Reference number
  • OSP
Date
  • 1799-1982
Level
  • Collection
Description
  • Few records have survived, including papers kept by chance and found within later correspondence. They include: minutes, 1799 and 1803; reports, 1853 and 1897.
Extent
  • 1 box
Admin history
  • Most probably arising from wage disputes at the end of the 18th century, the Original Society of Papermakers was founded in 1800 as the trade union for workers in the hand-made paper business. Early factional disputes and trade pride prevented the OSP from expanding into machine-based mills. Consequently membership dwindled to just 83 by 1947 when the Executive Council sought a merger with the NUPBPW which was achieved in 1948.

    Reference: C.J. Bundock, The Story of the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers (Oxford, 1959)
Access status
  • Open
Related Material
  • See also: Amalgamated Society of Papermakers; National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers