FDR 1936 Wahl Eversharp Coronet -

[VacNut]

FDR was re-elected in 1936 for his 2nd Term. The Coronet was  sold at the end of 1936, so the timeline would coincide with the election win.

 

I don’t think it belonged to FDR, but it appears to be associated with his administration.(This is an assumption, as it could be associated with any family named “Roosevelt”).

 

The set was a gift to F.S.H. from E.C.J, C.G.P and F.J.B. (Unfortunately no “R”s.)

The only association I could find is Senator Edwin C Johnson from Colorado who visited the White House in 1936.

Can anyone shed more light on the history and the people?

 

The pen is in very good condition. It has wear on the barrel when capped, rather than at the posted end. It doesn’t look like it has seen much use.

 

I sent an email to the FDR Library. Maybe they can shed light ont he history 

 

Many thanks in anticipation of the help.

 

[InkyProf]

Fascinating, and I love mysteries like this. I just looked through all the "H," "J," "P," and "B" last names in the index to the Arthur Schlesinger's The Age of Roosevelt, to see if any full name was a match to one of those sets of initials, and nothing lept out at me. But, really, the association with the FDR campaign could mean a lot of things: any of these people could have been a political ally of Roosevelt's, or a Democratic ward boss in a big city who had helped get out the vote, or the head of a New Deal agency, or just an enthusiastic supporter... with 27 million people voting for FDR in '36 -- although, granted, some of the Chicagoans might have voted twice -- there possibilities seem pretty endless!

 

Any other provenance information, even a city or state? 

[VacNut]

The pen was purchased in the California Bay Area. 

[VacNut]

Relatively speaking there aren’t that many surnames ending in H,J, or B. I originally thought it would be simple..

I thought it odd that none of the “givers” have the same surname, as though they were affiliated, but not part of a family. I would assume they would have used first names if this was a family gift.

The initials imply a gift from a loose organization associated with a particular year, rather than a company. It was a personal gift that a person paid for rather than from a company account.

 

Their relationship was such that initials had to be used, rather than personal names. 3 Givers also imply a lack of funds(?), otherwise why are 3 people pooling their resources to buy a single gift; yet these people were affiliated such that middle names were important, as they had to distinguish themselves with all 3 initials. 
 

There is a Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Los Angeles Area that open in the Mid 1920’s. A graduation or retirement present?

 

just odd.

 

Where is Sherlock?

 

[InkyProf]

I like the school idea as a possible alternative to the election idea. There was a Roosevelt High School (later Middle School) in Oakland, too. Their yearbook was called The Lariat. There's a copy of the 1936 edition on eBay now.

 

The use of initials could also have been because of space constraints, since 3 givers' names had to be included. I think you're right that the 3-initial monograms (and the different last names) sound like friends or colleagues, not family members.

 

The fact of 3 givers could mean that people were "pooling resources to buy a single gift" (unemployment was still around 15% in 1936); but it could also just have been a function of the structure of the relationship, where it made sense for 3 people to share in a single gift for symbolic rather than financial reasons.

 

What did a Coronet set cost in 1936? (And -- I know I almost certainly don't need to ask this -- but does the silk liner lift out of the box? Is there anything underneath it?)

 

 

[VacNut]

Depending on the ad, the pen was $12.50 and the pencil was $6.00. 
It would have been comparable to a full size Doric and the Parker OS at the time.

[VacNut]

2 hours ago, InkyProf said:

 

I like the school idea as a possible alternative to the election idea. There was a Roosevelt High School (later Middle School) in Oakland, too. Their yearbook was called The Lariat. There's a

 

After more thought, I don’t think it would have been a high school graduation gift from students given the price of the set. There were more affordable Eversharp Sets. I couldn’t locate any Roosevelt Colleges. 

 

Names and dates on gifts generally indicate optimism.  (It’s a little morbid to commemorate a death, retirement, or end date with an item meant to be used on a daily basis).

A year without a month or day designates a multi-year event, something counted in years - not months or days.

 

These people seem to be colleagues. The recipient was someone of relatively high standing who would understand the value of a Coronet at $18/set. (IRS says median income was $774/yr in 1936.). The set would have been almost 2% of the median income.

 

Maybe it is a gift from the Democratic Primaries after the election?

 

Its very difficult to not associate the set with the 1936 election

[VacNut]

The FDR Library sent back a response to my inquiry. They have several pen sets in their archives (wow) but they are all inscribed with FDR, which makes sense as it is more personal. (There is even an Eversharp Set).

They could not uncover the identity of the initials. 
I am guessing the pen is more related to a Roosevelt Event rather than the person.

[VacNut]

AI - 1. : Hm - 0

 

A friend typed in “FSH” into AI and it came up with “Frank Smithe Horne” who was inducted into FDR’s “Black Cabinet” in 1936. He was a poet, optometrist, college administrator, and a civil rights activist. He has a wiki page:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Smith_Horne
 

His archive is at Tulane:

 

https://amistad-finding-aids.tulane.edu/repositories/2/resources/76

 

He was an uncle to Lena Horne and was her guardian when she first started her career.

 

Small world…

[InkyProf]

17 hours ago, VacNut said:

A friend typed in “FSH” into AI and it came up with “Frank Smithe Horne” who was inducted into FDR’s “Black Cabinet” in 1936. He was a poet, optometrist, college administrator, and a civil rights activist. He has a wiki page:

 

 

That's very cool! Hope you can suss out the identities of the gifters, too. Congratulations on the discovery!