A showcase of historical artifacts and printers’ proofs from Werthan Packaging, Inc. of Nashville are on display this summer at the Nashville International Airport. The exhibition includes artifacts from the printing and textile milling operations that once thrived in North Nashville.

The Werthan Bag and Burlap Company originated in 1868 with Nashville patriarch Meier Werthan’s rag business. In 1911, the company began manufacturing bags from cotton and burlap. They printed flour sacks for mills located all over the United States. The airport exhibition includes printer’s proofs of the red and green parrot of the Repeater brand distributed by Nashville’s Wentworth Caldwell Company, and the Pan American superlative patent flour design from Bowling Green, KY. It also includes an example of a flour sack dress made from the pattern printed on the reverse side of a flour bag during the Depression era.

Today, Werthan Packaging, Inc. focuses their business on multi-wall bags for pet products.

Arts at the Airport receives funding for the visual arts from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) and the Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC). Music performances are sponsored by MNAA, Delaware North Companies, Inc. and The Paradies Shops. The Flying Solo Exhibition Series is funded in part under an agreement with the TAC and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about Arts at the Airport, please call (615)275-1614 or visit www.artsattheairport.com.