Champion Paper and Fibre Company workers photograph

Dated November 1940, this photograph shows women sorting large pieces of paper at the Champion Paper and Fibre Company in Hamilton, Ohio. The photograph's captions read "One of the large sortin [sorting] rooms the Champion Paper & Fibre Co. Hamilton, Ohio" and "A view of one of the large sorting rooms of the Champion Paper and Fibre Company, Hamilton, Ohio. Nov. 1940." The Champion Paper and Fibre Company Plant was located at 601-619 NB Street in Hamilton, Ohio and covered approximately 60 acres along the Great Miami River. One of the largest coated-paper plants in the world, it began in 1893 by Peter G. Thomson (1851-1931) and was originally called Champion Coated Paper Company. The plant in Hamilton was built around 1902 and more buildings were added over the years as the company continued to prosper. In 1989, the Hamilton mill became the first paper mill in North America to recycle 100% of its solid papermaking waste and boiler ash, and the following year was awarded an environmental award for its efforts. In 2000, the Champion name disappeared as the company merged with International Paper Company. In 2001 the B Street mill was sold to Smart Paper LLC and continued to operate. Miami University bought several buildings in 2002. In 2004, the Knightsbridge property (in Hamilton) was sold to Harry T. Wilks who in turn sold it to Mahedra Vora and Timothy B. Matthews, who then turned the building into Vora Technology Park, a disaster recovery back-up data center. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939