A rack for holding a stack of paper sheets during formation of a pad from the sheets, and including a base on which the stack of sheets are placed, and means for locating predetermined edges of the sheets in aligned relation and then clamping the stack against the base to hold the edges in such aligned and adjacent positions while adhesive is applied to the edges to form the stack into a pad. Preferably, a single dual purpose locating and retaining structure is movable between a first position in which it is engageable by the sheet edges to align them, and a second position in which the structure acts to clamp the sheets against the base.
