c a l e n d a r Eye-dropper filled fountain pen, 1900. Hard rubber, D.W. Beaumel & Co., New York (2011-053). Through the turn of the 20th century, most fountain pens ONGOING Friday Night Open House May 10 Brown Bag Matinee Discover the ART OF were filled manually with an eye dropper. November through April George Méliès—First Wizard of the Free admission Cinema: Le Grand Méliès; and Museum Méliès film shorts 4 p.m.–8 p.m. McKean Pavilion Fountain Pens Noon, Friday Crescent fill fountain pen, 1905. Curator Tour at the Morse Gold, Conklin Pen Company, Toledo, Ohio (2001-112:17). Louis Comfort Tiffany’s May 17 Brown Bag Matinee Field Trip Roy Conklin’s 1897 invention became the first commercially Laurelton Hall Hugo successful “self-filling” pen. Ink was stored in a rubber sac Tuesday Family Tours are the perfect time to or bladder—the mechanism for other so-called self-filling Donna Climenhage Aloma Cinema Grill introduce children to the Morse collection. pens to follow. When the crescent button on the barrel was Space limited Winter Park efore the electronic stylus and tablet, before the laser printer, pressed, it pushed air out of the sac creating a vacuum for 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Reservations required July 2 Tuesday Family Tour before fiber- and ceramic-tipped pens and even before the ink to be sucked in. Tuesday and Thursday Museum ballpoint, fountain pens were everyone’s writing instrument. May 27 Memorial Day Call for time B Developed in the late 19th century, fountain pens—the kind filled Museum closed Reservations required Apr 26 Brown Bag Matinee from a bottle of ink—were ingenious, often beautifully designed and Lever fill fountain pen, 1914. June 18 Tuesday Family Tour Modern Marvels: Capture of Light— July 4 Independence Day Open House handcrafted, and ubiquitous until the 1970s. Hard rubber, W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company, Fort Madison, Museum The Invention of Photography Free Admission Iowa (2011-017). Sheaffer patented his lever fill fountain Call for time pen in 1908. Yet another method for filling the fountain pen McKean Pavilion Museum Reservations required by squeezing an internal sac or bladder inside the pen bar- Noon, Friday 9:30 a.m.–4 p.m., Thursday Today, though still used by rel, it became an industry standard for many years to come. a few, they are collected and June 25 Tuesday Family Tour May 3 Brown Bag Matinee July 9 Tuesday Family Tour Museum cherished as little works of The Edison Effect: Museum Call for time art. The Museum this winter The Motion Picture Call for time Reservations required opened The Art of Fountain McKean Pavilion Reservations required Pens, an exhibit of American Push-button fill fountain pen, 1925. Noon, Friday writing instruments Hard rubber, Parker Pen Company, Janesville, Wisconsin June 28 Friday Family Film (2011-051). Parker debuted its high-end Duofold pen July 12 Friday Family Film manufactured between 1875 Museum Museum in 1921, and it was a sensation. Nicknamed “Big Red” and 1975 and focused on for its color and 5.5 inch size, it was filled by pressing a Call for time Call for time Reservations required almost a hundred fountain button hidden by a cap at the end of the barrel. As with the Reservations required crescent- and lever-fill pens, this button squeezed air from Thomas Alva Edison pens—more than 30 from the golden age The Art of Fountain Pens vignette at the Morse. of fountain pens, 1920 through 1940. an internal sac, creating a vacuum into which to draw ink through the pen’s feeder system. July 16 Tuesday Family Tour The selection of pens on view illustrates plastic, and resin, as well as pens deco- Coming Soon Museum many of the major technological and rated with gold and silver filigree. The Spring Matinee Series Goes to the Movies Call for time design innovations made through the designs, influenced by Art Deco tastes in Reservations required years by the great names of the industry. the golden age of fountain pens, include We are grateful to Dr. J. Peter Kincaid early flat-top barrels, the torpedo shapes At the turn of the 20th century, the wrap on May 17 with a Snorkel fill fountain pen, 1955. July 23 Tuesday Family Tour and Mrs. Poppy Deliyanni Kincaid for that came into vogue in the 1930s, and a Plastic, chrome, gold-fill, W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company, worlds of science and art merged in film. field trip to Aloma Cin- Museum their generous gift of the pens shown range of approaches to the pocket clip. Fort Madison, Iowa (2011-032). Sheaffer introduced the The Morse’s spring Brown Bag Matinee ema Grill to see Hugo, the Call for time in this exhibit, our first-ever devoted The pens are complemented by period innovative snorkel pen, a version of the plunger-operated series, which begins Friday, April 26, 2011 Oscar-winning film or piston fill pen, in 1952. The cylindrical plunger or Reservations required to writing instruments as art objects. advertisements; a Zodiac pattern desk set will focus on the history of motion about a young orphan’s snorkel is extended from the pen to pull up ink and to Though the earliest record of a pen using c. 1920, from Tiffany Studios; a late 19th- pictures as cultural context for the fictional adventures with keep the nib clean. July 26 Friday Family Film ink from a reservoir dates to the 10th century travel desk; and other writing Museum’s collection. Méliès. Those joining us Museum century, it was not until the mid-19th accessories. Taken together, The documentary Modern Marvels: Cap- for the field trip must be George Méliès Call for time century that the technology in terms of the Museum’s ture of Light—The Invention of Photography members of the Museum. Reservations required nibs, hard rubber, and free-flowing ink display of these launches the series, and it will be followed Reservations and a refundable deposit had evolved to make the fountain pen beautiful and by The Edison Effect: The Motion Picture are required. July 30 Tuesday Family Tour viable to consider for broad consumer functional (May 3). The second film shows how The first three films in the series are Museum use. Mass production began in the 1880s. objects Thomas Edison and his assistant William free to the public and will be screened Call for time The new Morse exhibit, on view provides a L.E. Waterman patented his dual- Dickson contributed to moving pictures at noon on Fridays in the Jeannette G. channel feed for the fountain pen in Reservations required through January 26, 2014, comprises rep- much-deserved with the kinetoscope. On May 10, see and Hugh F. McKean Pavilion, just 1884, which made the ink flow reliable resentative examples including pens from reflection on a brief biography about George Méliès, behind the Museum. The program will and secured the fountain pen’s future AUG 2 Friday Family Film L.E. Waterman, Parker, Wahl-Eversharp, a time and a success. Fountain pens work on the one of the first artistic innovators of film. last about an hour. Guests are invited to Museum W.A. Sheaffer, and others. The show in- craft in our principle of “capillary attraction”— Then enjoy several movie shorts from bring a lunch; the Museum will provide Call for time cludes dip pens, pens filled by eye drop- culture when that is, when liquids are confined Méliès’s surviving films. The series will refreshments. Reservations required to narrow channels, they overcome pers, and lever-, crescent- and piston- the art of writing gravitational pull until pen point filled pens. There are fountain pens made was central to touches paper. For updates and reminders on Morse Museum exhibitions and events, subscribe to our e-newsletter at www.morsemuseum.org. of gold, hard rubber, Bakelite, celluloid, everyone’s life.

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