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