Name three ways that paper would have been used in the colonies.

These days there's a lot of talk of going "paperless." Why? Because paper clutters things up. We have stacks upon stacks of it. Reams sitting, waiting to be used. In my house, there are desks full to bursting with sketches and crayon drawings on paper of all weights and colors and sizes. Need a bookmark? Grab a slip of paper. Need to make a note? Grab a Post-It. Everywhere we look, there it is: paper.

But paper wasn't always so bountiful, nor was it cheap, nor was it made from wood pulp like today's paper usually is. Paper, in Colonial days, was like most things: precious, and coming as a result of much toil.

Important documents were often written on parchment, which is made from lamb skin. That would be what the final version of Declaration of Independence is written on--but not the earlier drafts. No, those were on the same thing most books, newspapers, and correspondence would use--what might have been called rag paper, linen paper, or cotton paper.

The process began with people collecting the materials that would be used. Often old sails and rope from sailboats would be sold to papermakers, to be turned into rag. Never ones to waste, even within a household what cloth that was no longer useful for other tasks would be saved for paper.

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