Pen, Fountain

Object Name:

Pen, Fountain

Object ID:

2017.023

Creator:

Esterbrook Company

Place of Origin:

Camden, NJ

Date:

1955

Description:

Fountain Pen. "ESTERBROOK / 2668 / MADE IN / U.S.A." stamped on steel tip. Black plastic feed tube. "ESTERBROOK / MADE IN U.S.A." stamped on 1.75" tapered black plastic casing with graduated ring finger grip at base. "UNITED STATES SENATOR" stamped in gold letters on side of tapered clear plastic casing.

With letter-size white paper envelope. "SENATE CHAMBER" printed in black letters, upper left corner. "Sen Bridge / Enclosed is pen in / which you were / sworn in with" handwritten in ink on front.

Material:

Plastic
Metal
Steel

Dimensions:

L-6.3 Dia-0.4 inches

Provenance:

Pen used by Stlyles Bridges (1898-1961) when he was sworn into his fourth term as a United States Senator representing New Hampshire. Acquired by the seller from the Bridges family.

Born in Maine, Styles Bridges was the son Earle L. and Roxanna (Fisher) Bridges. Bridges attended the public schools in Maine and went to the University of Maine at Orono. From 1918 he held a variety of jobs, including teaching, newspaper editing, business, and state government. He was an instructor at Sanderson Academy, Ashfield, MA, from 1918 to 1919; a member of the extension staff of the University of New Hampshire from 1921 to 1922; secretary of the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Federation from 1922 to 1923; editor of the Granite Monthly Magazine from 1924 to 1926; director and secretary of the New Hampshire Investment Corporation from 1924 to 1929; and a member of the New Hampshire Public Service Commission from 1930 to 1934. A Republican, Bridges ran for governor of New Hampshire in 1934, and won. He was elected to the United States Senate from New Hampshire in 1936, and was reelected to four subsequent terms in 1942, 1948, 1954, and 1960, serving until his death in 1961. He became the highest-ranking Republican senator, serving as chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation from 1947 to 1949, Senate Minority Leader from 1952 to 1953, and President pro tempore of the Senate.

Credit Line:

New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase