I've been reading Nicholson Baker's book "Double Fold" recently. It's about the war on paper being fought in libraries across the country. Many people (myself included) believe that libraries (at least research libraries) serve to hold and maintain books, newspapers, and magazines. Sadly, this has been untrue for at least the last seventy or so years. Starting in the 1930s, libraries began to focus on reducing the amount of material they hold rather than increasing their storage capacity. They started with newspapers.

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Google's cache of the New York Times' review of the book is here

Trivia: In the 1850s, there was a shortage of the linen used to make newspaper. Some enterprising printers came up with a unique solution. Egypt had a lot of mummies. And these mummies were wrapped in gauze. Why not unwrap the mummies and use the wrappings for paper? So that's what happened. Information on this is somewhat scarce, but several printers did import large quantities of used linen from Egypt around this time. One northeastern newapaper printed a brief announcement that it was now being printed on paper made from mummy rags. And the British were already digging up mummies to use as fuel for trains.

Nicholson Baker wrote briefly about this in Double Fold, but I left it at home so I can't quote directly from it :( . Oh, and you can't get your hands on the actual newspaper where the "printed on mummies" announcement ran- it's been microfilmed and pulped.

There's a little more about mummy rag paper I found over at another blog.

Dear Robert,

I'm pleased to inform you that the departmental admissions committee has recommended that you be admitted to the MA program in the Department of Political Science at Georgia State University. The decision is not final, however, as all admissions decisions must be formally approved by the Dean. However, I wanted to let you know of the department's decision as soon as possible.

Once you receive your letter from the Dean (in about a week to 10 days), the department will be sending you a welcome letter. The Dean's letter will contain instructions for registration.

If you have any questions or concerns about the program, please don't hesitate to get in touch. I look forward to the possibility of working with you again.

Best,
Dr. Manning