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Carter's Ink Company was an American manufacturer of ink and related products, based first in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and later in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. It was once the largest ink manufacturer in the world.''Let's Talk About Ink'' with Ed and Lucy Faulkner: "The Carter Ink Company"
Accessed 2008-09-27
Apart from ink, Carter produced a line of
fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply a Fountain pen ink, water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeat ...
s during a brief period in the 1920s. Some collectors regard those pens as items of a fine quality. Later, the company was acquired by Avery-Dennison. Nowadays, Avery commercialises
rubber stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to rubbe ...
s under the ''Carter'' brand.Stamp pads & inkers
on Avery, 19 Aug 2020


History


Early years

The William Carter Company, the forerunner of Carter's Ink, was founded in 1858 by Boston stationer William Carter who, in order to supplement his paper sales, had started repackaging other companies' inks and selling them under his own name. In 1860, William Carter's brother, Edward Carter, joined the company and the firm became known as "William Carter and Bro." The
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
disrupted Carter's primary ink supplier, so William Carter obtained the use of its formulas on a royalty basis and started making his own inks and mucilage, which necessitated the move to a larger building. Another brother, John H. Carter, joined the company, which became "William Carter & Bros."


Development and final years

In 1865 William's cousin, John W. Carter, joined the enterprise and the name became "Carter Bros. & Company." John W. Carter focused his efforts on the ink part of the business which, along with the sales efforts of James P. Dinsmore, resulted in such growth that the ink business was separated from the paper business and moved into its own quarters in 1868." The entire firm and both of its divisions and their separate buildings were destroyed the night of November 9, 1872, in what has been called the
Great Boston Fire of 1872 The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was Boston's largest fire, and still ranks as one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. The conflagration began at 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, 1872, in the basement of a com ...
. All that was left was the company's good will and its formulas. After the fire in 1872, John W. Carter teamed up with James P. Dinsmore to buy the ink division and start a new firm known as "Carter, Dinsmore and Company." The new company thrived and by 1884 had become the largest ink producer in the world. Contributing to this growth was John W. Carter's belief in and commitment to research to develop new and better inks. James P. Dinsmore retired in 1888, and John W. Carter drowned in 1895, which created an organizational crisis in the unincorporated enterprise, which led to its incorporation later that year as "The Carter's Ink Company.A discussion of the history of Carter's Ink Company
Accessed 2008-09-27
At the time of John W. Carter's death, his son,
Richard B. Carter Richard B. Carter (1877–1949), ink manufacturer, was president of the Carter's Ink Company, in Boston and later Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1903-1949. Early life and education Richard Burrage Carter was born on April 8, 1877, in West Newton, M ...
was still studying at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, but after his graduation in 1898, he joined the company. After a period of learning the business, he became its head in 1903. Under Richard Carter's leadership the company outgrew its Boston location. In 1909 a new factory was built in Cambridge and occupied in 1910. The building's huge "Carter's Inks" electric sign faced the
Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles bac ...
and was an area landmark for many years. Richard Carter continued his father's commitment to research and development of inks, glues and related products. In the mid-1920s, when upmarket
fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply a Fountain pen ink, water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeat ...
s were a popular luxury item, Carter began its own range of pens, more specifically in 1926. The line was discontinued in the early 1930s, but they are still fondly remembered and sought after by collectors. Carter's also manufactured
mechanical pencil A mechanical pencil, also clutch pencil, is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead" . The lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and can be mechanically extended as its ...
s, as well as desk pen sets. Samuel D. Wonders was elected president of the company in 1949 and served until 1955. Francis J. Honn invented the highlighting marker (under the trademark Hi-Liter) as the Vice President of Technology at Carter's in 1963. In 1975 the company was sold to Dennison Manufacturing Company, now Avery Dennison. Samuel D. Wonders was followed by Nathan C. Hubley, Jr who retired as president in 1976 when the company was sold to Dennison. To help with the transition, he remained with Dennison as vice president until 1977.


Post acquisition

After acquiring Carter's Ink Company in 1975, Dennison made the business decision to discard all of Carter's records from the 1860s on, including all of Carter's meticulous ink research records. The Carter name is still used by Avery-Dennison on some ink-related products such as
rubber stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to rubbe ...
s. The Carter's Ink building in Cambridge still stands but has been adapted to other uses. In the summer of 1984, the
Thinking Machines Corporation Thinking Machines Corporation was a supercomputer manufacturer and artificial intelligence (AI) company, founded in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1983 by Sheryl Handler and W. Daniel "Danny" Hillis to turn Hillis's doctoral work at the Massachusett ...
(the market leader in
parallel computing Parallel computing is a type of computation in which many calculations or processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time. There are several different f ...
by then) moved its headquarters to top floors in the building. Five years later, TMC signed a ten-year
lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
with the building, for US$6 million a year. In 2004, the building was converted to include 130,000 square feet of lab space to accommodate acquisition by ViaCell, a cellular medicine research company later acquired by
PerkinElmer PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation focused in the business areas of diagnostics, life science research, food, environmental and industrial testing. Its capabilities include detection, imaging, in ...
. Nowadays, the former Carter's building is occupied by
The Forsyth Institute The Forsyth Institute, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the leading centers for dental and craniofacial research in the world. It was envisioned in 1908 by James Forsyth, who left $500,000 in his will for the establishment of a den ...
,Contacts + directions
at Forsyth Institute, 20 Aug 2020
one of the leading centers for dental and craniofacial research in the world and affiliated to the
Harvard School of Dental Medicine The Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) is the dental school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to the DMD degree, HSDM offers specialty training programs, advanced train ...
.


References


External links


Carter's products
on Avery website

* ttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00239 Dennison Manufacturing Company Records at Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School {{Art materials brands Fountain pen and ink manufacturers Companies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Manufacturing companies based in Boston Companies established in 1858 1858 establishments in Massachusetts Ink brands