Friends of Dard Hunter records

The Friends of Dard Hunter, Inc. was founded in 1981 under the name "Friends of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum, Inc." with the purpose of maintaining the Dard Hunter Collection. It was started by a community of paper conservators who were concerned about the condition of the materials of the Dard Hunter Collection that were housed at the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dard Hunter was a well-known hand papermaker from Ohio who lived in the early 1900's and traveled extensively, collecting different resources and ideas for his craft.

Ellen McCrady and Kitty Nicholson were instrumental in mobilizing interest in and support of the Dard Hunter Collection through mailings to papermakers, conservators, artists, bibliophiles, and collectors. The name was shortened when the Museum Collection was taken over in 1992 by the Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking (AMP) in Atlanta. This museum is administered by the Atlanta-based Institute of Paper Science and Technology. The Friends group has diversified its activities over the years and become more involved with providing a forum for people with an interest in hand papermaking. The group's annual meetings provide a means for people all over the globe to come together and share their knowledge and ideas.

Key figures in the Friends group include: past presidents Tim Barrett, Cathy Baker, and Doug Stone, as well as advisory board members Dard Hunter II and Dard Hunter III.