Have you checked your junk drawer, or maybe your desk drawer? Do you have a container of pens and pencils on your desk? More than likely, you have all three and many of the pens and pencils have advertising on them.
Click the link below the quote for a brief timeline of pens, pencils, and promotional advertising.
1935
from quality logo products
Fountain pens started getting decorated with cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse. Another popular edition of these pens featured Popeye in all his spinach-eating glory.
1937
Advertising pens became popular. Take for instance the Pepsi Cola pens featured here. The clip was shaped like a bottle, and the color scheme included the iconic red, white, and blue in Pepsi’s logo.
Below are a few images of the beginning collection of Havre de Grace Promotional Pens and Pencils in our Havre de Grace History MuZeum at Bahoukas Antique Mall.
Click on any image to see larger version
PEN goes back to the late 13th century as penne and was a writing implement made from the hard, hollow stem at the base of a feather. In Old French pene was a quill pen or feather which goes back to the Latin penna “a feather, plume.”
from WHY NAME IT THAT
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The word “pencil” came from Old French pincel, from Latin penicillus meaning a “little tail.” These early pencils were made as an artist’s fine brush of camel hair which could make a fine line and could make letters. They were used art and also for writing before modern lead or chalk pencils. The stylus, a thin metal stick used for scratching in papyrus or wax tablets, was used by the Romans and for palm-leaf manuscripts.
Also during the 16th century, the word pencil was transferred from meaning a type of fine brush to a graphite writing implement.
Of course, our ‘casual historian’ would love to add more Havre de Grace promotional items to his collection for his Havre de Grace MuZeum. He’ll even be happy if he can take a picture of one that maybe you don’t want to part with!
REMEMBER, don’t throw the Havre de Grace ‘stuff’ out when you’re cleaning out a home, settling an estate, or just ‘downsizing,’ without checking in with George. Don’t give him cause to cry!!!
Our ‘casual historian’ is always waiting for your stories and any memorabilia you may want to share.
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