News from another century
Some of my favorite work goes inside the piece. These boxes, trays, and carriers are lined with genuine antique newspapers — pages at least a century old that might otherwise be lost to time — sealed and preserved by hand inside a piece built to last. Lift the lid and you’re reading news from another century.
A second life for old pages
Each lining is an original page from the 1800s or early 1900s — a farm journal, a pictorial, a city daily — every one at least a hundred years old. Many still carry their masthead and date, so you can lift the lid and read what the news was that week.
Every page is different, and none can be repeated, so no two pieces are ever alike.
An old practice, carried on
If you’ve spent time around antiques, you’ve probably opened a box or a drawer and found old newspaper inside. People have lined boxes, cabinets, and drawers with printed paper for generations — partly to protect the wood, partly for the simple pleasure of it. These pieces carry that practice forward, with one difference: here the paper is sealed and preserved by hand, so it lasts.
Most of these pages weren’t in a condition an archive or a collector would save on their own. Lining a piece gives them a second, useful life.
How a page becomes a lining
The interior is painted off-white first, which highlights the print and conceals small imperfections. The page is sealed to strengthen the fibers and fix the ink, coated on the back with adhesive, applied and smoothed by hand, then finished with a clear protective topcoat and a final sealant for long-term durability.
Antique newspaper was never designed to last — small tears or areas of brittleness are accepted and expected, part of each piece’s character. Once a page is sealed into a piece, those imperfections won’t get any worse, and the lining can withstand regular handling. The paper turns out surprisingly tough — when I’ve had to sand off a mistake, it puts up a real fight.
Where the papers come from
I find them at antique shops and auctions here in Maine, a few at a time, over years of looking. Each paper is kept whole until a piece is ready for it.
In addition to the antique newspapers, I’ll occasionally line pieces with reproduction floral prints drawn from authentic period designs.
The trays
In addition to boxes, I often line the interiors of trays. A tray leaves the page in plain view — no lid to lift — so the print stays part of the room.
I pick a page to suit the piece. A box you read up close, a page at a time. A tray you see from across the room, so I look for something that carries at that distance — a good engraving, or a bold headline from the Civil War for instance.
Spools, scissors, keys, whatever lands in a tray through the day. The lining is sealed, top-coated, and buffed like any papered piece, so daily use is no trouble. I line trays in sizes No. 2 through No. 5.
The paper-lined line
Made in small numbers, a few times a year.
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Oval boxes
Sizes #3 through #7
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Trays
Sizes #2 through #5
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Sewing carrier
The Shaker sewing carrier
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Button Box
The papered Button Box
Priced the way antiques are priced
Every piece lined with genuine antique newspaper is priced individually, the way antiques themselves are — on the condition, visual interest, and historical significance of the paper. The construction is identical, so two pieces of the same size may carry different prices; the difference is entirely in the lining.
Antique newspaper was never made to last, so nearly every lining shows some small imperfection — a short tear, a thin spot. That’s expected, part of each piece’s character, and the paper’s overall condition is part of its price. Pieces lined with reproduction floral prints are priced by size, as usual.
From past batches
A few paper-lined pieces that have already found homes.
Shown in sea green milk paint.
Shown in black milk paint.
Shown in an antiqued natural finish.
