Is this kind of info in a book somewhere?
Yes, and it's excellent. Kit Funderburk was a paper engineer at Kodak and wrote a couple of short but fact-filled books. He was an early contributor to The Light Farm, and I haven't been in communication with him for a number of years, so I can't say that the following contact info will help, but give it a try. If you can't get ahold of Kit's books from him personally, you might try George Eastman Museum (formerly G.E. House) or RIT. Anyway, a straight copy/paste from TLF:
Kit Funderburk
We have a rare and valuable opportunity to expand our knowledge of the iconic Kodak papers. Kit Funderburk was a papermaker at Kodak and today is an historian of photographic papers. Kit isn’t an emulsion maker,
per se, but he understands the substrates and the essential character they bring to b&w paper. It is his belief that we should be able to get very close to the original papers — closer even than I had dared hope.
Here is Kit’s contribution to us:
“In 2006, I edited/authored a book (spiral bound booklet) titled
History of the Paper Mills at Kodak Park which was intended as a memento for Kodak papermakers (the last papermachine was dismantled in 2005). I won’t go into the details but that book led to lots of questions about the history of the fiber based B&W papers so I wrote a second book in 2007 titled
A Guide to the Surface Characteristics, Kodak Fiber Based Black and White Papers. I’m strictly a papermaker (retired). The books are about manufacturing paper support and there is nothing about emulsions, emulsion coating, or photo products (subjects I don’t know much about). Both books are available at no charge though I do ask that requesters cover the mailing costs. The mailing cost is $4.60 within most of the US but is as high as $14.00 for some international locations. If you would like a copy or want more info you can contact me at ‘KitFunderburk
at gmail
dot com’. I'll also be happy to try to answer questions here.”