Everyone is so busy and doing so many cool things.
I managed to survive the summer. Trying to figure out how to raise my son now that he's 13. Almost a different child. We all went through it and survived, but I'm sure my parents sometimes wondered how they did. He's a good kid, and much less trouble than most kids his age, but it's an odd time as they try and figure stuff out for themselves.
In the world of pens I haven't had much time for writing with pens, I've spent most of my time writing about pens. My blog on the history of the steel pen industry in the US is cranking along.
https://thesteelpen.com/ I've finally made it to the 1860's. I have added to my early period makers as well, including a lot more information, including all of their correspondence, on Peregrine Williamson and how he made steel pens for Thomas Jefferson.
I finally turned this early story into an article for publication and sent it to the Pen Collectors of America's journal
The Pennant. The PCA is like the Writing Equipment Society in the UK, it's a pretty big deal within its world. I met one of the officers at a pen show in June and we got to talking about my research. He said he'd love for me to write a series of articles for the magazine. We'll see where that goes. It's a bit of a long lead time between submission and publication.
Getting photo permissions was fun. I have been corresponding with folks from Monticello (Jefferson's home), as well as curators from the National Archives, and the Thomas Jefferson foundation. Jefferson tried out these steel pens in his polygraph, the machine that made multiple copies of a letter as he wrote it, and he and Williamson corresonded several times.
I've also been diving into the history of the first and second industrial revolutions as steel pens were right in the midst of it. It's been good to get some larger context of how industry and society was changing at the time, and where steel pens fit.
My research is now in the period of great change, 1860's-1870's, when the first true steel pen factories began in the US along British lines. To do this they had to bring in several skilled tool makers from Birmingham, and I've been able to identify at least four of them. Three of these four, went on to lay the foundation for almost all of the major pen makers in the US; Eagle being the only one for which I cannot find a connection (yet). Washington Medallion, Esterbrook, Harrison & Bradford, Warrington & Co., Turner & Harrison, and Miller Bros. all owe their existence to these three gentlemen from Birmingham.
Here are a couple of photos from my recent successes, my son (who is a total ham in front of a camera), and a pen I found in a mixed bag, made by John Turner's first company, Warrington & Co. (1865-1875). Both are one-of-a-kinds, found nowhere else.
Andrew