![]() Other congressional candidates used blotters to provide less complicated directions. The card may have originated within Luce’s campaign, but was stamped with the legend “Independent Voters for Luce” to widen its appeal. Clare Boothe Luce was locked in a tough re-election fight, and this card showed any voter, whether Republican, Democrat, or Socialist, which lever to pull in the voting booth. “America’s Woman of Destiny” provided specific instructions on how to vote for her in 1944. House of RepresentativesĪbout this object A constituent might be forgiven for bringing this ink blotter into the voting booth in 1944 as a guide to re-elect Clare Boothe Luce. He worked to ban its sale to military servicemen, considering it a scourge “which serves to destroy national strength and unity.” Other candidates urged voters to attend primary elections, get out the vote, or even listen to radio shows. He was indeed busy, having found a legislative niche during World War II that allowed him to further his unwavering opposition to alcohol. He apologized for visiting his South Carolina district infrequently, chalking his absence up to the responsibilities of wartime. South Carolinian Joseph Bryson went on at length about his re-election campaign on a 1942 ink blotter. Congressional blotters cram more words into a limited space than almost any other campaign giveaway. Messages to ConstituentsĪn item that stayed on a constituent’s desk for weeks led some candidates to become wordier than usual. ![]() House of RepresentativesĪbout this object South Carolinian Joseph Bryson devoted more than 200 tiny words to explaining his commitment to “the winning of the war.” Congressional candidates tended to use blotters for relatively lengthy messages, given the small size of the cards. Blotters from the House Collection illustrate different ways candidates employed the ubiquitous little cards. Printed information gave a candidate’s information on one side, while the absorbent paper on the reverse ensured that the card would linger on a desk for weeks as a reminder of the candidate. Blotters became by far the most widely used advertising novelty of the early 1900s.Ĭongressional candidates took note, too, and distributed free blotters that kept their names in front of voters. ![]() Once Charles Murch patented a way to adhere printable paper to blotting paper in 1885, publishers rushed to create desktop advertisements for everything from cough drops to colleges. They were universally common in every home and office in America. Ink blotters were small cards of soft, absorbent paper. Offices and homes needed a way to keep freshly written words from smearing. They were the most popular form of writing until ballpoint pens hit the market after World War II, shoving fountain pens off the desktop by 1960.ĭesk jockeys in the first half of the 20th century faced perennial problems: pens dripped, and ink smeared. Blotters were too humble to make it into the picture, but in reality, they were indispensable desktop tools for legislators and their constituents.īefore the age of the ballpoint pen, Americans wrote their documents with fountain pens dipped in ink. House of RepresentativesĪbout this object Fountain pens and inkwells appear in many House portraits, including Representative Mary Norton’s. ![]()
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