The author is retired as the supervisor of the preservation unit of the New York State Research Library. He is the author of three books dealing with the Civil War, which are maintained in the research library collections, and currently volunteers with the Ravena-Coeymans Historical Society. He has been collecting paperclips for over 40 years.
How do people start any collection? What motivates them to collect something? It may start as a collection inherited from another or, as was in my case, “love at first sight” for a unique item.
Part of my routine office work entailed separating checks from registration forms mailed in by professionals updating their licenses with New York state. That meant lots of forms and checks came in stuck together with all kinds of things: staples, scotch tape and, of course, paperclips. Although most of the paperclips were of the usual rectangular-shaped variety, one appeared that was plastic and bright blue in color. It immediately caught my eye, so I pulled it off and slipped it into my desk drawer. I collected more, and differently colored versions, as they appeared. Co-workers, taking notice, began to ask me, “Do you have this color? This shape?” My collection began to grow.
One co-worker showed me a different one with a plastic top hooked over the metal clip. I was intrigued by the design and added it to my collection.
Within a few months, it became apparent that I had to either give up collecting these wonderful little objects or find a better way to house them than my desk drawer. A photo album worked well. I taped the clips to the pages, trying to keep the same styles together. Some of the medical professionals would include paperclips with drug advertisements on them. They, of course, were added to their own section.
Shortly after this time, I switched employment to the NYS Research Library. An elderly man, who often visited the library doing research, took an interest in my hobby and passed on old clips he found while doing his research. When shopping, we’d go to the stationery section checking for “new” varieties.
As time went by, I added more paper clips, each section containing different shapes, colors or designs. I began to get clips for gifts from others who’d heard of my unique collection. I soon ran out of room in that first album, necessitating a second and then a third.
When my son was at school, a teacher had a large apple-shaped paperclip extoling “Love To Teach.” He asked for it for his father’s collection and was told to come back on the last day of school and ask for it at that time. He did just that. That paperclip holds a special place in my collection.
That’s tells the why and the how. What about the when? When did the paperclip start?
Working at a research library, I was able to use my lunchtimes researching U.S. Patent information. I found that in the 1850s, what we today call a clipboard was then referred to as a paperclip. By the 1860s, an odd-shaped variation of today’s paperclip was patented. Soon, there was an onslaught of different shapes patented for different purposes. One patent was of a paperclip that “slid on a string” to keep cards or papers in order. Another clip was made “to screw into the doorway of a house” so newspapers could be slipped into them (quite large, needless to say).
There were basically two different types of paperclips: one where you pinched one end closed while the other end opened, and another that lay flat and the papers slip between two pieces of metal (later plastic). I decided to focus my collection on the second type, though I do have examples of designs dating to the 1800s, some of which look more like pins than clips.
I still find that occasional new clip to add. While most are made in the United States or China, I occasionally find some made in Israel, the Philippines or other locations. My collection has grown to four albums. I know of just two other collections: one was a friend’s (now deceased), and the other is at The Smithsonian.
People find it humorous when I tell them I collect paperclips, only imagining one or two styles until they see it for themselves. My collection has been displayed at the NYS Research Library. I love the variety and interest they hold for me, and the fact that it is indeed “unique”.
