Remmie L. Arnold

[AnnieB123]

I was reading on my lunch break and ran across some interesting info about Remmie L. Arnold (1894-1971), the president/owner of the Arnold Pen Company. He ran for governor of Virginia in 1949 on the democratic ticket, but didn't win. One other interesting thing I found out was that he was well known as a fair and ethical businessman and uncorrupt politician. Almost unheard of for his time period was his endorsement by Arthur Wergs Mitchell, a (the only?) black congressman during the New Deal period. Mitchell himself also ran during the 1949 gubenatorial primary and was a neighbour/friendly acquaintance of Arnold. Mitchell backed Arnold exclusively after Mitchell's loss during the primary because of Arnold's promise to 'deal with all Virginians fairly' whatever their ethnicity.

 

As a city councilman, Arnold had also pushed through a budgetary increase earmarked for equality and fair access for public housing and recreational facilities for -everyone- (read: people of colour), and increased budgetary considerations for the black schools in Petersburg (schools were still segregated at this time). Here is a short clip from a biography of A. W. Mitchell which mentions Mr. Arnold.

 

Here's a picture of the (restored) sign on the former site of the Arnold FP co, from last year, lit up at night. The building which held the offices of the Arnold Pen Co. has been converted into flats now, but the sign has been restored to functionality.

 

I will probably get squirted with iron gall ink... but even though I own many more expensive and exclusive pens, I have always liked (and restored) Arnold pens. I submit that their very functionality and commonness and 'everyman' character makes them harder to find in good condition than a lot of the more expensive/exclusive pens. In 20 years these 3rd tier pens are going to be viewed the same way Esterbrooks are today, mark my words

 

Here is a cool blog entry from Fountain Pen Restoration on having restored 2 of the Arnold Pen Co. combo pen/pencils. I find those 50s colours very cool and the designs are nifty. I hope it's ok for me to link a picture from the above blog (note: these are NOT MY PICTURES, they belong to Fountain Pen Restoration (which is an awesome blog, btw)).

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/munsonhsr/arnold%20pens/DSC_0005.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/munsonhsr/arnold%20pens/DSC_0006.jpg

[philm]

Hi Annie,

 

Thank you for the link to my blog and the kind words. And thank you for the history lesson as well! I am not certain if most Arnold Fountain Pens will ever achieve collector worship, but some are worth saving and using. Your post reminds me that I have a few more Arnold pens and pieces of memorabilia floating around that I will have to write about in 2014.

 

Phil

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for posting this. Really interesting stuff.

I too have gotten onto a bit of an Arnold kick recently, with a smallish (restored) pen, a mini-pen and pen/pencil combo all gotten off Ebay in the past couple of months.

The restored pen isn't too bad (although I probably paid too much for it, even restored -- there's a world of difference in quality between it and say, an Esterbrook pen); but it does write okay. I just found myself fascinated with the other two -- which both happen to be yellow -- even though I have absolutely no idea what size sacs they're going to need.

I will try to post pictures in the next week or two, but I've got a lot of non-pen related stuff I need to get done before next weekend, including a whole buttload of baking to get done on (probably) Thursday. Plus more cooking and baking to get done the week after next.... Not to mention of course probably having to help shovel the next round of storms off the driveway and sidewalk, in spite of not being over what I've had for most of December (and putting ice melt on the sidewalk in single digit wind chills on Christmas Eve didn't help...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[lreiley]

Being a Virginian and a fan of loud colors, I must say these pens are gorgeous. I have my first on the way, but it is not as pretty as those above.

[welch]

Virginia was run by the Harry Byrd machine: they were the Democratic Party in Virginia until about 1970 when they switched to become Republicans. The state has begun to change as the Northern Virgina suburbs of Washington expand south almost to Culpeper and Fredericksburg, but it took courage to run against Byrd's wishes in 1949. (I grew up in DC, but my family is from Virginia)

 

I have several Arnold fountain pens, including three marbeled pens, lever fillers, about the same size as the Small J Esterbrook. The three (or four? I bought a batch) feel NOS and came from someone in Petersburg, VA, the home of the Arnold Company, so my hunch is that they were sold by a former employee. Arnold had about 10 employees and made advertising ballpoint pens. I checked the Petersburg company registry, and they seem to have shut down about two years ago.

 

Our esyeemed member JAR (or "jar"?) hinted that he knew a little about Arnold and a few other small pen companies around Petersburg.

 

Now I'll read the entry in Phil's Pen Restorers's blog, which I should have done before writing. It's just that I thought I was the only person who appreciates Arnold pens. In fact, I'm fascinated by all the US third-tier companies...something nice about using the sort of pen that my parents would have used in high school. (I'd call Esterbrook a "second-tier" company, or maybe a point-maker with poens that don;t fit into the "tiers".