into parchment,

an old kind of paper made from animal skin.

It goes through a laborious process

of having every last hair scraped off.

The craft dates back to 2500 BC,

and this is the last place in the US

that still makes it.

Every piece takes at least two weeks to make,

and only a handful of people

in the entire world know how.

Parchment as a product

almost hasn't survived.

There was almost no need for it as a material.

But it was this centuries-old work

that helped Jesse Meyer save his family tannery.

We visited their facility in Montgomery, New York,

to see how it's still standing.

Making parchment is a messy craft.

It's cold and wet around the workshop,

but the lingering smell is something Jesse's gotten used to.

It all starts with the skin.

Deer, goat, calf, and sheepskin are sent by slaughterhouses

or local hunters.

Jesse soaks it in a mixture of water

and calcium hydroxide to break down the fibers,

loosen the hair, and clean it.

This is the longest part of the process,

taking at least two weeks.

Then it's time for dehairing.

Jesse scrapes at the skin,

pushing the hair off.

He uses a makeshift tool,

a 100-year-old piece of wood

that has the perfect shape for the job.

Even the hand tools that we use,

most people have never seen before.

And in some cases, they don't exist,

and I've had to recreate these tools myself.

After dehairing, he removes the extra meat layers

on the other side.

They've installed machines to help speed this along,

but sometimes, Jesse prefers the traditional way.

The more involved you can be with your own hands,

the better and more control you have over the end product.

But there is a point where, if you're doing this

on a commercial scale to try to be efficient and

more economical, you don't really have the ability

to handle each one by hand.

The hides then go through a thorough rinse.

That adjusts the pH level after weeks

of intense chemical treatment.

Jesse selects some of the clean skins to be dyed

in a large drum.

He uses plant-based pigments and water

to create a range of colors.

As the skins tumble,

they soak up the dye until they're saturated.

He hangs the skins to dry overnight

so that the color spreads evenly throughout.

But most of the rinsed skins

are left their natural white color and sent up

to the dry room.

Jesse stretches the skin

to keep it flat while it dries.

First, he scrapes the hide while it's wet

to remove excess moisture.

Then when it's dry,

he shaves it to clear away tissue.

He made this medieval knife with a saw blade,

a threaded rod, and leather.

Its proper Latin name is lunellum,

for its crescent-moon shape.

Sanding is the very last step.

Jesse refines the surface,

smoothing it out until almost every blemish is undetectable.

Finally, the skin is now parchment.

The first record of parchment dates back to 2450 BC.

Famous ancient documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls

and the Magna Carta were all written

on it for its durability.

The use of parchment peaked

in the Middle Ages in Europe, when it was mostly used

for illuminated manuscripts and book bindings.

Paper made from wood pulp or plant fibers was invented

in China around 105 AD.

It made its way across Asia, the Middle East,

and Europe through the centuries with the rise of literacy

and the printed word.

It was faster and cheaper to make.

It quickly industrialized

and rendered parchment virtually irrelevant

by the 16th century.

Early in the 20th century,

designers incorporated parchment

into high-end furniture and decor,

and it is still used for that today.

Preserving history is what saved parchment

in this business.

Conservators use the material to mend old manuscripts,

make copies, and restore missing pages.

It's been a very niche product. It is something

that happens alongside of leather production.

And that's how I kind of rediscovered

and have been trying to sort of reapply it since then.

The rare craft saved his family's centuries-old

tannery business,

which has been in the country

since his ancestors moved here in 1820.

By the time Jesse took over,

demand for leather was on the decline,

and by 2005,

keeping the business going was getting more difficult.

That's when Jesse introduced parchment making.

But he struggled to find out about the process.

There are a handful of other companies around the world

that do this sort of thing,

and they're far, far away.

And they've never told me

how they do what they're doing.

So I've had to try to figure this out in a vacuum.

So it's me, figuring it out as I go,

and what seems to work best for me.

Because it's such an old medieval craft,

anytime I would try to go look up information,

a lot of times, it was from medieval recipes

that was written in Latin from 1300, 1400.

Eventually parchment became such an important part

of the business,

Jesse changed the name from Meyer and Sons

to Pergamena, which means parchment in Latin.

And he found a niche of customers:

conservators and designers who use the material

in lampshades, upholstery, headboards,

and even as wallpaper.

No two pieces of parchment look the same,

which is a blessing and a curse.

It's part of the artistry.

A single sheet starts at $100.

What started out feeling like an albatross around my neck

ended up becoming a way to help revitalize

the family industry.

I want to be proud of this

and to be able to pass it on to my family,

and for people to know that skilled work like this

is still being done in the world.

It's being made right here in the United States

by a family that's been doing it for 450 years.