New Feature! Add your images!

You can now add images of your work to your existing record, or click on Sign Up above and add yourself with a new record.

  1. Add images (can be images of your workspace, process, materials, or finished paper artworks).
  2. Add descriptive captions for each image. Maximum of 50 words recommended.
  3. Image size: must be JPG or PNG, preferably between 1-2 MB, at least 800 pixels in either dimension.
  4. Add websites where viewers can learn more about you and your work. (Your contact information is already included in your individual record. Select "View your profile" in your user menu to view your current information.)

To get started, log in and select the "Manaage Images option" in your user menu. Don't have a profile yet? Sign Up and add yourself with a new record. Questions? Click on the Contact Us menu on the header above and we will respond as soon as we are able

Welcome to the Hand Papermakers' Archive!

This unique online resource collects and presents information from hand papermakers about their work, their training, and their influences. It is both searchable and editable online by guest and registered users, respectively.

The database can be searched by browsing individual records, or by querying specific subsets of information (e.g. geographic region, organizations, materials used, influences, etc.). We hope that researchers, educators, and newcomers to the field will find this website both useful and of interest.

Information is collected from an individual or institution/organization when they create a profile by completing our comprehensive survey and the narrative statement. This profile populates within the database, which then presents the existing relationships between those individuals and organizations working in the field as an interrelated network of practitioners, teachers, and artists. This system allows hand papermakers and paper artists to provide a readily accessible overview of their work in the field by describing how they learned to make paper by hand, their training, special influences, and the nature of their current work.

History of the Project

With the idea of documenting the craft lineage of hand papermaking in the United States from 1900 through the present day, a small group of papermakers envisioned in 2012 an online database that would democratically gather data on hand papermaking's current practitioners, their mentors, and other important resources that helped them acquire their skills. The website is designed around a unique democratic model whereby individual participants build the database by entering their own documentation. No gatekeepers restrict participation except in the case of misuse of the site.

Visualizing the Initial Survey Data


Network

What's New?

  1. 10/16/23 - This website has been outfitted with new features. Your record can now include images and descriptive text. Once logged in, go to the dropdown menu under your name, and click on "Manage Images." Remember, fewer images and shorter text will keep the viewer's attention and interest.
  2. 10/26/18 - Added the "Contact Us" page
  3. 10/14/18 - papermaker.grad.uiowa.edu now active; the login page now complains about a failed login; logging out now is acknowledged by the application; the add and edit profile pages now have save and cancel buttons appearing in each section, as well as entry slots for "other" values
  4. 9/21/18 - Faceted search added to the menu, cleaned up some of the page layout
  5. 9/20/18 - Initial deployment of the new site