Photo: Deutsches Museum
Collection on the History of Paper
The archive holds a valuable collection of historical colored papers, which form an important basis for research into both the history of technology and cultural history.
From the 14th to the 20th Century
The collection documents the production and use of paper, as well as the history of individual paper mills and papermakers. The Hübel collection of coloured paper, comprising almost 15,000 paper samples from the 17th to the 20th century, is one of the most significant of its kind in Europe. The records of the former Research Centre for the History of Paper in Mainz constitute an indispensable source in this field. They contain files and correspondence, samples of different types of paper, photographs of paper mills and papermaking techniques, as well as numerous company brochures from paper manufacturers. Also worthy of mention are the watermark collections of Ernst Kirchner and Hermann Anders Krüger, which contain original papers dating from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
Kleisterpapier aus der Buntpapiersammlung Hübel, ca. 1910. Signatur: 02041. Photo: Deutsches Museum
Complete Collections
- Documents from the former Research Centre for the History of Paper in Mainz
- Felix Hübel’s collection of coloured paper (17th–20th centuries)
- Ernst Kirchner’s watermark collection (14th–19th centuries)
- Hermann Anders Krüger’s watermark collection (15th–18th centuries)
- Plöger Paper Mills Collection
- Documentation by Lore Sporhan-Krempel on the history of papermaking in South-Western Germany