history of paper world-wide but, above-all, as an expression of the need to capture the changes in a material and medium that has been tested over centuries as well as to document the functional change in its use.

Bahnriss?! (Web break)

The title of the exhibition - "Web Break" - refers to the shout that rings out in the machine room of a paper mill when a technical failure occurs and the endless paper web tears on its long way between sieves, rollers and drying cylinders. If someone shouts "Web break!", then the presses must be stopped immediately otherwise serious damage to the machines might occur. The remaining tattered pieces of the web have to be removed and the production process started up again.

According to the curators of the virtual exhibition, the "Web break" is not just a danger for the machines. There is a danger of a rift in the close relationship between paper and culture in the age of Apps and multifunctional televisions. Even if the production of paper is still increasing world-wide, the most important sector today is not so much a cultural one as an everyday need, namely, for packaging paper.

From Asia to Italy and on to Nuremberg: Making Sheets out of Soup and Paper out of Wasp Nests

In the 13th century, the art of making paper wandered from Asia to Italy where it was further developed. The "fibre soup" which the French author, Érik Orsenna, affectionately called the mixture out of rags and water, was prepared in the paper mills in such a way that the fibres could be skimmed off with wire moulds and formed into sheets of paper.

Paper makers from Italy helped construct the first paper mill on German soil in Nuremberg in 1390 and others were soon to follow. The technology of the late Middle Ages remained the same except for a few technical improvements up until early industrial times in the second quarter of the 19th century.

The demand for paper increased considerably during the 18th century. The increase was caused by the administration and justice, the growing press, increases in the production of literature but also commercial needs and all this led to new paper mills being built. The supply of raw materials for these depended then entirely on the use of rags. It was only a question of time before paper makers started to look for direct raw materials besides utilizing secondary resources. In the 18th century, Jacob Christian Schaeffer, a theologian and natural scientist, carried out extensive experiments for this purpose and, via wasp nests, came across the idea of making paper out of wood:

“I have to admit that it was nevertheless the wasp nests that I have to thank for the majority of my other experiments. Without them and without having ever undertaken an experiment with them previously, I am sure that very few of my experiments at that time would not have reached their goal. Wasp nests are the real reason for the truth, as it appears, in the contradictory sentence: wooden paper. Perhaps, and I certainly believe it, I would never had had the thought, and no other mortal person either, that paper can be made out of wood had there not been any wasp nests. The experiment with them is an excellent and necessary part of my experiments.”

Stories that paper tells us: The rag collector, imprints and dandy rolls

Rag collectors no longer exist today, but they were of fundamental importance for the production of paper. As a result of Gutenberg's improvements to printing, the demand for rags for paper production increased.  Rag collectors went through the streets with their barrows to gather the rags which they then delivered to the paper mills where they were then paid. Rags were sought after in such a way that priests held so-called "rag sermons" in churches - "Collection calls for sustainability", was what der Tagesspiegel , a regional daily newspaper in Berlin, wrote. It went so far that it came to "rag smuggling". The authorities intervened and rags were not allowed to be taken beyond state borders.

In the exhibition "Bahnriss?! Papier I Kultur" many other stories are told that are related to the theme of paper, for example, about imprints, dandy rolls and where the serviette came from:

Here is a direct link to the exhibition (in German only)