Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

"LETHBRIDGE HERALD NEWSPAPER BOY" MECHANICAL PENCIL

Date

1953

Materials

PLASTIC, METAL, RESIN

No. Pieces

1

Length

13.4

Width

1.5

Description

GREEN AND GOLD MECHANICAL PENCIL WITH FIGURE INSIDE RESIN SECTION. PENCIL TIP, CLIP, AND BAND IN MIDDLE OF PENCIL BODY ARE GOLD, “MADE IN USA” EMBOSSED ON CLIP, MAIN BODY OF PENCIL IS GREEN. FIGURE ENCASED IN RESIN IS WEARING A WHITE SHIRT, BLUE PLANTS, AND RED SNEAKERS HOLDING A NEWSPAPER BAG. GOLD CYLINDER WITH BLACK TEXT “LETHBRIDGE HERALD NEWSPAPER BOY” COVERS FIGURE WHEN PEN IS TURNED DOWNWARDS. ASSUMED ORIGINAL LEAD IS STILL INSIDE PENCIL. WHITE MARKINGS INSIDE RESIN SECTION, DENTS ON LOWER GREEN BODY, AND METAL SECTIONS ARE SLIGHTLY TARNISHED, INCLUDING CYLINDER ENCASED IN RESIN. OVERALL GOOD TO VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION T&E

Historical Association

BUSINESS

COMMEMORATIVE

PROFESSIONS

History

ON JANUARY 10, 2023, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED CARLY STEWART ABOUT HIS DONATION OF A LETHBRIDGE HERALD NEWSPAPER PENCIL. STEWART WAS EMPLOYED AT THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD FROM 1950 TO 1967, WORKING IN VARIOUS ROLES: BEGINNING AS A NEWSPAPER BOY ‘HELPER,’ NEWSPAPER BOY ‘BOSS,’ PART-TIME MAILING ROOM EMPLOYEE, NEWSPAPER DEPOT MANAGER, FULL-TIME MAILING ROOM EMPLOYEE, CLERK AND OFFICE WORKER IN THE CIRCULATION OFFICE, HERALD CIRCULATION ROADMAN, AND ENDING AS A PRINT SALESMAN. STEWART EXPLAINED HOW HE CAME INTO POSSESSION OF THE PENCIL: “…AS FAR AS I KNOW ABOUT 1953, THEY WERE GIVEN TO EVERY PAPERBOY AROUND AND I PUT MINE ASIDE…” ON HOW THE PENCIL WAS USED, STEWART COMMENTED: “…IT WAS A PENCIL THAT EVERYBODY USED, THIS KIND OF A PENCIL WITH A RETRACTABLE LEAD… MAYBE IT WAS AN EVERSHARP-LIKE PEN. IT’S PROBABLY THE ORIGINAL LEAD IN IT… I GUESS SOME BOYS USED THEM ON A PAPER ROUTE, BECAUSE IN OUR PAPERBOY ACCOUNT BOOKS WE’D JUST CHECK OFF A BOX WHEN THAT CUSTOMER HAD PAID THAT WEEK…” STEWART EXPLAINED WHAT NEWSPAPER ROUTES ARE: “THE HERALD ASSIGNED AREAS SO THERE WAS A GROUP OF PROBABLY 120 TO 150 NEWS[PAPER] CUSTOMERS IN AN AREA WHICH WE [NEWSPAPER BOYS] AND THE HERALD CALLED A ROUTE…” STEWART COMMENTED: “THERE WERE PREFERRED ROUTES, OF COURSE, AND SOME BOYS WOULD PUT IN THEIR NAME. ‘I WANT HIS ROUTE WHEN HE’S FINISHED’ SORT OF THING.” ON WHY SOME ROUTES WERE PREFERRED, STEWART SPECULATED: “…SOME AREAS HAD MORE LUCRATIVE PEOPLE WHO WOULD GIVE YOU A BETTER CHRISTMAS BONUS. THAT SORT OF THING…” STEWART EXPLAINED STARTING OUT AS A HERALD NEWSPAPER BOY: “…I WAS A PAPERBOY FOR THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD FROM SEPTEMBER 1950 TO 1956. IN 1950, I HAD HELPED OTHER PAPER CARRIERS DURING THE JUNE AND AUGUST [MONTHS]… [STARTING] (SEPT 1950) I GOT A PAPER ROUTE AS A HELPER FOR GARRY ELLISON… I WAS HIS HELPER FOR A YEAR. [AS A HELPER] I HAD THE SOUTH SIDE OF 6TH AVENUE A BETWEEN 12TH AND 13TH STREET, THE WEST SIDE OF 13TH STREET FROM 6TH AVENUE A. TO 7TH AVENUE, THE NORTH SIDE OF 7TH AVENUE BETWEEN 13TH STREET AND 12TH STREET AND THEN BACK TO THE STARTING POINT AT 6TH AVENUE A. I HAD ABOUT 50-51 CUSTOMERS. I MADE $2.00 A WEEK. THEN WE GOT A RAISE. I GOT $2.50 A WEEK…” STEWART EXPLAINED WHAT PERCENTAGE THE HELPER WOULD TAKE OF THE BOSS’ ROUTE: “ABOUT 40% - 45%. SO, I HAD 51% [OF GARRY ELLISON’S ROUTE]…” ON WHAT TIME STEWART COMPLETED HIS ROUTES, STEWART COMMENTED: “AFTER SCHOOL DELIVERY… [FOR] THE FIVE-STAR EDITION [THAT] WAS THE LETHBRIDGE REGULAR EDITION…” STEWART CONTINUED: “…THE THREE-STAR WAS PUT OUT EARLIER, LIKE AT NOON… FIVE STAR EDITION USUALLY HAD MORE UP-TO-DATE NEWS ITEMS AND POSSIBLY A CHANGE IN THE HEADLINES OR SOMETHING FOR THE FIVE-STAR EDITION, WHICH WAS ABOUT THREE HOURS AFTER THE THREE-STAR [NEWSPAPER].” STEWART COMMENTED ON THE ABILITY TO TAKE ALL THE NEWSPAPERS FOR A ROUTE IN ONE GO: “SOMETIMES, YES. AND THEN THERE WERE SPECIAL EDITIONS LIKE 1950 AT CHRISTMAS, I THINK IT WAS A REALLY SPECIAL EDITION. EACH PAPER WAS, 25MM TO 30MM THICK, SO I HAD MY [OLDER] BROTHER… [HELP] PICK UP THE PAPERS WITH DAD’S CAR, AND I DELIVERED THEM… YOU’D CARRY ABOUT 2 [PAPERS] IN YOUR ARMS TO GET TO THE HOUSES AND THEN BACK TO THE CAR…” ON HOW STEWART WOULD TYPICALLY DELIVER NEWSPAPERS: “…WE HAD A BIG CARRIER ON THE FRONT OF THE BIKE… [OR] A CARRIER BAG THAT HAD AN ADJUSTABLE STRAP. WHEN YOU GOT ON YOUR BIKE YOU HAD THE RIGHT LENGTH OF STRAP SO THAT THE BAG, THE WEIGHT OF THE BAG WOULD REST ON A SMALL CARRIER ON THE BACK OF YOUR BIKE OVER THE REAR WHEEL SO YOU COULD CARRY A HUNDRED POUNDS… [OR] SIXTY POUNDS OF PAPERS… I WOULD LEAVE [THE BIKE] AT THE CORNER SOMEWHERE AND THEN RUN AROUND ONE BLOCK. MY FIRST ROUTE, I LEFT IT ON THE CORNER AND DID THE WHOLE ROUTE AROUND THE BLOCK CARRYING [THE NEWSPAPERS] FROM THERE. NOW, NOBODY EVER STOLE MY BIKE…” STEWART COMMENTED ON THE CONDITIONS HE WOULD DELIVER NEWSPAPERS: “MINUS 20, MINUS 30 FAHRENHEIT TREKKING HOME AFTER THE PAPER ROUTE. SOMETIMES WE HAD TO WALK [THE ROUTE]. THERE WAS TOO MUCH SNOW TO RIDE, SO WE WALKED FROM THE HERALD TO THE PAPER ROUTE AND THEN WALKED HOME…” ON HOW A NEWSPAPER BOY ‘HELPER’ FUNCTIONED AND COULD BECOME A NEWSPAPER BOY ‘BOSS’, STEWART NOTED: “…THE HERALD, AT THE TIME, HAD A BOSS WHO LOOKED AFTER THE WHOLE ROUTE AND EACH BOSS HAD A HELPER. WHEN THE HELPER HAD EXPERIENCE, HE WOULD MOVE UP TO ANOTHER PAPER ROUTE AS A BOSS…” STEWART EXPLAINED HOW HE BECAME A NEWSPAPER BOY ‘BOSS’: “…I WAS DOWN AT THE HERALD DOING SOMETHING AND I OVERHEARD DICK WARD TELLING LEN MOODY THAT THIS OTHER PAPER BOY HAD BEEN FIRED. SO, I JUST SAID, ‘CAN I HAVE HIS ROUTE?’ AND JUST LIKE THAT THEY SIGNED ME UP.” STEWART EXPLAINED THE ROUTE HE COMPLETED AS A NEWSPAPER BOY ‘BOSS’: “…I CONTINUED ON THAT PAPER ROUTE UNTIL 1956. THIS ROUTE ENCOMPASSED 13TH STREET ON THE ODD SIDE FROM 7TH AVENUE TO 5TH AVENUE; THEN DOWN 5TH AVENUE TO THE NORTH - THE SOUTH SIDE OF 5TH AVENUE TO 15TH STREET THEN UP 15TH STREET ON THE WEST SIDE TO 7TH AVENUE, AND THEN 7TH AVENUE I DID BOTH SIDES OF 7TH AVENUE BETWEEN 13TH STREET AND 15TH STREET AND ALL THE HOUSES IN BETWEEN. NOW, THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A HUNDRED – HUNDRED AND FIFTY PAPERS IN THERE, BUT I HAD A HUNDRED [NEWSPAPERS] AND MY HELPER [KEN MACK] HAD PROBABLY FIFTY [NEWSPAPERS]… WHEN I FIRST STARTED PICKING UP THE PAPERS ON MY ROUTE, WE [KEN AND STEWART] PICKED THEM UP AT THE OLD HERALD BUILDING… AND THEN [WOULD] SIT ON THE BACK COURT HOUSE STEPS TO FOLD [THE NEWSPAPERS] AND THEN HEAD OFF TO OUR [STEWART AND KEN] ROUTE… [THE NEWSPAPERS] WERE FOLDED BUT WE WOULD TAKE THEM AND FOLD THEM INTO SMALLER SIZE TO FIT [INTO] A MAIL SLOT OR WE COULD THEN TOSS [THE NEWSPAPERS] ONTO THE CUSTOMERS FRONT STEPS…” STEWART COMMENTED: “…NOW, ABOUT TWO YEARS INTO MY ROUTE, THEN THE HERALD CHANGED AND ELIMINATED THE HELPERS…” STEWART EXPLAINED HOW HE STARTED WORKING IN THE MAILING ROOM AT THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD: “…I WORKED IN THE MAILING ROOM (BEGINNING IN 1956) PART-TIME GOING TO SCHOOL IN THE MORNING AND 1 HOUR IN THE AFTERNOON, AND THEN WALKED DOWN OR GOT A RIDE DOWN TO THE HERALD… AND WORK FOR 3 HOUR OR 2 HOURS ON THE FIVE-STAR EDITION TO GET IT OUT…” ON WORKING AS THE DEPOT MANAGER AT THE SAME TIME AS BEING A PART-TIME MAILING ROOM EMPLOYEE, STEWART EXPLAINED: “…I WAS ALSO A DEPOT MANAGER FOR THE HERALD, HANDING OUT PAPERS TO PAPERBOYS AT THEIR EXTERNAL DEPOT WHICH WAS AT THE EL RANCHO MOTEL… (PART OF THE TEXACO SERVICE STATION – IN THE BACK ROOM OF THE TEXACO). I DISTRIBUTED THE PAPERS THERE, AND THEN THE HERALD TRUCK [DRIVER, HANK FORWARD] CAME AROUND ABOUT 5:00 OR 5 – TO – 5, PICKED ME UP AND TOOK ME BACK DOWN TO THE HERALD…” ACCORDING TO CARLY’S TYPED SUBMISSION TO THE GALT, AS PART OF HIS PENCIL’S DONATION, TITLED “LETHBRIDGE HERALD PAPERBOY LEAD PENCIL JANUARY 2023,” HE EXPLAINED HIS POSITIONS FOLLOWING BECOMING THE DEPOT MANAGER: “…IN THE EARLY SUMMER OF 1957, I BECAME A FULLTIME MAILING ROOM EMPLOYEE AND THEN IN SEPTEMBER, THEY MOVED ME INTO THE CIRCULATION OFFICE UNDER DICK WARD, (AS A CLERK AND OFFICE WORKER)… THEN IN THE MID-SUMMER OF 1958 I BECAME THE HERALD CIRCULATION ROADMAN COVERING THE AREA, LOOKING AFTER PAPERBOYS, SUBSCRIPTIONS, ETC., PLUS COLLECTING OVERDUE ACCOUNTS FOR THE HERALD’S ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT. THEN IN SPRING OF 1961 I WAS HIRED BY THE HERALD’S PRINTING DEPARTMENT AS THEIR PRINT SALESMAN UNTIL FEB. 1967…” FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD NEWSPAPER BOY PENCIL, DONOR SUPPLIED RESOURCES, OR TO SEE THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, PLEASE SEE THE DONATIONS PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20230001000

Acquisition Date

2023-01

Collection

Museum

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