{{short description|Brand of correction fluid}} [[File:Liquid paper products Womens Museum.jpg|thumb|Liquid Paper products at [[The Women's Museum]] in Dallas, Texas]] '''Liquid Paper''' is an American [[brand]] of the [[Newell Brands]] company marketed internationally that sells [[correction fluid]], [[Correction fluid|correction pen]]s, and [[correction tape]].
==Product history== [[File:Liquid paper, picture and eraser.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Liquid Paper]] In 1956, [[Bette Nesmith Graham]] (mother of future [[The Monkees|Monkees]] guitarist [[Michael Nesmith]]) invented the first [[correction fluid]] in her kitchen. Working as a typist, she used to make many mistakes and always strove for a way to correct them. Starting on a basis of [[tempera]] [[paint]] she mixed with a common [[Blender (device)|kitchen blender]], she called the fluid "Mistake Out" and started to provide her co-workers with small bottles on which the brand's name was displayed.<ref>{{citation | last = Blattman | first = Elissa | title = Three Every-day Items Invented by Women | publisher = National Women's History Museum | year = 2013 | url = https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/three-every-day-items-invented-women}}</ref>
Graham formed the Mistake Out Company in 1956.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyatarr/2020/04/22/how-this-secretary-built-a-multi-million-dollar-corporation-without-any-capital/|title=How This Former Secretary Built A Multimillion-Dollar Corporation (Without Any Capital)|first=Tanya|last=Tarr|website=Forbes|date=April 22, 2020}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historycooperative.org/who-invented-white-out/|title=Correcting History: Uncovering Who Invented White Out|website=historycooperative.org|date=January 18, 2024}}</ref> She developed alternative formulas for quicker drying times and better application brushes. Sales were about 100 bottles per month in 1957; however, they increased fivefold when the correctional liquid appeared in ''The Office'' magazine, which led to a large corporate order from [[General Electric]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1980-05-15 |title=Bette C. Graham, invented paper correction fluid |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-bette-c-graham-invented-paper/179976632/ |access-date=2025-08-29 |work=The News |pages=77}}</ref>
Graham was fired from her typist job after she accidentally put her own company’s name on a sheet of her employer’s company letterhead. She subsequently decided to devote all her time to Mistake Out.<ref name="BetteNesmith">{{cite web |url=http://www.celebratingtexas.com/tr/lsl/94.pdf |title=Bette Nesmith Graham |access-date=2010-03-18 |publisher=Celebrating Texas |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071816/http://www.celebratingtexas.com/tr/lsl/94.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1958, Graham renamed her business the Liquid Paper Company and applied for a [[United States Patent and Trademark Office|patent and trademark]].<ref name="overlooked">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/obituaries/bette-nesmith-graham-liquid-paper.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytobits |title=Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper |work=The New York Times |date=July 11, 2018 |access-date=2018-07-13}}</ref> By 1968, the company "had become a multimillion-dollar organization, breaking ground on a huge business and manufacturing facility in Dallas, Texas. LPC scaled internationally and eventually opened offices and manufacturing plants in Canada, England, Belgium and Australia".<ref name="auto"/> By 1975, "Liquid Paper was producing 25 million bottles a year and holding a vast share of a multimillion-dollar market that had spawned several competitors, like Wite-Out".<ref name="overlooked" />
Graham sold Liquid Paper to [[Gillette|Gillette Corporation]] in 1979.<ref name="overlooked" />{{efn|While some sources say Graham sold Liquid Paper for $47.5 million,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/perseverance-thy-name-bette|title=Perseverance, thy name is Bette|website=www.uspto.gov|last=Pandil-Eaton |first=Whitney |access-date=September 24, 2025}}</ref><ref name="overlooked" /> another says she sold it for $48.5 million.<ref name="auto"/>}}
==Acquisition== In 2000, the Liquid Paper product and brand name was acquired by Newell Rubbermaid (later Newell Brands). In some regions of the world, Liquid Paper is endorsed by [[Papermate]], a widely known writing instruments brand also owned by Newell.{{cn|date=September 2025}}
==Ingredients== [[File:liquid paper.png|thumb|right|155px|A traditionally shaped bottle of Liquid Paper]] {{asof|2009}}, [[MSDS]]s list Liquid Paper as containing [[titanium dioxide]], solvent [[naphtha]], [[mineral spirits]], [[resins]], dispersant, and fragrances.<ref name="Paper Mate Liquid Paper Fast Drying Correction Fluid">{{Cite web|url=http://www.liquidpaper.com/res/Fast%20Drying.pdf|title=Paper Mate Liquid Paper Fast Drying Correction Fluid|access-date=2009-08-18|publisher=Sanford NA|year=2003|work=MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET - MSDS #: 56401|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227085832/http://www.liquidpaper.com/res/Fast%20Drying.pdf|archive-date=2012-02-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Liquid Paper came under scrutiny in the 1980s due to concerns over recreational [[Inhalant|sniffing]]. The organic solvent [[1,1,1-trichloroethane]] (TCA) was used as a thinner in the product.<ref name="LiquidPaper1985">{{Cite web|url=http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/safety/MSDS/LIQUID%20PAPER%20CORRECTION%20FLUID%20THINNER.htm |title=Liquid Paper Correction Fluid, White. Material Safety Data Sheet |date=1 January 1985 |publisher=Ohio State University College of Biological Sciences |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621021044/http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/safety/MSDS/LIQUID%20PAPER%20CORRECTION%20FLUID%20THINNER.htm |archive-date=21 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Liquid Paper containing TCA was thought to be toxic and [[carcinogenic]], but later studies showed that although the thinner was toxic there was no evidence of carcinogenicity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sullivan |first1=John Burke |last2=Krieger |first2=Gary R. |title=Clinical environmental health and toxic exposures |publisher=[[Lippincott Williams & Wilkins]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-683-08027-8 |location=Philadelphia |oclc=41606485 |page=497 |quote=Trichloroethane generally is less toxic than methylene chloride ... is not teratogenic and carcinogenicity and mutagenicity testing has proven inconclusive. }}</ref> There were several studies linking fatalities<ref>{{cite journal |first=Gregory S. |author2=Smialek, John E. |author3=Troutman, William G. |title=Sudden Death in Adolescents Resulting From the Inhalation of Typewriter Correction Fluid |journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association |volume=253 |issue=11 |pages=1604–6 |date=15 March 1985 |pmid=3974043 |quote=We describe four cases of sudden death in adolescents associated with recreational sniffing of typewriter correction fluid occurring during the period 1979 through mid-1984. |doi=10.1001/jama.253.11.1604 |last1=King }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author2=Gunasekera, NP |title=Fatal cerebral oedema following trichloroethane abuse |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=83 |issue=8 |pages=533–534 |date=August 1990 |pmid=2231588 |pmc=1292788 |last1=D'costa |first1=DF |doi=10.1177/014107689008300823 }}</ref> to the TCA contained in correction fluids, including Liquid Paper.
In 1989, Gillette reformulated Liquid Paper without TCA in response to a complaint under [[California Proposition 65 (1986)|California Proposition 65]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Paddock |first=Richard C. |title=Gillette Agrees to Remove Toxics From Its Paper Correction Fluid |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-29-mn-252-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Sacramento |date=29 September 1989 |access-date=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715051020/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-09-29/news/mn-252_1_liquid-paper-correction-fluid |archive-date=15 July 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Estrin |first1=Norman F. |last2=Akerson |first2=James M. |title=Cosmetic regulation in a competitive environment |publisher=[[Marcel Dekker]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8247-7516-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8z3Nn9HzKIC&pg=PA138 |access-date=23 July 2009 |location=New York, New York |page=138 |chapter=Proposition 65 |quote=Gillette agreed to reformulate the product so that it would not pose a risk requiring a Proposition 65 warning }}</ref>
==See also== * [[Correction fluid]] * [[Correction tape]] * [[Pentel]] * [[Wite-Out]] * [[Tipp-Ex]]
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/|Newell Rubbermaid official website}} * [http://www.papermate.com/ Papermate US website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060804095845/http://liquidpaper.com/ Official Web site] * [https://archive.today/20120712050653/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blliquid_paper.htm Liquid Paper on inventors.about.com]
[[Category:Correction instruments]] [[Category:Newell Brands]] [[Category:1979 mergers and acquisitions]] [[Category:2000 mergers and acquisitions]]