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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Article from the North-Carolina Gazette concerning a paper mill in Hillsborough
No Author
November 14, 1777
Volume 11, Pages 804-805

PAPER MANUFACTORY.
[North Caroliua Gazette, November 14, 1777.

By our unhappy Contest with Great Britain, and the Necessary Restrictions on our Trade, Paper has been an Article for which we, in this State, have much suffered, for though there are many Paper Mills in the Northern Colonies, where Paper is made in great Perfection, yet, by the Interruption of the Colony Trade by Water, the Southern Colonies have experienced a very great Scarcity of that necessary Article. To remedy this Evil and throw in their Mite towards the Perfection of American Manufactures, the Proprietors of a Paper Mill just erected near Hillsborough, in Orange County, give Notice to the Public, that their Mill is now ready to work, and if a sufficient Quantity of Rags can be had, they will be able to supply the State with all Sorts of Paper. They therefore request the favour of the Public, and more particularly the Mistresses of Families, and the Ladies in general, whose more peculiar Province it is, to have all their Rags and scraps of Linen of all Sorts; old Thread Stockings, Thrums from their Linen Looms, and every kind of Linen, is useful. As this Undertaking is Novel, saving of Rags may perhaps be thought too trifling, and below the Notice of the good Matrons of the State; but when they consider they are aiding and assisting in a necessary Manufacture, and when the young Ladies are assured, that by sending to the Paper Mill an old Handkerchief, no longer fit to cover their snowy Breasts, there is a Possibility of its returning to them again in the more pleasing form of a Billet Doux from their Lovers, the Proprietors flatter themselves with great Success. Persons

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in the several Towns and Counties in the State will be appointed to receive Rags, for which a good Price will be given.