The National Bureau of Standards Paper Section, operating from 1918 to 1975, was a constituent part of its Organic and Fibrous Materials Division. The Paper Section was created during World War I, under the Urgent Deficiency Act of 1917, one of its tasks being to develop paper for gas masks. The Paper Section's standards-related work consisted of the development of methods for evaluating the chemical and physical properties of paper, the evaluation of testing machines, and the statistical evaluation of test procedures.

Even prior to WWI, the Bureau had acquired a small paper mill to study
the manufacture of paper. By means of this machine, the operations
of papermaking could be studied under controlled conditions, and
thus a better understanding of the material could be achieved (ca. 1911)
-from NIST Photographic Collection, Paper Research


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