Hook & Scissor Club

My collection:  I discovered this 1945 lapel pin on eBay.  Immediately I started wondering what relationship to scissors and an American story this might hold.  After much searching I uncovered a delightful story of creative leadership and strong community building.  Here is the story.

Hook & Scissor Club – Where it originated.

In the 1880’ Ferdinand Thun and Henry Janssen moved from Germany to the United States to carve out new careers.  They were introduced to each other by a mutual friend, Max Mittendorf.  After they became aquainted, they purposed to work together on a project of build a braiding machinery which would compete with German manufacturers.

On July 5, 1892 the two friends opened the Textile Machine Works in Reading, PA. which was located at  222 Cedar Street.  Four years later Thun and Jannsen  needed a larger building so they built one in  Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.   As the company grew two new company were started.  They were the Berkshire Knitting Mills and the Narrow Fabric Company. The manufactured fashioned hosiery and narrow fabric goods like lace.  In 1927 an employee training program was started with Penn State furnishing the instructors.  It became known as the Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute.   

Major changes took place in the narrow fabric industry so in 1958 the company offered to Penn State University the training centers property and it became part of the University Center in Wyomissing.  The schools web site has additional information on this wonderful cooperative effort of early industry and educational institutions. 

Hook & Scissor Club – Building a team spirit at work.   

 A fun news article in the July 25, 1928 “Reading Eagle’ newspaper tells a story of creative team building by company leadership. Using tools that were used in the making of their products - hooks and scissors, - they created a team building organization.  It reads in part, “Members of the Hook and Scissors Club of the Narrow Fabric Company held their third annual outing at Boone’s grove, along the Tulpehocken Creek.  Games and refreshments were enjoyed by the members.  Music and entertainment were furnished by the club’s quartet and the Miller Harmonica Band.  The singing was led by the club’s song leader, John Sensenig.  The speaker of the day was Thomas Stoudt, who addressed the meeting on “Better Americans for America.”

The story continues, “The games resulted as follows: Baseball, the Hooks defeated the Scissors, score 4 to 3.”  It was clear that the “Hooks” were more athletic than the scissors because they also won the tug-of-war!  The article concludes with, “The club will hold its annual election of officers for the coming year at its next monthly meeting.” 

A 1961 notice in the “Reading Eagle” reminds us how important it was be belong to this company group.  It also is a reminder of the valuable gift of talent and leadership that immigrants have enriched America with.  It reads, “Egidio Cataldi, 74, of 236 S. 3^rd St., died yesterday in the Reading Hospital.  Born in Italy … Cataldi had been employed by the Narrow Fabric Co. for 15 years prior to his retirement. He was a member of Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church, and the Narrow Fabric Hook and Scissors." 

From this simple lapel pin and the story it tells, we can see how important the job, skills, and community was.  America is build on people who dream big dreams, do simple tasks well, believe in what they do and in those they work along side of.