Artifact of the Month: "Miss B'Kind" Ink Blotter

In the 1930’s or 40’s when this Artifact of the Month was produced, one could not find writing pens as we know them today on a typical office desk. Ballpoint pens would not be invented until the 1950’s, leaving quill pens and fountain pens the normative of this era. Like two peas in a pod, wherever there was a pen, there was also an ink blotter. Most ink blotters, including the one featured here, were used in the same spirit as business cards today and distributed with just as much zeal.

Manufacturers, merchants, and apparently even animal protection groups distributed ink blotters as a form of advertising. The Pennsylvania-based American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) has a history of challenging the use of animals in experimentation dating back to 1883. One of their strongest programs was and continues to be humane education. In 1927, the organization’s secretary, Nina Halvey, assumed the moniker “Miss B’Kind” when she began teaching at area schools. Halvey also launched the Miss B’Kind Club, a youthful version of the Anti-Vivisection Society, which hosted regular meetings at their headquarters and parties for children who pledged to “be kind to animals now and when I grow up.”

Learn more about Miss B Kind and the legacy of AAVS on their website.

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