Bienick, Edwin Collection

Bienick, Edwin Collection
Credit: American Writing Paper Company footage, Edwin Bienick Collection, Northeast Historic Film. Creating rag bond paper out of pulp and fiber, ca. 1930.
    film (700 ft.) : si., b&w ; 16 mm.
    1929 – 1931
    Holyoke, MA
    Credit: American Writing Paper Company footage, Edwin Bienick Collection, Northeast Historic Film. Creating rag bond paper out of pulp and fiber, ca. 1930.
    The Edwin Bienick Collection consists of one 16 mm. film produced by Visugraphic Pictures, believed to be shot sometime between 1929 and 1931. The work is an industrial film, promoting paper quality control, highlighting various paper mill practices at the American Writing Paper Company in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was created with an aim to reach a wider consumer audience, as evidenced by intertitles in both English and Spanish. The film depicts factory processes including mixing pulp, storing fiber, machinery pressing the paper, paper trimming and packaging, and men filling out an order form to purchase paper. The film ends with men testing the rag and sulphite fibers of the paper before providing seals of quality.
    Donor Edwin Bienick found the film in the attic of the American Writing Paper Company in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he worked. American Writing Paper Company papers are held at Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. From the finding aid: “The American Writing Paper Company in Holyoke, Massachusetts, incorporated and began operations in 1899. Sixteen of its mills were in Holyoke, comprising over half of the mills owned and operated by the newly-formed trust. At the time of its incorporation, the trust controlled 75% of the total United States fine paper output. During its history, the American Writing Paper Company twice declared bankruptcy, experienced labor strikes, and reorganized. In 1962, it was re-named the Holyoke Shares Incorporated and, in 1970, was completely liquidated.” (http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/ead/mums062.pdf) Visugraphic Pictures, Inc. was located in New York, NY, producing films for corporate clients, ca. 1921-1933. Edward F. Stevenson became president in 1924. Stevenson was the author of Motion Pictures for Advertising and Selling, 1929. WorldCat
    Northeast Historic Film
    The Collection is open for research.
    Authorization to reuse and/or reproduce must be obtained from Northeast Historic Film. See http://oldfilm.org/content/stock-footage-licensing for more information.

    1 Items in this collection

    Loading...