The History of Envelopes – From 2000 B.

C to the Present
Can you imagine getting your monthly cellphone bill in the mail without it being sealed in
an envelope? Or sending them back a check without an envelope to keep your personal
banking information a secret? I cant either. Envelopes have been around for centuries
and have changed countless times throughout history. The history of envelopes begins
with a little clay and a lot of work.
The First Envelopes – 2000 B.C

More than 4,000 years ago, way before the invention of the pre-gummed paper
envelopes, the Babylonians created an envelope like folder from clay. Wet clay was folded
over the original tablet message and sealed by pressing the ends together. It was then
baked, causing it to harden and ensuring the tablet’s contents were safe inside. To
reveal the original tablet message, one would have to brake the clay envelope. And so
the history of envelopes begins!

Paper Envelopes are Born

Fast forward a couple hundred years to the 1800’s when envelopes we seen as an
extra piece of paper that would be wrapped around the letter and charged as an extra
piece of paper when mailing. Only the wealthy could afford this second charge, while
most commoners would simply fold the letter into an envelope and seal it with an
adhesive. The address could then be written on the blank back of the letter.
It wasn’t until 1837 when Rowland Hill published “Post Office Reform” that paper
envelopes were created. He stated that a “physical stamp containing a gum wash and a
prepaid penny wrapper were to be developed.” Local businesses created these by
cutting and hand folding an envelope template.
Invention of the Envelope Folding Machine

Envelope Folding Machine at the 1851 Great Exhibition

Edwin Hill
This was a turning point for the history of envelopes. The demand for envelopes quickly
grew in England after the acceptance of universal postage. No longer could the
envelope manufacturing companies keep up by hand folding and cutting envelopes.
Edwin Hill is credited with designing the first envelope folding machine in 1840. His work
would be short lived after a number of other envelope folding machines surfaced in
1951. These machines featured a vacuum which would transfer the envelopes and
could produce 240 envelopes per hour.
Dr. Russell L. Hawes
Before the mid-1850s, envelope folding machines had to be imported from Europe. In
America the first successful automatic envelope folding machine was created by Russell
L. Hawes. With his background in medicine, he would create the machine to work with
the human body, spawning science of ergonomics and kinetics. His machine could
produce 2,500 envelopes an hour.
George H. Reay
With dozens of automatic envelope folding machines available, none was more widely
used then Reay machine. This machine was extremely reliable and became the standard
machine for envelope manufacturing.
Self-Gumming Envelope Making Machine

It wasn’t until the invention of the self-gumming

envelope machine that envelope production really took off. A man by the name
of James Green Arnold took the envelope folding machine to the next level when he
added a brush that would apply the gum to the envelopes seal. This step was previously
done by hand. Unfortunately Arnold’s design was never put into production. It wasn’t
until two brothers by the name of D. Wheeler Swift and Henry Swift took Arnold’s
design and perfected it. In 1876 the Swift Chain Dryer Machine was born. One of the
main difference in this machine was that it was constructed of metal, not wood, like the
Arnold design.
Envelopes Today
Today, well over 185 billion envelopes are produced each year in a wide array of sizes,
styles and shapes. A long way from the rich history of envelopes to what we consider
‘normal’ today.
Envelopes for Business
Businesses like Netflix use paper envelopes to mail customers DVD’s which are then
returned later via the mail. Monthly bills are sent in remittance envelopes with pre-
stamped response envelopes enclosed. Bubble mailer envelopes are a great shipping
alternatives to bulky boxes for many shipping companies.
Popular Styles:
 Business Envelope
 Remittance Envelope
 Booklet Envelope
 Window Envelope
Envelopes for Personal Use
Brides can spend hours looking at different sizes and textures of envelopes to find their
perfect invitation envelope. Festive envelopes are used when sending out yearly holiday
greeting cards to family and friends.
Popular Styles:
 A2 Envelope
 A7 Envelope
 Square Envelope

Resources: https://www.jampaper.com/blog/the-
history-of-envelopes/