Museum

International Paper Museum-Brookline, MA

The international Paper Museum in Brookline, MA

Dong sewing bags, Guizhou province, China. Photo: Kathleen Tyler.

Hand Papermaking Magazine's 25th Anniversary Surprise party, at the International Paper Museum, 2011.

Spirit paper made of bamboo fiber, from Guizhou province, China. Photo: Kathleen Tyler.

Goldbeater's packet of paper, wrapped in deerskin, Mandalay, Myanmar.

Folded Burmese money, used in donation ceremonies, Taungyi, Myanmar.

Tattoo books made from mulberry fiber, Inle lake, Myanmar.

The International Paper Museum is located in Brookline, Massachusetts, and features dynamic exhibitions relating to historical hand papermaking from all over the world. It is sponsored by the Research Institute of Paper History and Technology, a 501(C)(3) non-profit education organization established in 1994. The institute's permanent collection consists of rare books dealing with historical papermaking, handmade papers that represent nearly every part of the world, and tools and equipment that have been used for making paper over the centuries. 

Our current exhibition, Paper Curiosities, includes examples of paper made from unusual materials, processed by extraordinary methods, and used in unique ways. We welcome all visitors by appointment only. The museum is located inside the original Carriage House Paper at 8 Evans Rd., Brookline, MA. This was the first hand papermaking studio in Massachusetts, established in 1975 by Elaine Koretsky and Donna Koretsky. The Carriage House is a distinctive stucco building with an orange tile roof, built in 1904 to house one of the first horseless carriages in the town. When Donna moved her studio and the supplies business to New York in the early 90’s, the Carriage House was reorganized as the non-profit Research Institute and Paper Museum.

Donna is now the director and welcomes all visitors by appointment only. There is a suggested donation of $20. per visitor which includes a personalized tour and opportunity to make a sheet of paper.

Please email donna@carriagehousepaper.com to make an appointment to visit the museum.

Papermaking Expeditions

Carriage House Paper organizes papermaking tours to different countries. We are presently in the early stages of planning an expedition to Myanmar and Thailand. Please check back with us for more specific information.

Donna Koretsky led a small group to Burma (Myanmar) and Bangkok Thailand in February 2012. We had an extraordinary experience, visiting the papermakers and papermaking areas described in "The Goldbeaters of Mandalay", a book written by Donna Koretsky and Elaine Koretsky, giving an account of hand papermaking in Burma today.

In all the places we visited, general tours were given to acquaint everyone with the culture, the religion and the art of southeast Asia, all of which provided an important backdrop to the hand papermaking and the other craft and art forms that we saw.

Enjoy these images from previous papermaking expeditions.

Myanmar & Thailand

Sunset in Pagan.

Boy with thanaka on his face

Typical house on Inle Lake

Leg rowers; Inle Lake

Gold beaters of Mandalay

Tour participant with gold leaf adorning her face

U bein bridge

Donna with astrologer

Group with rice straw papermakers; Nuang Gone Village

Claudia with horse cart driver

Forming bamboo paper; Daung Ma Village

Southwest China

Arrival o Mulberry fiber - Longzhu village Yunnan Province

Cooking mulberry fiber - Longzhu village

forming sheets of mulberry paper - Longzhu village

Participants in a past Expedition

Sheet formation - Yunnan Province

Stack of newly formed sheets ready to be pressed

Paper drying on a brick building

Future papermaker Sichuan Province

Fourdrinier machine - Sichuan Province

paper air drying - Sichuan Province

Papermaking mould - Sichuan Province

Descending from Ma Papermaking village - Sichuan Province

rooftops in Lijiang - Yunnan Province

Naxi papermaking - Lijiang Yunnan Province

Forming sheet Naxi style - Lijiang Yunnan Province

Bricks of tea wrapped in mulberry paper

Lijiang, Yunnan province