Blotter paper or an advertisement blotter is usually made of soft, absorbent paper that could quickly remove excess ink left by fountain pens. Before the development of ballpoint pens, the issue of smudging on documents was a concern for early writers and businesspeople. Early remedies for excess ink included sprinkling sand, clay, and even salt on their writing. During the early nineteenth century, the first hand-blotters were developed, which featured a piece of felt attached to a curved wooden base. The writer rocked the device over the wet pages to soak any excess ink that remained on the page. The felt remained troublesome, however, as it quickly stained and often left marks on the page.

Blotting paper was first manufactured in the United States by Joseph Parker & Son in 1856, becoming the industry leader after recognizing the absorbent quality of softer paper sheets made without adding a binding element to the paper mixture. Advertisers, usually fountain pen manufacturers, merchants, and insurance companies, quickly recognized the opportunity presented and began giving away blotting papers.

The American debut of the ballpoint pen developed by Milton Reynolds (1892-1976) in 1945 and its subsequent popularization in the 1950s by Parker Pens’ “Parker Jotter Pen” and Marcel Bich’s (1914-1994) company Société Bic (now known as Bic) spelled the demise of blotting papers. During their height, however, advertisement blotters were by far the most widely used advertising novelty of the early 1900s.

Verna Greatorex Patterson (1915-2006) was a lifelong artist whose work spanned the United States. Patterson began painting murals for churches and businesses while in high school in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. She continued pursuing art while working under the Works Progress Administration, a governmental agency created during the Great Depression (1929-1939) that funded public works, arts, and literacy projects. After moving to Delaware with her husband, Curtis B. Patterson (1908-2001), she studied under the well-known Wilmington, Delaware, painter Edward L. Loper Sr. (1916-2011). Patterson worked in a variety of media, including watercolors, oil, charcoal, miniature paintings, and even stained glass. Patterson was heavily involved in the community and volunteered at Hagley Museum and Library for over twenty years, where her creative works and restorations were displayed in exhibits. She died on April 18, 2006, at the age of ninety-one.