The earliest reference found to the firm is in the 1895 Kelly's Directory, which mentions a paper mill at Sandford owned by the University of Oxford and occupied by a Mr A. Cannon. Cannon was listed throughout the 1880s as an occupant of Mill House. By 1899 the company running the mill is listed as Messrs. Cannon and Clapperton Ltd. and in 1936, the company had became a branch of Alders (Tamworth) Ltd. In around 1910 the company had purchased the paper mill at Sandford-on-Thames, which continued to be known as Cannon and Clapperton's until production ceased in 1982.
The collection primarily comprises financial ledgers and stock and production record books.
The records were deposited as accessions 2116 and 2126 in 1983. They were previously catalogued under reference CaCl and recatalogued by Katherine Kinrade in January 2023.