“Mummy paper” not an urban legend – says researcher
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S.J. Wolfe of Worcester, a senior cataloger and serials specialist at the American Antiquarian Society, believes she has found definitive proof that an urban legend — that American paper manufacturers once made paper from the linen wrappings of Egyptian mummies — is indeed true.
Several American paper manufacturers in Maine and Connecticut were believed to have imported “Egyptian rags” to make paper. But the evidence was anecdotal and largely confined to newspaper clippings, which many historians dismissed as unreliable.
Rags from Egypt were plentiful in the 1800s. Thousands upon thousands of ancient Egyptians were mummified upon their deaths. And modern Egyptians in the 1800s, even as late as 1880, had a thriving tomb-raiding business that involved unwrapping the mummies to find any valuables, then selling the rags and even grinding up the bodies for fertilizer.
While looking for advertisements for mummy viewings, Ms. Wolfe came across a broadside (large advertisement) printed by the Chelsea Manufacturing Co. in Norwich, Conn., for that city’s bicentennial celebration in 1859.
“The material of which this is made was brought from Egypt,” reads text at the bottom of the broadside. “It was taken from the ancient tombs where it had been used in embalming mummies. A part of the process of manufacturing is exhibited in the procession.”
“It was the first piece of evidence of any kind that said, definitively, that it was made from the wrappings,” Ms. Wolfe said.
Excerpted from an article by Aaron Nicodemus for telegram.com
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