Long before the invention of paper and form-duplication devices such as mimeograph machines and photocopiers, people relied on carbon paper to duplicate their original works. Carbon paper is still used, to some extent, particularly by artists and in business environments, for duplicating invoices or receipts. The email term "cc" stands for carbon copy, and is derived from carbon paper.
This is the story, albeit a limited account, of a short-lived Holyoke business that manufactured and sold carbon paper. The business was aptly named the Holyoke Carbon Paper Company.
In 1909, J. Lewis Perkins, C. Elmer Pope, Henry H. Bond, and Henry C. Avery, all of Holyoke, collaborated to form the Holyoke Carbon Paper Company. The company was capitalized for $10,000 and was located at 12 Crescent Street.
12 Crescent Street was also home to the Japanese Tissue Mills. J. Lewis Perkins was a principal of these companies, as well as of the neighboring B. F. Perkins and Son Incorporated at 2 Crescent Street.
The carbon paper manufacturer was shown as operating through 1918, after which no further information was found regarding its existence. Additional information may possibly be uncovered through research into the Japanese Tissue Mills, which operated at 12 Crescent Street for many years.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
