National Paperclip Day is observed each year on May 29. Yes, even the paperclip has its own day of honor. It is about that well-known piece of curved wire that keeps our papers together and helps keep us organized.
While there are much earlier claims to the invention of the paperclip, according to the Early Office Museum, the first patent for a “bent wire paper clip” was presented to Samuel B. Fay in the United States in 1867. The original intention of Fay’s clip was to attach tickets to fabric. However, U.S. patent 64,088 recognized that it could also be used to attach papers together.
There were as many as 50 others that received patents for similar designs prior to 1899. One other notable name receiving a patent for his paperclip design in the United States was Erlman J. Wright in 1877. At that time, his clip was advertised for use in fastening newspapers.
The Gem paperclip, which was most likely in production in Britain in the early 1870s by The Gem Manufacturing Company, was never patented. It is the most common type of wire paper clip and is still in use today. It was introduced to the United States around 1892 and in 1904, Cushman & Denison registered a trademark for the “Gem” name in connection with paper clips. Paperclips are still sometimes called “Gem clips.”
Today, paperclips come in various sizes, shapes and colors and can make your paperwork look more fun and lively.
Paperclips are not just for holding papers together. There are many other things that you can do with them!
- Replace a zipper tab
- Unclog a spray bottle
- Unclog a single serve coffee maker
- Hem holder
- Emergency hooks for broken necklaces
Paperclip Facts:
- The inventor of Liquid Paper was a not-very-good typist named Bette Nesmith Graham. After watching a sign painter paint over his mistakes, she decided the same should be possible on paper. (Bonus fun fact: her son is Michael Nesmith of the Monkees!)
- The Post-It note was the result of a glue research mishap. While working for 3M, Spencer Silver was trying to invent a very strong glue but accidentally created the opposite. While this isn’t great for a glue company, it turned out to be perfect for us manic list makers. Silver’s colleague, Art Fry recognized the possibility of genius after struggling to keep slips of paper in his hymnal. The power of Silver and Fry combined, and the Post-It was born.
- Kyle Macdonald from Canada managed to swap a red paperclip for a house by completing a series of online trades, swapping each item for something of a higher value. He started by swapping his paperclip for a fish-shaped pen, which was then swapped for a door knob, and then a barbecue, and so on. His project gained publicity and the items given in exchange for previous items became more and more valuable and unique, until Kyle was eventually able to complete his final exchange and achieve his goal, when he traded a role in a film (Donna on Demand) for a house in the town of Kipling in Saskatchewan, Canada. All from one red paperclip. More information about Kyle’s project is available here: http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.co.uk/
The Paper Clip Project
During World War II this small, universal office supply provided a visual method of protest at a time when any outward signs of objection could be dangerous, even in familiar company.
Early in the war, Norwegians were particularly persistent in their development of symbols. The paper clip represented “sticking together” for a time until the Nazis caught on and banned the wearing of paper clips.
According to a March 5, 1941, Provo, Utah newspaper article (The Daily Herald), the Norwegians switched to new symbols as quickly as the bans could be issued.
In 1998, a group of middle school students led by language arts teacher Sandra Roberts and associate principal David Smith began a project through a Holocaust education class. The voluntary after-school class, Whitwell Middle School principal Linda Hooper’s idea, would be the foundation for developing tolerance and diversity.
Inspired by the story of the protesting Norwegians and their paper clips, the students began to collect six million paper clips – one paper clip representing one Jew who perished during the Holocaust.
The Paper Clip Project gained international attention and by 2001 the students collected more than 30 million paper clips. The school dedicated a Children’s Holocaust Memorial which displays an authentic German railcar filled with a portion of the paper clips.
For more information on this inspiring story, the book and film that followed visit www.oneclipatatime.org
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