A New Museum
by Thomas Neureither
Posted by Len Provisor:
Thomas Neureither, reporting from Heidelberg, Germany
After more than
25 years of collecting fountain pens, their local
history and their “making of” I had enough. My
apartment and my mother`s basement and other storage
were full of fountain pens ephemera and machines.
Since several years I had been asking at the city of
Heidelberg for rooms to build up an exhibition about
the history of the fountain pen industries of
Heidelberg and the surrounding communities. I failed
several times.
Heidelberg never had been a typical industrial
location. There was the Old City and the castle
which represented the center of the German
Romanticism. There was the Heidelberg University
with its culture, natural science, medicine,
philosophy and so on. The industrial importance had
been from lesser interest in my hometown but,
touching upon the history of fountain pen making, I
could change the knowledge of the people here.
Within some years two small rooms could be
found, a garage in the old city hall of
Handschuhsheim where the old fire engine and
equipment for the fire fighters had been located.
Years of renovating followed.
The City of Heidelberg spent a lot of money
because the historic building fabric could not been
altered. An under floor heating had been installed
to dry out the big humid sandstone floor blocks. New
windows, doors, electricity and heating had been
made. Many private sponsors spent money for some
furniture. I did not have much time for moving in
until the opening day in November 2016. I installed
a part of my machines, alas there was not enough
place for all.
The
inauguration was very exciting! The Heidelberg Lord
Mayor and the First Mayor made the official opening
with their speeches and gave me the feeling that I
actually had transformed the hobby of writing to a
public presentation of a part of industrial history
of my hometown. Many people from authorities and
societies attended, also the special guest and big-
sponsor Wolfgang Bock from Bock nibs.
Thomas Neureither (left) with
Mr. Wolfgang Bock
grandson of Peter Bock
Among the
visitors who came a lot of elder people attended who had
been working at the one of the many fountain pen
producing factories and workshops which had been located
in Heidelberg. It was really interesting for me and for
the other visitors to listen to their memories about
fountain pen making in the old times.
I frequently switched on the turnery machine and
treated one of the rods that people could imagine the
deafening noise and the not so good smell of hard rubber
when they think about 15 or more of these machines
working simultaneously in a small room. Somebody who had
been thinking about the “good old times” possibly
changed his view. One of my top- machines is the chasing
machine. My nephew Max had inserted a hand crank so
people can follow very slowly after the fine movements
of the chisels from this masterpiece of engineering. I
hope I will find the time to make detailed pics of all
machines for fountain pen and nib making to explain the
origin and the function.
And, last not least, fountain pens. Alas the rooms
are not large enough to show all exhibits from
Heidelberg and surround. So I selected some
representatives from Kaweco, Osmia, Böhler, Luxor,
Reform, Mercedes, and some smaller trademarks. I
presented the different materials and filling methods
from the old times. I showed in a short cut the
traditional nib making and how chasings, imprints and
engravings had been made. Each of these chapters will be
presented with more intense in a frequently changing
special exhibition during the next years.
A few days
later a team from the South West Television Channel came
to make a 4 minutes clip for the evening news. They had
been concerned not to get enough material about “only
pens”....but in the end they were overwhelmed. They came
at 11am and after a few light tests they immediately
began. They made a little sequence: <<<....go to the
treasure- cabin....take the case, open and take out a
fountain pen.....write anything....... >>> I took a
sheet of my grandfather`s original accounting papers and
wrote: “ Hi Len! Jump across the big pond and visit the
Heidelberg fountain pen museum. Ever yours, your friend
Thomas”.......... I had no chance to think something
different!
At 1 o clock pm a guy from a radio channel bumped in
and made an additional interview. At 3 pm.... 12 pupils
came in and we made a little program about the history
of quills, steel dip nibs and fountain pens from
different eras. (....“mostly in situ”....) It took a
little bit of time before the young boys and girls
recognized the “fun of writing”, which possibly is
different compared to “learn the lessons” but they got
it! In the end the desks looked like a battlefield of
papers, inks and writing equipment. Each few minutes I
could hear : “I need more paper” and a young boy,
staring at the mechanical function of an old safety pen
said “Hey cool, old man”! which is possibly the highest
grade of honor in the youth language. It ended at 5 pm,
we all had been very tired but very lucky. It
surely would be difficult for the film team to cut out a
4 min clip from the possibly 2.5 hours of totally
interesting film material.
One very small aspect had been from interest for the
film team and for some of the newspaper editors: I had
made a little cabin for remembrance of Anne Frank`s
fountain pen. Millions of people in this world know from
her diary and there are photos which show her writing.
Frequently the fountain pen people discuss, which origin
her fountain pen could have been, but this is still
unknown. I tried it with “experimental archeology”. Anne
Frank wrote about her beloved fountain pen and how she
lost it. It had been a gift from her grandmother in
Aachen. The writing equipment shop with its best
tradition and reputation there had been “Adolf
Schweizer”. They had Osmia fountain pens and Osmia had
been the most wanted export pen in the Netherlands,
where Anne and her family had been living. I surely
would give my grandchildren the best writing articles I
could get and I think until today it would be a historic
Osmia.
Look here:
https://swrmediathek.de/player.htm?show=313e0b50-c2f3-11e6-8e1e-005056a12b4c
Later more
Kind Regards
Your Friend Thomas
Thomas Neureither is the authority on German
fountain pens, in particular the history of many
manufacturers and fountain pen brands made in the
Heidelberg area. His family was employed in the fountain
pen industry as far back as the turn of the century.
Today his museum quality collection contains the vintage
tools, machinery, fountain pen samples, literature and
documents from the golden era of pen manufacture in
Heidelberg and Germany.
(c) 2017 Thomas Neureither
|
© 2015 Myra Love - All Rights
Reserved
|
