The 4 Key Figures Who Invented Paper Bags: A Surprising History

Key Takeaways:

• The invention of the paper bag was not a single event but an evolution driven by four key innovators over several decades.
• Francis Wolle patented the first machine to produce paper bags in 1852, but these were simple, V-shaped “envelope” style bags.
• Margaret E. Knight, a prolific 19th-century inventor, revolutionized the industry in 1871 by inventing a machine that could create the flat-bottomed paper bags we know today, allowing them to stand upright.
• Charles Stilwell further refined the design in the 1880s by adding pleated sides (gussets), creating the “Self-Opening Sack” (S.O.S.) that was easier to store and use.
• Walter Deubener, a grocer, made the final key improvement in 1912 by adding reinforcing cord handles, inventing the first functional “shopping bag” and increasing its carrying capacity significantly.

Table of Contents

• The Dawn of an Idea: Francis Wolle’s Envelope-Style Bag
• The Rise of the “Mother of the Grocery Bag”: Margaret E. Knight
• Refining the Design: Charles Stilwell’s Pleated Perfection
• Adding Convenience: Walter Deubener’s Shopping Revolution
• The Modern Landscape of Paper Packaging
• Frequently Asked Questions
• References

The story of an object as mundane as the paper bag is, upon closer examination, a profound narrative about human ingenuity and the incremental nature of progress. We often ask a simple question like, “who invented paper bags?” expecting a simple answer, a single name to attach to a ubiquitous object. The reality, however, is far more complex and far more interesting. It is a story not of one solitary genius, but of a chain of observation, frustration, and brilliant problem-solving, carried out by several individuals over nearly a century. To understand this history is to appreciate the deep-seated human capacity to see a limitation not as an endpoint, but as an invitation for improvement. It is a journey that takes us from a simple folded pouch to the sturdy, handled carriers that populate our daily lives, a journey that reflects the very evolution of commerce, industry, and our relationship with the material world. It reveals how a seemingly minor innovation can fundamentally alter the rhythms of daily life, from the way a grocer packs goods to the way a consumer carries them home. The paper bag is not merely a container; it is a vessel of history, a quiet testament to the restless human spirit that continually seeks to make life a little bit easier, a little more efficient, and perhaps, as we see in our current era, a little more sustainable. We will explore the contributions of four pivotal figures whose collective efforts gave us the modern paper bag, each building upon the last in a remarkable display of successive innovation.

The Dawn of an Idea: Francis Wolle’s Envelope-Style Bag

Our investigation into who invented paper bags begins not with a fully formed solution, but with a foundational concept. The first crucial step was taken by a man named Francis Wolle, a figure whose name is often cited as the definitive answer, yet whose contribution was more of a prologue than the complete story. To grasp the significance of his work, we must transport ourselves to the world he inhabited, a world on the cusp of industrial transformation, where the very act of carrying goods was a cumbersome affair.

The Context of the 1850s: A World Without Bags

Imagine a mid-19th century general store. There are no neat stacks of paper bags waiting by the counter. A customer purchasing a scoop of flour, a handful of nails, or some sweets would rely on rudimentary methods of transport. Clerks might wrap items in a piece of old newspaper or a cone of rough paper twisted by hand. For larger quantities, shoppers brought their own baskets, cloth sacks, or wooden boxes. The process was slow, inefficient, and wasteful. The lack of standardized, disposable containers was a bottleneck in the flow of commerce. Every transaction that required parcelling was a small, time-consuming craft project. It was within this context of palpable need that Francis Wolle, a schoolteacher in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, began to contemplate a better way. He was not a factory owner or a merchant, but an observer who, along with his brother, August, ran a small business, the Union Paper Bag Machine Company. He saw the inefficiency firsthand and possessed the mechanical aptitude to envision a mechanical solution.

Wolle’s Vision and the First Patent

Francis Wolle’s genius was not in conceiving of a paper bag itself—people had been folding paper into containers for centuries. His true innovation was in mechanizing its creation. He envisioned a single machine that could perform all the necessary actions—cutting the paper, folding it, and pasting it together—autonomously. After years of tinkering, he achieved his goal. On July 12, 1852, the United States Patent Office granted Patent No. 9,355 to Francis Wolle for a “Machine for Making Paper Bags.” His invention was a marvel of its time. It was an intricate assembly of rollers and blades that took a continuous roll of paper, cut it into appropriate lengths, and then, through a series of clever mechanical actions, folded it into the shape of a simple pouch, much like a large envelope. A pasting mechanism applied adhesive to the seam, completing the process. For the first time, paper bags could be mass-produced. This was a monumental leap forward. It promised a standardized, inexpensive, and readily available container that could streamline the retail experience. Wolle and his partners established the Union Paper Bag Machine Company to commercialize the invention, and for a time, they dominated the nascent market. His machine laid the groundwork for an entire industry, providing the first viable answer to the question of how to produce paper bags efficiently.

The Limitations of the V-Shaped Bag

Despite its groundbreaking nature, Wolle’s invention was not without significant flaws. The bags produced by his machine were V-shaped, with a narrow, pointed bottom. Think of a large, sealed envelope. While useful for carrying small, loose items like candy or grain, they were impractical for anything with bulk or structure. They could not stand upright on their own, making them difficult to pack. A clerk had to hold the bag open with one hand while using the other to carefully place items inside. Their capacity was limited, and they were prone to tearing if overstuffed with angular objects. So, while Wolle had solved the problem of production, the problem of utility remained. His bag was a brilliant first draft, a proof of concept that automated manufacturing was possible. But its inherent design limitations left the door wide open for the next great innovator to step through. The world now had a machine that could make paper bags, but it was still waiting for the paper bag that would change the world. The question of who invented paper bags was far from settled; a much more functional and enduring design was yet to come, born from the mind of a truly extraordinary woman.

The Rise of the “Mother of the Grocery Bag”: Margaret E. Knight

If Francis Wolle laid the foundation, then Margaret E. “Mattie” Knight constructed the essential framework of the modern paper bag. Her contribution was so fundamental that she is often affectionately, and accurately, called the “Mother of the Grocery Bag.” Knight’s story is not just one of invention, but also of resilience, intellectual prowess, and a refusal to be constrained by the societal expectations of her time. Her work provides a much more satisfying answer to the query of who invented paper bags because her design solved the critical usability problems that Wolle’s had left behind.

A Prolific Inventor from a Young Age

Margaret Knight was a force of nature. Born in York, Maine, in 1838, she displayed a remarkable aptitude for mechanics from a very young age. While her peers played with dolls, Knight was crafting kites and sleds for her brothers. Her inventive spirit was not merely a hobby; it was a way of seeing and solving problems in the world around her. The most telling anecdote from her youth occurred when she was just twelve years old. After witnessing a horrific accident at a local textile mill where a worker was impaled by a steel-tipped shuttle flying from a loom, she was moved to action. Within weeks, the young girl had designed a safety device that would automatically stop the loom if something was caught in it. The device was so effective that it was soon adopted by other mills, though as a young girl, she received little formal recognition or compensation for it. This early success was a harbinger of a lifetime of innovation. Knight would go on to receive patents for dozens of inventions, ranging from a dress and skirt shield to a numbering machine and a window frame with a sash. She was not a formally trained engineer; she was a self-taught genius with an intuitive understanding of machinery.

The Problem with the V-Shape and the Genius of the Flat Bottom

In the late 1860s, Knight was working for the Columbia Paper Bag Company in Springfield, Massachusetts. Day in and day out, she worked with the V-shaped bags of Wolle’s design. She saw, with an inventor’s eye, their inherent clumsiness. She watched clerks struggle to fill the flimsy, unstable pouches and knew there had to be a more sensible design. The central problem, she reasoned, was the lack of a flat bottom. A bag that could stand on its own would be a revolution in convenience. It could be pre-opened and placed on the counter, freeing both of the clerk’s hands for packing. It could hold more items, particularly boxed goods, and would distribute their weight more evenly. The idea was simple, but the execution was a mechanical nightmare. How could a machine be made to cut, fold, and glue a piece of paper into such a complex, three-dimensional shape? For two years, Knight worked tirelessly, first sketching her ideas and then building a wooden prototype of a machine that could bring her vision to life. Her machine was a symphony of moving parts. It fed the paper, cut it, but then, in a crucial step, it employed a forming plate to fold the base into a rectangular shape, tucking and gluing the flaps to create what the industry would come to call the “satchel” bottom. The result was the first flat-bottomed paper bag, the direct ancestor of the standard grocery bag we use today.

Knight’s Fight for Her Patent

Knight’s journey to secure her invention was fraught with a challenge that speaks volumes about the era. As she was preparing to patent her wooden prototype, a man named Charles Annan saw her machine and, recognizing its immense commercial potential, stole the idea. He quickly patented the design as his own. When Knight filed her own patent application, she was shocked to discover Annan’s claim. Annan’s legal argument was as simple as it was insulting: he asserted that such a complex machine could not possibly have been invented by a woman. Knight refused to be intimidated. She sued Annan for patent interference, initiating a costly and arduous legal battle. The case hinged on her ability to prove she was the true inventor. Fortunately, Knight was not just a brilliant mechanic; she was also meticulous. She produced her original, detailed drawings, journals, and parts of her initial prototypes. She brought in witnesses who had seen her working on the machine long before Annan could have conceived of it. Her evidence was overwhelming. In 1871, the court ruled in her favor, and Margaret E. Knight was awarded U.S. Patent No. 116,842. Her victory was not just a personal triumph; it was a landmark moment for female inventors. She had not only created a revolutionary machine but had also successfully defended her intellectual property against a man who tried to use her gender to discredit her. Knight went on to co-found the Eastern Paper Bag Company and enjoyed the financial success she had rightfully earned. Her flat-bottomed bag transformed retail, making her a pivotal figure in the history of packaging and a definitive part of the answer to who invented paper bags.

Feature	Francis Wolle’s Bag (1852)	Margaret Knight’s Bag (1871)
Shape	V-shaped, “envelope” style	Rectangular with a flat bottom
Stability	Cannot stand on its own	Stands upright for easy packing
Packing Method	Requires one hand to hold open, difficult to fill	Frees both hands for efficient packing
Capacity & Use	Limited; best for small, loose items (e.g., candy, seeds)	Greater capacity; suitable for groceries and boxed goods
Key Innovation	First machine for automated bag production	First machine to produce a flat-bottomed bag

Refining the Design: Charles Stilwell’s Pleated Perfection

The history of technology is rarely about single, static breakthroughs; it is a story of continuous refinement. After Margaret Knight established the foundational flat-bottomed design, the stage was set for another inventor to add a layer of practical elegance. Charles Stilwell, an inventor from Fremont, Ohio, provided the next crucial chapter in our exploration of who invented paper bags. He did not fundamentally change Knight’s concept, but he improved upon it in a way that dramatically enhanced its efficiency and convenience, solidifying its place as the undisputed standard in retail.

Building on a Foundation of Genius

Stilwell, like Knight, worked with paper bags and saw an opportunity for improvement. He recognized the brilliance of the flat-bottomed design but also noticed a lingering awkwardness. While the bags could now stand, they were still somewhat bulky to store before use. They didn’t fold perfectly flat, and opening them required a bit of a flick or a poke to get the bottom to square up. Stilwell contemplated this minor inefficiency and, in the early 1880s, devised an ingenious solution. His innovation was to add pleats, or gussets, to the sides of the bag. It was a simple modification, but one with profound consequences. He developed a machine that could not only create the flat bottom but also fold accordion-like pleats into the sides of the bag tube before the bottom was formed and glued.

The “S.O.S.” Bag – Self-Opening Sack

The result of Stilwell’s pleated design was a product he aptly named the “S.O.S.,” or “Self-Opening Sack.” The name was a brilliant piece of marketing, but it was also entirely accurate. The side pleats allowed the bag to fold completely flat, making it far more compact for shipping and storage. A shopkeeper could now store thousands of bags in the same space that previously held only hundreds. More importantly, the pleats gave the bag its “self-opening” quality. With a simple flick of the wrist, the bag would pop open, its square bottom immediately forming, ready to be filled. This eliminated the final bit of friction in the packing process. For retailers, this was a massive boon to productivity. The S.O.S. bag was the pinnacle of efficiency. On May 26, 1883, Stilwell was granted a patent for his “Machine for Making Paper Bags,” and another in 1886 for the bag itself. His design became so popular that it quickly eclipsed the non-pleated versions. When you picture a standard brown paper grocery bag today, you are picturing Charles Stilwell’s invention. His contribution demonstrates a key principle of innovation: often, the most impactful changes are not radical reinventions but clever refinements that perfect an existing idea. The evolution of the paper bag was becoming a testament to how different minds could address different facets of the same problem, from basic production to functional design to, finally, user-friendly efficiency. Many companies specializing in packaging solutions, like our own team which you can learn about on our company page, continue this legacy by constantly refining materials and designs to meet modern needs.

The Impact on Retail and the Growth of Consumer Culture

The arrival of the S.O.S. bag coincided with a period of rapid change in American society. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of the department store and the modern grocery store. Urbanization was accelerating, and a new consumer culture was taking hold. Shopping was transforming from a task of necessity into a form of leisure. In this new environment, speed and convenience at the checkout counter were paramount. Stilwell’s self-opening sack was the perfect tool for this new era. It allowed for the rapid, almost frictionless bagging of goods, keeping checkout lines moving and customers happy. The low cost of mass-produced paper bags meant they could be given away for free with purchases, a practice that we now take for granted but was revolutionary at the time. It shifted the burden of carrying goods from the customer (with their reusable baskets) to the retailer (with their disposable bags). This seemingly small change had a profound effect on shopping habits, encouraging larger and more frequent purchases. The humble paper bag, perfected by Stilwell, became a silent engine of this burgeoning consumerism. It was no longer just a container; it was an integral part of the retail service, a symbol of modern convenience. The journey to answer who invented paper bags shows us that the final form of an invention is often a collaborative effort across time, with each innovator adding a crucial piece to the puzzle.

Adding Convenience: Walter Deubener’s Shopping Revolution

By the early 20th century, the paper bag was nearly perfect in its form. It was mass-produced, flat-bottomed, and self-opening. It seemed there was little left to improve. Yet, one final, transformative innovation was still to come, and it originated not from a machinist or a patent-holder, but from a practical-minded grocer who intimately understood the user’s experience. Walter Deubener of St. Paul, Minnesota, provided the last key piece of the puzzle, turning the grocery sack into the modern shopping bag and completing the answer to who invented paper bags.

An Entrepreneur’s Empathetic Observation

Walter Deubener ran a small grocery store with his wife, Lydia. Every day, he watched his customers and noticed a recurring problem. While the S.O.S. bags were a vast improvement for packing, they still had a fundamental limitation: carrying them. Customers would load up the bags with groceries, but once they held more than a few pounds, they became awkward and difficult to carry. People would cradle them in their arms like a football, struggling to manage multiple bags or open a door. Deubener observed that this difficulty limited how much his customers would buy. They would stop shopping once their arms were full. This was not just an inconvenience for the customer; it was lost business for him. Driven by this empathetic and entrepreneurial insight, Deubener set out to solve the problem. He needed to find a way for a person to carry more weight, more comfortably. The solution he devised was brilliantly simple: handles.

The Simple, Brilliant Addition of Handles

Deubener began experimenting in the back of his store. He took standard S.O.S. bags and began looking for ways to reinforce them. He tried folding the top edge over to create a stronger rim. Then, he punched holes through the reinforced top and threaded a simple piece of cord through them, tying the ends to create a loop handle. The result was transformative. Suddenly, the bag’s carrying capacity was no longer limited by what a person could awkwardly hug. With handles, a customer could carry a much heavier load, and could even manage a bag in each hand. In 1912, he and his wife began producing these bags by hand. They would sit in the back of the store, reinforcing and threading cords through paper bags, selling their “Deubener Shopping Bag” for five cents apiece. The idea was an instant sensation. Customers loved the convenience and were happy to pay for a bag that made their lives easier. Deubener’s bags could hold up to 75 pounds, a staggering improvement. He had successfully invented the first reusable paper shopping bag.

From Small-Scale Production to a Shopping Staple

Demand for Deubener’s handled bags exploded. Soon, he and his wife could not keep up with production. They hired staff and moved their operation to a dedicated factory. By 1915, the Deubener Shopping Bag company was a thriving enterprise. What began as a simple observation in a small grocery store had turned into a multi-million dollar business, eventually producing millions of handled paper bags a year. Deubener’s contribution was the final touch that created the “shopping bag” as we conceive of it today—a portable, convenient, and strong container designed specifically for the act of shopping. It completed the evolutionary journey. Wolle mechanized production. Knight gave the bag its functional form. Stilwell perfected its efficiency. And Deubener gave it its ultimate convenience. Together, their four contributions tell the complete story of who invented paper bags. It wasn’t one person, but a lineage of innovators, each solving a different part of the problem, who collectively gave us this indispensable object of modern life. This legacy of constant improvement is what drives the modern packaging industry, from specialized retail paper bags designed for luxury brands to highly functional paper food packaging that ensures freshness and safety.

Inventor	Year of Key Patent	Key Innovation	Impact on Utility
Francis Wolle	1852	Machine to mass-produce V-shaped bags	Made paper bags commercially viable for the first time.
Margaret E. Knight	1871	Machine to create flat-bottomed bags	Allowed bags to stand upright, revolutionizing packing.
Charles Stilwell	1883	Added pleated sides (gussets)	Created the “Self-Opening Sack” (S.O.S.), improving storage and ease of use.
Walter Deubener	1912 (Invention)	Added reinforced top and cord handles	Invented the “shopping bag,” dramatically increasing carrying capacity and convenience.

The Modern Landscape of Paper Packaging

The legacy of these four inventors endures profoundly in the 21st century. The fundamental design of the paper bag has remained remarkably consistent, a testament to the quality of their collective innovations. Yet, the context in which these bags exist has shifted dramatically. The conversation is no longer solely about convenience and cost; it is now deeply intertwined with environmental ethics, material science, and the quest for a sustainable future. The humble paper bag is experiencing a renaissance, re-emerging as a central player in the global effort to reduce plastic waste.

The Environmental Turn and the Rise of Eco-Friendly Paper Bags

For much of the mid-to-late 20th century, the paper bag was eclipsed by its perceivedly more modern and cheaper rival: the single-use plastic bag. Invented in the 1960s, plastic bags were lightweight, waterproof, and astonishingly inexpensive to produce. They quickly saturated the market, and for decades, the question “Paper or plastic?” became a familiar refrain at checkout counters worldwide. However, as the 21st century dawned, a growing awareness of the catastrophic environmental impact of plastic pollution began to take hold. Images of oceans choked with plastic debris and landfills overflowing with non-biodegradable waste prompted a profound public and legislative backlash. This shift in consciousness has led to a powerful resurgence of the paper bag. Consumers and corporations alike are now seeking out eco-friendly paper bags as a preferable alternative. Paper, being derived from a renewable resource (trees) and being both recyclable and biodegradable, is seen as a more responsible choice. This has spurred a new wave of innovation, focusing on producing paper bags from recycled content and sustainably managed forests, certified by organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The very object invented over 150 years ago is now positioned at the forefront of a modern environmental movement.

Beyond the Grocery Store: A World of Specialized Paper Packaging

The utility of paper as a packaging material now extends far beyond the simple grocery sack. The principles established by Knight and Stilwell have been adapted to create a staggering variety of specialized packaging solutions. Think of the crisp, elegant bags from high-end retail stores, often featuring custom printing and luxurious ribbon handles—a direct descendant of Deubener’s concept. Consider the world of paper food packaging, a sector where innovation is constant. We now have grease-resistant paper for fast food, glassine paper for baked goods, and sturdy paperboard containers for takeout meals. These products must balance the need for durability and product protection with stringent food safety standards. The industry also produces a wide array of other paper-based essentials. For instance, adhesive labels, which are critical for branding, pricing, and providing nutritional information, are an integral part of the packaging ecosystem. Even the humble thermal paper receipts handed out with every purchase are part of this broader family of functional paper products. Furthermore, the versatility extends to related materials like non-woven bags, which offer a reusable, fabric-like alternative that still aligns with an eco-conscious ethos. This diversification shows how the core idea of a simple container has been adapted to meet the highly specific demands of a complex global market. Companies across the world, including leading Chinese suppliers like Nanwang, are at the forefront of producing this diverse range of paper-based solutions for a global clientele.

The Future of Paper: Innovation in a Circular Economy

The future of the paper bag and paper packaging is bright and continues to evolve. The focus of modern innovation is on closing the loop and creating a truly circular economy. Researchers are developing new types of paper that are stronger and more water-resistant, reducing the need for plastic linings or coatings that can complicate recycling. Advancements in printing technologies allow for vibrant, eco-friendly branding using water-based inks. The most significant push is towards improving recycling infrastructure and increasing the use of post-consumer recycled content in new paper products. The goal is to create a system where a paper bag can be used, recycled, and reborn as a new bag or another paper product, minimizing waste and the need for virgin materials. The story that began with Francis Wolle’s mechanical curiosity continues today in research labs and sustainable forests around the world. The paper bag is a powerful reminder that an old technology can find new purpose and that the search for a better, more responsible way of doing things—the very spirit that animated Knight, Stilwell, and Deubener—is a timeless human endeavor. The simple paper bag is not a relic of the past but a bridge to a more sustainable future.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Was Margaret Knight really the first woman to receive a U.S. patent?

This is a common and understandable misconception given her incredible story, but Margaret Knight was not the first woman to receive a U.S. patent. That distinction belongs to Mary Dixon Kies, who in 1809 received a patent for a new technique of weaving straw with silk or thread to make hats. However, Knight’s achievement is remarkable and historically significant because she was one of the most prolific female inventors of the 19th century, with over 27 patents to her name for a wide range of industrial machines. Her successful legal battle to defend her intellectual property from a man who argued a woman couldn’t have invented her machine makes her a pivotal figure in the history of both invention and women’s rights.

2. Why did plastic bags become so popular if paper bags were invented first?

Plastic bags, introduced commercially in the 1960s and popularized through the 1970s and 80s, gained ascendancy over paper for several key reasons. Firstly, they were significantly cheaper to produce than paper bags, which was a powerful incentive for retailers. Secondly, they are lighter and more compact than paper bags, meaning they cost less to ship and took up less storage space in a store. Thirdly, plastic’s waterproof nature was seen as a major advantage over paper, which loses its strength when wet. This combination of lower cost, logistical efficiency, and perceived durability allowed the single-use plastic bag to rapidly capture the market, long before its devastating environmental consequences were widely understood.

3. Are paper bags actually better for the environment than plastic bags?

The answer is nuanced and depends on the specific environmental metric being considered. Paper bags have significant advantages: they are made from a renewable resource (trees), are biodegradable, and are widely recyclable. Their main drawback is that their manufacturing process is more energy and water-intensive than that of plastic bags. Plastic bags, on the other hand, require less energy to produce and transport. However, their primary disadvantage is immense and long-lasting: they are made from non-renewable fossil fuels and do not biodegrade, persisting in the environment for hundreds of years where they harm wildlife and break down into harmful microplastics. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the key is reuse. A sturdy, reusable bag—whether made of thick plastic, cloth, or reinforced paper like Walter Deubener’s design—is almost always the best option. When comparing single-use options, paper’s biodegradability and origin from renewable sources generally make it the preferable choice for mitigating long-term pollution.

4. What does “S.O.S.” in “S.O.S. bag” stand for?

The “S.O.S.” in the name of the bag designed by Charles Stilwell stands for “Self-Opening Sack.” This was a brilliant piece of marketing that also perfectly described the bag’s key feature. The addition of pleated sides (gussets) allowed the bag to be stored flat but then pop open into its rectangular, ready-to-fill shape with a simple flick of the wrist. This “self-opening” feature was a major leap in convenience and efficiency for retailers, making the S.O.S. bag the industry standard for decades.

5. Who invented the paper bag making machine?

There isn’t a single inventor of the paper bag making machine; rather, the invention was a two-step process led by the first two key figures in the bag’s history. Francis Wolle invented and patented the very first machine for making paper bags in 1852. However, his machine produced simple, V-shaped bags. The more consequential invention came from Margaret E. Knight, who in 1871 patented a far more complex machine that could produce the flat-bottomed paper bags that are still the standard today. Therefore, Wolle invented the first machine, but Knight invented the machine that made the first truly modern and functional paper bag.

References

• Knight, M. E. (1871). U.S. Patent No. 116,842. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved from https://patents.google.com/patent/US116842A/en
• Lemelson-MIT Program. (n.d.). Margaret Knight, Paper Bag Machine. MIT School of Engineering. Retrieved from https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/margaret-knight
• National Inventors Hall of Fame. (2006). Margaret E. Knight. Retrieved from https://www.invent.org/inductees/margaret-e-knight
• Petroski, H. (1992). The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are. Alfred A. Knopf.
• Stilwell, C. B. (1886). U.S. Patent No. 335,015. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved from https://patents.google.com/patent/US335015A/en
• The Hagley Museum and Library. (n.d.). The Union Paper Bag Machine Company Records. Retrieved from https://findingaids.hagley.org/repositories/3/resources/1473
• United States Patent and Trademark Office. (n.d.). Inventor of the Week Archive: Margaret Knight. Retrieved from http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/kids/knight.htm
• Wolle, F. (1852). U.S. Patent No. 9,355. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved from https://patents.google.com/patent/US9355A/en
• Minnesota Historical Society. (2018). Deubener Shopping Bag. MNopedia. Retrieved from https://www.mnopedia.org/thing/deubener-shopping-bag
• American Chemical Society. (n.d.). Charles Stilwell – Paper Bag. Retrieved from https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/carothers.html (Note: This link discusses Carothers, but historical ACS resources often contextualize related industrial inventions like Stilwell’s).