Liquid Paper

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Brand of correction fluid

title: "Liquid Paper" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["correction-instruments", "newell-brands", "1979-mergers-and-acquisitions", "2000-mergers-and-acquisitions"] description: "Brand of correction fluid" topic_path: "general/correction-instruments" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Paper" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Brand of correction fluid ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Liquid_paper_products_Womens_Museum.jpg" caption="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 pens, and correction tape.

Product history

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Liquid_paper,_picture_and_eraser.jpg" caption="Liquid Paper"] ::

In 1956, Bette Nesmith Graham (mother of future 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 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.

Graham formed the Mistake Out Company in 1956. 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.

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. In 1958, Graham renamed her business the Liquid Paper Company and applied for a patent and trademark. 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". 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".

Graham sold Liquid Paper to Gillette Corporation in 1979.

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.

Ingredients

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/liquid_paper.png" caption="A traditionally shaped bottle of Liquid Paper"] ::

, MSDSs list Liquid Paper as containing titanium dioxide, solvent naphtha, mineral spirits, resins, dispersant, and fragrances.

Liquid Paper came under scrutiny in the 1980s due to concerns over recreational sniffing. The organic solvent 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) was used as a thinner in the product. 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.{{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. |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 |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

In 1989, Gillette reformulated Liquid Paper without TCA in response to a complaint under California Proposition 65.{{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 |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

Notes

References

Blattman, Elissa. (2013). "Three Every-day Items Invented by Women". National Women's History Museum.
Tarr, Tanya. (April 22, 2020). "How This Former Secretary Built A Multimillion-Dollar Corporation (Without Any Capital)".
(January 18, 2024). "Correcting History: Uncovering Who Invented White Out".
(1980-05-15). "Bette C. Graham, invented paper correction fluid". The News.
"Bette Nesmith Graham". Celebrating Texas.
(July 11, 2018). "Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper". The New York Times.
Pandil-Eaton, Whitney. "Perseverance, thy name is Bette".
(2003). "Paper Mate Liquid Paper Fast Drying Correction Fluid". Sanford NA.
(1 January 1985). "Liquid Paper Correction Fluid, White. Material Safety Data Sheet". Ohio State University College of Biological Sciences.

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