Liquid Paper

Liquid Paper, Liquid Paper is a brand of the Newell Rubbermaid company that sells correction fluid, correction pen and correction tape. Mainly used to correct typewriting in the past, correction products now mostly cover handwriting mistakes.

In 1951, Bette Nesmith Graham invented the first correction fluid in her kitchen. Working as a typist, she used to make many mistakes and always strived for a way to correct them. Starting on a basis of tempera paint she mixed with a common kitchen blender, she called the outcome fluid Mistake Out and started to provide her coworkers with small green bottles on which the brand’s name was displayed.

By 1956, Graham founded the Mistake Out Company and continued working from her kitchen nights and weekends to produce small batches of correction bottles. She was fired from her typist job after she made a mistake that she did not manage to correct. She had typed in her company name instead of the bank’s. After this stroke of bad luck, she decided to devote her time to her new company.

The inventor offered the product to IBM, which declined the offer. She sold the product from her house for 17 years; the name was changed to Liquid Paper shortly after. By 1968, the product was profitable, and in 1979 the Liquid Paper Corporation was sold to the Gillette Corporation for $47.5 million with royalties.

In 2000, Liquid Paper was acquired by Newell Rubbermaid. In some regions of the world, Liquid Paper is now endorsed by Papermate, a widely known writing instruments brand (also owned by Newell Rubbermaid).

Graham’s son Mike Nesmith, guitarist/singer in the popular 1960s pop band The Monkees, was the primary heir to her fortune upon Graham’s death in 1980.

Liquid Paper Inventor

Liquid Paper Inventor, Bette Claire Graham (23 March 1924 – 12 May 1980) was an American typist, commercial artist, the inventor of Liquid Paper, and mother of musician and producer Michael Nesmith.
Graham was born Bette Claire McMurray in Dallas, Texas to Jesse McMurray, an automotive supply company manager, and Christine Duval.

She was raised in San Antonio and graduated from Alamo Heights High School. She married Warren Audrey Nesmith (1919-1984) before he left to fight in World War II, but they divorced in 1946. To support herself as a single mother, she worked as a secretary at Texas Bank and Trust, a bank in Texas. She eventually attained the position of the executive secretary, the highest position open at that time to women in the industry.

It was very difficult to erase mistakes made by early electric typewriters, which caused problems for Graham. In order to make extra money she used her talent painting holiday windows at the bank. She realized, as she said, “with lettering, an artist never corrects by erasing, but always paints over the error. So I decided to use what artists use. I put some tempera water-based paint in a bottle and took my watercolor brush to the office. I used that to correct my mistakes.”

Graham secretly used her white correction paint for five years, making some improvements with help from her son’s chemistry teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas. Some bosses admonished her against using it, but coworkers frequently sought her “paint out.” She eventually began marketing her typewriter correction fluid as “Mistake Out” in 1956. The name was later changed to Liquid Paper when she began her own company.

In 1962 Bette Nesmith married Robert Graham, who joined her in running the company.

In 1979 she sold Liquid Paper to the Gillette Corporation for USD $47.5 million. At the time, her company employed 200 people and made 25 million bottles of Liquid Paper per year.