Interesting and Useful Web Sites

Please let us know of any web sites which you would like to see listed here. Send an e-mail message with the name of the site, the URL and contact information for the site owner or webmaster to admin@pensations.com. Web sites, companies, e-mail lists, etc. listed here are for information purposes only, and no endorsement is implied. This is not intended to be a complete list of pen-related sites. For a complete list of sites, I recommend PenHero maintained by Jim Mamoulides.

Pen Clubs, Pen Shows & Pen Information

Accademia Italiana della Penna Stilografica -- pen club for those interested in Italian writing instruments (pages are in English)

Doesn't relate to pens directly, but still useful: A list of acronyms used in e-mail and other computer-based communication.

American Pencil Collectors Society

Antique Inkwells & Desktop Equipment (UK)

Atlanta Pen Show (the name has been changed to the Southeastern Pen Show)

Autopoint and Dur-O-Lite information pages -- maintained by Robert Bolin

Baltimore Fountain Pen Society

Ballpoint Pens -- A web site maintained by Dr L Graham Hogg

BIC Corporation -- A great resource for teachers and students with tools and applications for the classroom. Learn about some of the latest BIC offers, promotions, and products by signing up for the BIC Teach Our Kids Club.

Bob Truby's guide to wooden pencils

Books About Pens -- maintained by Uri Orland

A Brief History of Writing Instruments -- Part 2: The History of the Fountain Pen

A Brief History of Writing Instruments -- Part 3: The Battle of the Ballpoint Pens

Callig web site -- information on calligraphy.

Chicago Pen Show

Chilton Pens -- much information on history, models & patents; maintained by Charles Krantz

Clock for people who use pencils (Warning: I use a DSL connection, and it still took a few seconds to load. A cable modem, DSL or T1 connection should be okay, but it might take several minutes on a dial-up connection. If you have a bit of time to wait then you will get a chuckle out of this.)

Collectibles Insurance Agency

Collectors Weekly section on Vintage Pens

Conway Stewart information compiled by Jonathan Donahaye

Crayola -- everone's favorite crayon

Dallas Pen Show

Dave's Mechanical Pencils -- a blog

Doesn't relate to pens directly, but still useful: A list of emoticons.

Early Office Museum -- antique office machines, equipment & business technology

Esterbrook.com -- all about Esterbrook pens

Brian Anderson's Pen Page -- Esterbrook

Esterbrook Renew Points Reference Guide

A Few Notes about Fountain Pens -- maintained by Michael A. Covington

Florida Pen Club

Forty Centuries of Ink, or, a chronological narrative concerning ink ... by Carvalho, David Nunes (1848-1925)
A book included in Project Gutenberg and available for free download.

Fountain Pen -- entry in the Wikipedia (The Free Encyclopedia)

Fountain Pen Community -- discussion of all aspects of collecting & using fountain pens & other writing instruments

Fountain Pen Forum -- multiple fora for discussing fountain pens & other writing instruments and related topics

fountain pen news -- a search to retreive recent news items (not web sites) from Google which include the phrase "fountain pen"

Free Online Graph Paper/Grid Paper PDFs -- need a piece of graph paper, or a sheet of lined paper? This page contains a number of PDFs which print lined papers including common lined notebook paper, three-section pages for the Cornell note system, music staves, guitar fretboards, ledger sheets and much more.

Glossary of Fountain Pen Terms

History of Pens & Writing Instruments

Information for New Collectors -- maintained by Carla Frizzle

Ink Recipes

International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting

Jennifer Maestre is an artist who creates sculptures from many objects, including pencils. Click here to view her work.

Joe's Pencil Pages by Joe Nemecek

Just for the gel of it an article on gel pens by Debra A. Schwartz

Leadholder -- the online drafting pencil museum

Lion & Pen -- on-line community which focuses on Japanese pens

Mechanical Pencil Research Resources

Miami Pen Show

Michigan Pen Show and Michigan Pen Collectors

Museum of Writing

National Stationery Show

New England Pen Show

New York City Pen Show

NibSite -- John McDonald Gwin's site for nib collectors

Norma Pencil Page -- maintained by Roger Russell

Ohio Pen Show

the Online Pelikan Guide -- information on Pelikan pens courtesy of collector Martin Lehmann

oPENions -- reviews of writing instruments written by everyday users like us

PaperWorld

Paper and Pencil

Paper Notes in a Digital World

Paper Sizes and Paper Weight: Metric and US Standards

International Standard Paper Sizes (includes information to help US & Canadian users switch to ISO paper sizes)

Parker Pen Company: United States

Parker 51 web site -- by collector Ernesto Soler

Parker 75 web site -- by collector Lih-Tah Wong

Parker Ephemera -- courtesy of collector Paul Locasto

Parker Pen Information Site -- a Parker "penography" by collector Tony Fischier

Pelikan Pen Information Page -- information on Pelikan pens courtesy of collector Werner Ruettinger

Pen Classics -- a pen enthusiast site by collector Rodger Bamford

Pen Collectors of America

Pen Forums at Diligent Warrior

Pen Lovers -- web site for writing instrument collectors; includes a bulletin board and other pages

Pen Museum Materclass articles by Arthur Twydle and Peter Twydle on pen topics

Pen-related Wallpaper for your PC (comes in 3 sizes)

Pen Show Calendar -- courtesy of Ms. Susan Wirth

Pen Spinning -- something else to do with a pen (other than writing)

Pen World magazine

Pencil Pages -- encyclopedia & web museum of wooden pencils

Pencil Pages -- a second site with the same name by the Incense Cedar Institute

Pencil Pushing

Pencil Revolution -- Pencil Philosophy: Wooden Wisdom, Peoduct Reviews & Ephemera, etc.

Penexchange -- sponsored by Pelikan Pens

Penmen comic strip

Penna magazine

Penna VINTAGE Issue 2 online magazine

Penoply -- an informative site maintained by collector Rick Conner

PenPassion: for those with a Passion for Pens

Penpedia: The Definitive Fountain Pen Wiki

Pentrace -- an online community for writing instrument collectors; includes a (threaded) discussion board, articles on writing instrument collecting and use including reviews of products, and question & answer columns. The site also has a list of "snailers" (folks who use their writing instruments to send "snail-mail" to other members), and publishes the writings of members (both fiction and nonfiction).

Plumophilia -- a writing instrument discussion site

Portland Pen Show

Raleigh Pen Show

Richard's Pens -- a web site by Richard Binder. Richard repairs most pen types & brands, and also performs nib repair & nib customization at reasonable prices. In addition he sells some pens and a few pen-related accessories. His site includes photos of his personal pen collection, downloadable computer desktop wallpapers, an extensive reference section, and some of his fiction, poetry and essays.

Rivera Pens -- devoted to the Pilot Capless & Namiki Vanishing Point pens

Scripto Pencil History Page -- maintained by Roger Russell

Sheaffer Targa information site -- maintained by Gary Ellison

Society for Italic Handwriting

Society of Inkwell Collectors

Southeastern Pen Collectors Club

Southeastern Pen Show (formerly the Atlanta Pen Show)

StylophileS -- an on-line magazine for pen collectors

Tabletop Studio -- information on taking good photographs most of which is applicable to pen photos

Thank You Letters for any Situation

ThePuristS.com Pen and Writing Instruments Forum

UK Coloured Pencil Society

Vacumania -- a site devoted to Parker Vacumatics maintained by collector David Isaacson

Washington, DC Pen Supershow

Waterford

Waterman

Writing Equipment Society of the UK

Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA)

the Zanerian

Pen-Related e-Mail Lists

4Pens (Polite, Peripatetic Pen-lovers' Paradise) e-Mail List

Ballpoint Pens e-Mail List

Calligraphy e-Mail List

Esterbrook Pen e-Mail List -- discussion limited to Esterbrook writing instruments

Fountain Pen Collecting e-Mail List -- discussion of all aspects of collecting & using fountain pens & other writing instruments

Fountain Pen Talk e-Mail List -- discussion of all aspects of collecting & using fountain pens

Montblanc Pens e-Mail List -- discussion, buying & selling of Montblanc writing instruments

Nib Noise -- a free monthly e-mail newsletter by Richard Binder & Don Fluckinger

Pelikan Pen e-Mail List -- discussion limited to vintage or modern Pelikan writing instruments

Pen Repairs e-Mail List -- discussion of pen repair, including parts wanted or for sale

Pens For Sale e-Mail List -- short non-commercial notices of pens for sale

Sheaffer Pen e-Mail List -- discussion limited to vintage or modern Sheaffer writing instruments

Zoss Pen List -- the premier e-mail list for those interested in pen collecting, sponsored by Thomas Zoss

Handwriting Sites & Articles

The Art of the Thank-You Note by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan in the Wall Street Journal

The Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society

Decline of handwritten letters challenges Postal Service, historians by Randolph E. Schmid in The Columbia Missourian

Hand Written Letters website dedicated to handwritten letters and the emotions they instill

Hand Written Letters Are Better Letters by urbanraven

The Handwritten Letter, an Art All but Lost, Thrives in Prison by Jeremy W. Peters in The New York Times

Handwriting: An Elegy by Ann Wroe in Intelligent Life

Handwriting in the 21st Century? An Educational Summit

Handwriting Is Beneficial to Children’s Cognitive Development

How to Improve Your Handwriting

How to Write a Thank-You Note by Leslie Harpold in The Morning News

How Twitter made handwriting cool by Kevin Braddock in The Telegraph

In e-mail age, still nothing like a handwritten letter by Rachel Rodriguez

The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting

The Joys of a Handwritten Letter by Gregory J. Davis

The Joy of Writing - With Ancient Tools or New by John Jones

Just Write Letters -- a site devoted to letter-writing and journaling

Last lines by Milton J. Valencia

The Lost Art of Handwritten Letters: Why We Should Bring Them Back by Deborah S. Hildebrand

The many health perks of good handwriting by Julie Deardorff

The Month of Letters Challenge by Mary Robinette Kowal

National Handwriting Association (UK)

National Handwriting Contest sponsored by Zaner-Bloser

National Handwriting Day

Notes about Notes a site collects ideas about making, analyzing, organizing, and sharing notes

Pen People the magazine for enthusiastic calligraphers

Physics of writing is derived at last at PhysicsWorld.com

The Power of Handwritten Notes by Rachel Rodriguez

The quiet beauty of small joys: the handwritten letter by Elizabeth J. Duncan

7 Tips to Help Improve Your Child's Handwriting by Kelli Robinson

Scribble, Scribble by Michael Dirda at The American Scholar

The Simple Joy in a Handwritten Letter by Tracy a/k/a ChiMomWriter

Snail Mail My Email a month-long worldwide collaborative art project from 2011

The Society for Italic Handwriting

The Society of Scribes and Illuminators

Why creative writing is better with a pen by Lee Rourke in a blog at the Guardian

Why Does Writing Make Us Smarter?

Write like an Egyptian web tool from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Writers bid to revive letter-writing by Alison Flood in The Guardian

The Writing Automaton with video

Writing the Journey -- Online Journal Writing Workshop

Etailers, Merchants & Items For Sale

Amazon.com -- books, videos, CDs, tools and much more

Cognigen -- one of the nation's largest providers of telecommunication servies including Internet access, long distance phone cards and other services

Neenah Paper -- manufacturers of writing & business papers

Other Sites of Interest

Amateur Radio Relay League

Daily planner pages from D*I*Y Planner -- Print your own daily planner pages: print the forms you need and the quantity you need -- gain utility, save money and astound your friends!

Great American Brass Band Festival -- an annual weekend festival in Danville, Kentucky

Hipster PDA on 43 Folders -- a low tech, low cost, highly portable and nearly infinitely extensible portable information manager

more than 100 forms for use with the Hipster PDA from D*I*Y Planner

how to make a duct tape case for the Hipster PDA

Ultimate Pocket Notebook -- enhancements to the Hipster PDA from Full Contact Geek

Kentucky's Bluegrass Region

Knife Show Directory

Make Your Own Moleskine-Like-Notebook -- Instructions by Michael Shannon -- adaptable to different sizes of notebook or journal.

Moleskine Notebooks: The Ultimate Guide

Moleskine hacks collection

Pioneer Playhouse -- Kentucky's oldest outdoor theatre

Shaker Village, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky -- A restored nineteenth Century Shaker (Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing) village near Harrodsburg in central Kentucky.