When we talk about paper, its history, and the practice of making paper, how does the language we use affect how we take in these narratives? In this issue we engage with the terminology that we use, and by extension how our language has framed the ways in which we name, organize, and archive the artifacts, stories, and accumulated knowledge of our field.

Alta Price begins with a survey of how paper is talked about across cultures and addresses the problematic term “rice paper.”

Papermaker Radha Pandey and paper conservator Aisha Wahab advocate for cross-disciplinary collaboration in widening paper terminology and scholarship.

Karen Carcia and Julia Leonard describe their work to date on the Book Art Research Database (BARD).

Cheryl Edwards presses artists to preserve and archive their own art stories.

Nick Cladis draws lessons from the 40-year-long archive of the experimental Imadate Art Field project in Echizen, Japan.

Laura Anderson Barbata recounts projects with indigenous communities in the Amazon of Venezuela.

Melissa Potter engages with a portfolio of paper made by Marilyn Sward. 

There are two paper samples, side by side, made by Taller Papel Oaxaca, Mexico and by Frogsong Press, Alabama, both from related plants. 

Hand Papermaking Black Writers Fellowship recipient Keren Alfred shares her experiments with making paper from Jamaican breadfruit bast fiber.

And Joann Moser introduces the luminous paperworks of Kyoto, Japan–based artist Sarah Brayer. 

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