Calotypes can be considered to be one of the original negative processes. Discovered by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840,  this process was an improvement from Talbot’s earlier invention of his photographic drawings. Calotypes had a short exposure time and could provide direct positive prints. Photographs using a paper negative are softer because the image is contained within the paper rather than the surface allowing paper fibers to be visible in the final print. Talbot's patent inhibited its widespread adoption, which led to very few calotypes being made in the US. The Calotype process was later preceded by the popularity of collodion glass-plate negative. 

These paper negatives were created when I attended a workshop, the Handmade Negative, taught by Dan Estabrook and Meercedes Jelinek. 

Blackwell, K., & Maddox, J. C. (C. Johnson, Ed.)“Calotypes,” Print Processes Represented in Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.