Government promotion of industrialization resulted in the establishment in 1921 of the first paper-mill of the Dutch East Indies at Padalarang near Bandung in West Java.

Principal participants were Internatio in Rotterdam en the paper-mill "Gelderland" in Nijmegen. Owing partly to highly favourable sales contracts with the government the company achieved excellent results. In 1937 a second factory was founded in East Java at Leces near Probolinggo. After World War II political and economical restrictions created serious difficulties. Production, however, remained basically unchanged and financially quite worth-while for some years. Early 1958 Indonesia took over both factories and nationalised them a year later.

The records of the board of directors were kept in Nijmegen. To enable historical research the present owners, the Koninklijke Nederlandse Papierfabrieken in Maastricht, transferred them in 1984 to the Rijksarchief in Gelderland. The substantial archive contains a lot of information on the company's affairs, both in Holland and in Indonesia. In addition to official sources it also presents scare material on industrialization and industrial employment in the archipelago.