Throughout the fall semester, donate cotton and linen fabric to be processed and made into sheets of paper!
Common Press will be collecting rags throughout Philadelphia in the fall of 2025. These rags will be used in the spring of 2026 to make paper at Historic Rittenhouse Town, the site of the first papermill in the colonies. The handmade paper will be used to print facsimiles of the Declaration of Independence during summer 2026. Below is a list of dates and times that our rag collection will be stationed at various locations.
Bring your donations to Common Press during our monthly Open Studio Sessions* or at one of our pop-up community events:
September 12: A Man Full of Trouble, 4:00 - 6:00pm
September 28: Open Streets at Rittenhouse Square, 11:00am - 2:00pm
November 1: Philly Zine Fest, 11:00am - 5:00pm
November 2: Historic RittenhouseTown. PA Flax Project will also be on site all day, making paper! 11:00am - 2:00pm
December 13: The Soapbox Holiday Card Printing event
December 20: The Soapbox Holiday Card Printing Event
* Open Studio Sessions are free and open to the public, but you will need either a PennCard or a photo ID to enter the building. If you don't have a PennCard, you will need to bring a photo ID and sign in at the security desk at the entrance to Fisher Fine Arts Library for access. See University access guidelines here.
As part of the Penn Libraries America 250 programming, join the Common Press for The Typography of Independence, a year-long program celebrating the papermaking and printing techniques that created the first edition of the Declaration of Independence.
Read the label on the fabric! If you aren’t sure, donate the textile anyway. We will check the fabric before we receive your donation, and ask you to keep it if it isn’t appropriate for the project.
GREAT! Not a problem! In 1776, people only donated cloth that was so thoroughly used it was no longer usable even as a rag. Stains are ok, but please wash out excess dirt and filth before donation.
No, please only donate dry items.
Yes! We will remove any buttons, metal tacks, zippers, etc.
Any amount of fabric is helpful, even a handkerchief! If you want to donate more than a grocery bag-size amount of fabric, please contact Erica Honson (ehonson@upenn.edu) to arrange a special drop off time at our studio.
We will process the fabric into paper pulp. Processing happens as follows: fiber of the donation is evaluated and approved. Any additions, such as buttons, zippers, etc are removed. The fabric is cut into tiny half-inch pieces by hand. It is soaked, and then beat in a Hollander paper beater. This turns the fabric into paper pulp, which will be made into paper.
We will make ~250 sheets that will be used to print a replica of the Declaration of Independence on our 1889 cast-iron handpress during the Summer of 2026.
Any! The color of the resulting paper is made up of all the colors of the donated materials — we anticipate that it will be somewhere in the realm of brown or gray. If the donated items are a lot of blue jeans, then the paper will be more blue. Back in the 18th century, the most affordable clothing and other household cloth items were made using undyed or naturally colored fabric. The resulting paper from the material sold to the paper mills by rag collectors was a light brown. We have many more color options today at all different price points, so the resulting paper from this project will reflect that.