When Georgia chemist Charles Holmes Herty found a way to make quality paper from pine trees in 1932, he also founded an industry that brought much-needed jobs to the depression-crippled south. Herty wrote a new chapter in the ancient craft inspired by insects who built paper nests while dinosaurs still roamed the earth. At its root, however, the papermaking process remained the same: the bonding of cellulose, a polymer whose long chains support plant cell walls.

The American Chemical Society designated the Savannah Pulp and Paper Laboratory, founded by Charles Herty in 1932, a National Historic Chemical Landmark on September 26, 2001.