For the past 175 years, Domtar and its predecessors have been making products people around the world rely on every day. We are rooted in reinvention, having started business in 1848 as a treated lumber company and evolving over time into who we are today — a leader in paper, pulp and packaging and part of the Paper Excellence Group.
Some of our everyday products have gone beyond regular, day-to-day use to become famous Domtar products. They’ve been used by well-known figures and businesses for high-quality, high-impact events and activities like those noted below.
Famous Domtar Products — Paper
Domtar began making fine paper products in the 1960s. Since then, our operations have grown to include pulp and 100 percent recycled packaging grades, and we continue to be a leader in the paper market.
Many famous Domtar products have featured our fine, specialty and publishing papers. Our paper has been used by world leaders, special events and well-known publishers.
In 1967, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, signed the City of Cornwall, Ontario’s new Golden Book. The Golden Book was made from Domtar’s “Carlyle Japan Snow-white” paper, which was donated by Domtar’s fine paper division. The book was then placed on public view at the Cornwall City Hall.
Domtar, while operating as Great Northern Nekoosa Papers in Ashdown, Arkansas, was selected as the major paper supplier for the Jan. 20, 1989, inauguration ceremonies of U.S. President George Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. That same year, Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, toured the Ashdown Mill and visited with mill workers.
Many years later, in 2013, President Barack Obama selected a die-cut, pop-up design for the presidential holiday card. which featured a motif of the White House and the Obama family’s two dogs playing in the snow. The card was printed on Domtar’s Cougar paper.
Our paper has also celebrated Super Bowl wins. Leftover paper punches from our converting process have been used as confetti for Super Bowl parades.
Additionally, many bestselling books, including several adapted into films, have been printed on Domtar publishing paper.
- In 1971, “The Godfather” by Mario Puzo was printed as a “pocket book” on paper made at the former Donnacona, Quebec, facility.
- Many of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling were printed on paper made at our Johnsonburg Mill.
- Close to half of all Bibles purchased in the U.S. in 2000 were printed on Domtar’s lightweight paper.
- A number of titles by the king of horror, Stephen King, have been printed on Domtar paper.
- Our publishing papers have been used to print memoirs by Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Springsteen, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the late Alex Trebek.
Famous Domtar Products — Packaging
Domtar first entered the packaging business in the 1950s, and by 1962, it had an annual containerboard production capacity of 182,500 tons. This material was used to make shipping cases, carton specialties and coarse papers.
In 1965, Domtar’s Hinde and Dauch division was approached by engineers from McGill University’s Project HARP (High Altitude Research Project), a joint project of the U.S. Department of Defense and Canada’s National Department of Defence. Project HARP needed a lightweight, collapsible mandrel for its fiberglass motor cases for solid propellant rocket motors. Corrugated containerboard made by Domtar fit the requirements and tested successfully, launching skyward at approximately 2,000 miles per hour. Project HARP was ended in June 1967 due to funding challenges and a change in strategy for NASA.
Our packaging products were used to make familiar product packaging throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including cardboard containers for Comet cleaner, Smarties chocolate candies (Canada), Salada® tea bags, Sifto salt cans and Kellogg’s cereals.
Domtar left the packaging business temporarily in 2007. Earlier this year, we made our official reentry into packaging with the startup of our first 100 percent-recycled packaging machine. Containerboard manufactured at our Kingsport Mill may show up on your doorstep as material used in shipping boxes. Whether you make your Domtar containerboard Insta- or TikTok famous is up to you!
