What would a note from the 1800s been written on? Well, the 1800s seems like forever ago to me. In The Last Station Master, when I referred to the material an old note or an old document was written on, I just assumed the answer was parchment.

Parchment is a stiff, flat, thin material made from animal skin. It is most commonly associated with writings from ancient or medieval times. But after a little research I found that by the first half of the 1800s, most Americans would have been writing on rags and linen recycled into paper. It would be around the eighteen–fifties when paper started being manufactured from wood. Much like the paper we know today.

For old notes and journals, how I love the word parchment. Sadly, this was another point to which I had to concede to editing. Old notes and journals that I had gleefully described as being written on parchment, was sadly edited to being scribed onto paper. Somehow, paper isn't nearly as intriguing as parchment. Don't you agree?

For sure, I took some creative liberties with this story, but there is clearly a limit on how far one can go down that path without losing the story’s integrity. Or so I am told.