Milwaukee Pencil Dater
I came across this illustration in an 1886 Library Bureau supply catalog. It gives credit to the Milwaukee Public Library for creating the pencil dater which became a fixture in most libraries in the first half of the 20th century. Does anyone have an example of a pencil dater? Has anyone used one?
I've been searching for a pencil dater for a year or two now - I used to use them when I first started working in libraries in the 70's. What happened to them all?
Fern, it is not just pencil daters that are hard to find. Unfortunately, most of the artifacts which library staffs used to conduct library business in the past have largely disappeared. Good luck in finding a pencil dater. Larry
I have found a pencil dater but it is a somewhat different than the one pictured. The stamp portion does not extend away from the pencil tip and I am having trouble figuring out how to use it. Has anyone seen this type?
There were several different kinds of pencil daters. I have an old Demco catalog which shows five different ones. There are a couple where the dater was intended to placed on the unsharpened end of the pencil. You would then just reverse the pencil to stamp the date.