Center for Book and Paper Arts, Artists' Books Collection, 1939-2012 and undated

The Center for Book and Paper Arts (CBPA) at Columbia College Chicago officially opened its doors on April 9th, 1994. The founders of the CBPA, Marilyn Sward and Barbara Lazarus Metz, originally worked together at "Chicago Paper" from the late 1970s to the early 1980s along with Linda Sorkin-Eisenberg. In 1980, Sward and Sorkin-Eisenberg founded their own paper studio, "Paper Press" in order to further an appreciation of book and paper arts. Originally located at 1017 W. Jackson St. in Chicago, "Paper Press", like "Chicago Paper", offered a wide variety of services including a handmade paper studio, a gallery space and classes for the public. Metz, who worked part-time as an instructor at "Paper Press", and her partner Bob Sennhauser started their own paper studio in 1983, naming it "Artists' Book Works."

In the late 1980s, Sward and Metz merged "Paper Press" and "Artists' Book Works" together leading to the creation of "Paper and Book Arts." The philosophy of "Paper and Book Arts" was "to encourage and promote scholarship and community for those dedicated to excellence in hand papermaking and the book arts." Sward, who earned her MA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College Chicago in 1986, along with Metz approached the head of the Interdisciplinary Arts Department, Susanne Cohan-Lange, about establishing a world renowned papermaking and bookbinding center at Columbia College Chicago. Originally located at 218 South Wabash Ave., the Center for Book and Paper Arts was born and, with the addition of STA Type, a workshop co-founded by Society of Typographic Arts board member Muriel Underwood, it quickly outgrew its space. The CBPA was then moved to the 12,000 square foot state-of-the-art space of the Ludington Building (1104 South Wabash Ave.) in 1996 where more classes and an MA program were added to the curriculum.

The philosophy of the Center for Book and Paper Arts, much like it had been in the early days of "Paper Press", "Artists' Book Works" and "Paper and Book Arts", is to provide a center to "...advance research and innovation in the interdisciplinary practices of the artists' book and hand papermaking…." Marilyn Sward served as the Director of the Center for Book and Paper Arts until her death in 2008. In 2015, the CBPA became the Center for Book, Paper and Print Arts (CBPPA) when it was absorbed into the Art and Art History Department. The CBPPA consists of Anchor Graphics and the Center for Book and Paper Arts.

The Center for Book and Paper Arts (CBPA) materials date from 1939-2012 (mostly 1980-2012). It includes paper goods created in workshops taught by CBPA faculty members on campus and around the country as well as by visiting artists programs. Work includes internationally recognized book and paper artists in the collection.

The Center for Book and Paper Arts collection will be arranged into a number of different series upon total processing. The material available for research is currently arranged into two available series:

Series 1: Artists' Books Series 2: Visiting Artists

Folder/Item Title, (date). Series Title, Center for Book and Paper Arts, College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago.

A portion of the Center for Book & Paper Arts Collection is available to all users. Series 1 and Series 2 are available for research. Other material will be made available for research upon completion of the entire collection 's processing.

Any unprocessed items added to the collection that are not in this current inventory will become available for all users once the Archivist has updated the collection's description.

Materials are the property of Columbia College Chicago. Intellectual property rights of work belong to the original creators. Materials within the collection that are published and copyrighted maintain their copyright protections and must be used according to United States Copyright Law. Use of this collection and its materials is understood to be primarily for research, teaching, and creative study; additional uses, such as publication, exhibition, or other appropriate purposes may be considered upon consultation with the Archivist.

All physical materials and reformatted media must be viewed during a scheduled appointment time within the College Archives & Special Collections office. No materials are to be circulated unless otherwise consulted with the Archivist.

Access to some audiovisual media in the collection, such as VHS, audio cassette, or phonographic record, may be temporarily unavailable pending digital reformatting.

The Center for Book and Paper Arts, Columbia College Chicago.

• Subject
  • Artists' books
  • Paper art
  • Art -- Study and teaching
  • bookworks
  • papermaking
• Names
  • Columbia College (Chicago, Ill.). Center for Book and Paper Arts
  • Sward, Marilyn
  • Metz, Barbara Lazarus
  • Underwood, Muriel
  • Spector, Buzz
  • Creasman, Ralph