Sherburne History Center Blog

  Just a sampling of advertising ballpoint pens  in the SHC collections This past week we failed to recognize National Ballpoint Pen Day (June 10).   In an effort to rectify this gross oversight, today we note the significance of this significant invention and the impact on local history. Patented in 1888 in Argentina, the ballpoint pen slowly spread throughout the world.   On June 10, 1943, the international patent was filed with the United States Patent Office.   Today the ballpoint pen sells more than 57 pens per second throughout the world.   It is also the most widely used writing instrument in the world.   It’s design simply puts a steel ball at the tip of a tube of ink.   The rolling steel ball regulates the flow of ink for an even application to paper. An ingenious design, the inventors and early marketers overlooked a valuable sidelight of the pen as a marketing tool.   Today, a multitude of pens carry advertising for businesses ...

  As a follow-up to the recent report documenting the development of telephone technology in Sherburne County, a collection of documents highlighting the day-to-day operations of the telephone companies came to light.   The by-laws and expectations of users of the telephone company provide interesting insight.   The rules and bylaws from the Meadowvale Rural Telephone Company, and the Haven Rural Telephone Company provide details of construction as well as telephone etiquette for the 1910s and 1920s.   these documents provide some enlightening insight into early Sherburne County. The Meadowvale Rural Telephone Company organized in 1905 with a strict set of bylaws and rules of etiquette.   Article 2 of the bylaws set down strict penalties for failure to follow the rules of the company: “Should any members of this company neglect to keep their phone in order or willfully disobey the rules or bylaws or do anything to hinder the harmonious working of such lines, t...