A mill or a paper mill? The owners of the village Łojki near Czestochowa on the way to industrialise the farming estate

Abstract

There is a vast and multifaceted literature covering the history of papermaking industry on a macro scale, but not so much in terms of analytic research. The subject of the analysis in this article is the paper mill in the village Łojki near Czestochowa in the mid-19th century. This text aims to attract attention of historians researching the economy of the 19th century to notarial deeds and land and mortgage registers. The heir Otto Kunert looking for new sources of income for the increasingly indebted farming estate, funded a paper mill in his properties. He leased the paper mill which gave him smaller but stable income. The lessees were mostly local Jews. The income form the paper mill did not save the farming estate from the threat of bankruptcy. The paper production was terminated most probably in the 1870s finishing the era of craft production.