1902 Photo From Shorpy

[dcpritch]

Here's a photo posted today on Shorpy.com, a great site for vintage photographs. It shows a 1902 scene at the Detroit business of Richmond & Backus Co., a printing and binding firm. Several pens are in use and I thought those who have keener eyes than I and a better sense of history might be able to identify the writing instruments. I especially like the pen rest (and tree stump ink well?) at the base of the lamp in the middle of the photo.

 

http://www.shorpy.com/node/13798?size=_original#caption

Edited September 29, 2012 by dcpritch

[Bo Bo Olson]

No picture.

[dcpritch]

Oops, I'm not sure why that happened. I added a link instead.

[N2theBreach]

If I'm not mistaken, looks like most, if not all are dip pens.

 

Nice find!

Edited September 29, 2012 by N2theBreach

[penned_in]

Great picture!

 

I discovered the Shorpy website not that long ago and have spent hours viewing their extensive archives of old images. The large-format pictures there let you look back on people, rich and poor, as they lived their lives as far back as the 1800's, including the Civil War. Their kodachrome WWII pictures are truly amazing.

 

The fellow sitting in the foreground seems to have a pencil on his ear. But, does the one standing in the back have a dip pen stuck on top of his ear?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Dip pen (pen holder and pen) behind the ear. A couple of nice inkwells, a pen holder rack, but when they posed the picture, they didn't give that poor woman any ink. You can almost read what ink was being used.

 

I'm writing a western taking place in 1881, and it was amazing how much of what we still use was in use, like paper clips. We don't use mimeograph any more, but when I was working in an elementary school a couple of decades ago we still did. I've seen that clip board too, in modern life.

 

You should look up how pretty the first typewriters were too, as pretty as a Singer sewing machine with decals. Safes had pretty decals, on the out side and inside of all three door levels.

 

You are right at how well it blows up. I'll have to take a look to see what else they have that I could use a sharper view of.

[Biber]

Goodness - the guy on the right. If looks could kill!

[dcpritch]

Biber, I agree the fellow on the right is a formidable looking character. They all look pretty serious about their business, though. The picture predates the modern fountain pen by a few years, but I thought it was interesting to observe the use of dip pens and pencils in a work setting. And how 'bout that pyramidal paper weight on the far right?

[Bo Bo Olson]

1902 Paul Wirt made the best fountain pen in the world. Sears and Roebuck's said so in its 1902 catalog. Even sold them...and they did have an iridium tip.

 

Looks like an over and under feed, from $1.20-$4.00 (in $ silver and $ gold), when a skilled carpenter made $3.00 for a 12 hour day.

 

They offered medium, fine or stub 14 K gold pen.

 

Other gold nibs were 10K or 14 K back then.

 

There are a few lucky folks here that own a Wirt. (not me)

 

That pencil behind the ear is mechanical.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[NedC]

Dip pen (pen holder and pen) behind the ear. A couple of nice inkwells, a pen holder rack, but when they posed the picture, they didn't give that poor woman any ink.

 

 

It looks as though the woman may indeed have an inkwell, since the photo predates Bakelite possibly of hard rubber, just below her left hand.

 

I wonder if the building is still there? Probably not, when Detroit expanded wildly after the First World War much of the city was torn down to make way for the new and a half century of neglect, blight and massive population loss has taken care of much of the rest.

[Bo Bo Olson]

You can really expand that picture, only a dark desk spot, no ink well.

My first thought was some sort of Esterbrook style inkwell, but expansion showed she was doing IBM punch cards.

[Sagar_C]

I liked the moustaches too. Thanks for the pic.

[karmakoda]

No idea what the dip pens are, perhaps one fountain pen in the hand of the gentleman to the left foreground.

 

Fascinating photo, on the desk is a white coloured bottle, with cork stopper, which is labled "Cucumber Jelly" and it might be "Beetham's Glycerine & Cucumber Jelly", patent 1898.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1889-Ad-Engraving-Beethams-Glycerine-Cucumber-Cream-Roughness-Redness-Chaps-/370643248915

Edited September 30, 2012 by karmakoda

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Dip pen (pen holder and pen) behind the ear. A couple of nice inkwells, a pen holder rack, but when they posed the picture, they didn't give that poor woman any ink.

 

 

It looks as though the woman may indeed have an inkwell, since the photo predates Bakelite possibly of hard rubber, just below her left hand.

 

I wonder if the building is still there? Probably not, when Detroit expanded wildly after the First World War much of the city was torn down to make way for the new and a half century of neglect, blight and massive population loss has taken care of much of the rest.

 

 

You can really expand that picture, only a dark desk spot, no ink well.

My first thought was some sort of Esterbrook style inkwell, but expansion showed she was doing IBM punch cards.

 

Can't really tell when I expand it. Could be a dark spot on the desk, could be an irregularly shaped inkwell, could be a paperweight. Or she could have dipped the pen somewhere else and sat down to write two lines. Or it could be a pose, but it doesn't look posed, looks like a "live" shot.

 

I'm guessing that the fellow seated at left is writing with a fountain pen. Would the flattish top indicate that?

 

Don't see anything like the old Hollerith (IBM) punch cards at all.

 

Anyway, it is fun to look at these old pictures, notice details even if we're not sure what they mean, think about what it was like actually to be those people.

 

[EDIT] Actually, looking at it again, that empty desk spot across from the glaring fellow on the right might be where she normally sits. There's a little pyramidal object there which could be an inkwell, and also a glass bottle I can't see distinctly which might have ink in it. So she dipped her pen at her regular spot, and moved over to write something quick where we see her now. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Edited September 30, 2012 by ISW_Kaputnik

[Lapi0]

Thanks for an interesting picture, and also for introduce me to Shorpy. Great place !

[karmakoda]

A number of crystal inkwells are visible in the photo, one on the right,next to the book dated Feb 1902, on the desk, and at least one in front of the man with the glaring eyes. One has it's flip lid up.

The objects that look like rocks sitting on glass or crystal containers, are damp, natural sea-sponge, used for wetting the hands when handling large volume of paper, the same reason a container of Cucumber Jelly hand lotion is prominent in the photo. There is probably an early copying machine somewhere in the office, widely used since the 1880's.

If interested, the page below features a number of vintage copiers, including the Edison Electric Pen (1876) and the superior Cyclostyle, which used a fountain/dip pen nib attached to a wheel. Also the Edison Mimeograph, 1887. The sea-sponge is mentioned relative to handling the volumes of copy sheet.

http://www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm

[pen2paper]

http://genealogytrai...wayne/bioB.html

http://www.loc.gov/p...t1994022370/PP/http://www.usgennet..../detave-bak.htm

http://www.encore-ed...co-detroit-mich

http://woodwardspine...ice-visit-1902/

http://the-print-gui...print-shop.html

click to enlarge this photo of their front window display : )

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9495

an advertisement for the company

http://books.google....itters.&f=false

Edited September 30, 2012 by pen2paper

[watch_art]

Look at those grips! I wish my kids held their pens/pencils like this.

[DanF]

That is definitely a rounded object, not a spot on the desk under the lady's left hand. You can tell by the spot, which is reflected light, at the base of it. After careful examination, I also believe that the "glaring" gentleman on the right is not looking at us, but we again are seeing the play of light reflecting off of rounded objects, his lowered eyelids, maybe the result of blinking from a flash. Notice that the other two men appear to have eyelids lowered or closed. I'm not as certain on this one, but that's what I'm thinking. If they were eyeballs we were seeing, I think they would appear sharper, with more contrast. The rest of him is in pretty sharp contrast.

 

Dan

[watch_art]

I think he was blinking when the pic was shot.