Overlooked History: Lamination Paper

Lamination is when multiple layers of a material covers another material or an object in order to improve its appearance, strength and resistance. Lamination paper is a type of paper which is used as a laminate. Lamination paper is often used on common copy paper in order to prevent the content of the paper being ruined by getting ripped or getting wet. Lamination paper is also used on furniture, decoration panels and flooring.

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Apparently, the first proper use of laminating paper may have dated back to the mid 1800s where damaged documents where repaired with translucent paper. Lamination paper was first widely used in the 1930s in order to strength copy paper. Lamination did actually exist before that as an insulator for industrial products. As more uses of plastic lamination was discovered, the product became more popular in the 30's, especially after discovering that it could be used as decoration since looks are all that matters. Lamination paper also proved to be cost-effective for protecting large quantities of important documents.

The use of lamination paper particularly boomed after the lamination projects from the 1930s to 1940s created by large organisations such as the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Although initially lamination was only used for important historical documents, it soon became used for literally anything. 

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Placing lamination paper between documents was produced by discarding the acid on a document, layering it between thin sheets of plastic and fusing it all together in heat. This method however was altered by many different scientists in order to simplify it because the high pressure and heat on the document would sometimes cause the layers to be permanently stuck on the document or even damage the paper. For example, the use of a plastic, cellulose acetate, decreased the temperature needed to fuse the document or the use of a Japanese tissue on top of the cellulose acetate helped increase the strength of the paper and lose its shiny appearance. 

Today, many important documents and unnecessary school papers have been laminated in order to protect them. Although we do not generally appreciate much about lamination paper, it has greatly improved education by conserving historical information which could have potentially damaged and lost forever.

http://anthropology.si.edu/conservation/lamination/

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Decorative-Plastic-Laminate.html#b

http://cool.conservation-us.org/byauth/roggia/barrow/chap05.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamination_paper