Hold on Loosely

In honor of National Paper Clip Day, we asked for help from our fellow institutions to show off their paper clip and fastener collections. So.....♪just hold on loosely, But maybe let go, If you cling too tightly, You're gonna cause a hole (tear or rust mark on the document). ♪

Whether we love to hate them, or hate to love them, paper clips are a huge part of working in archives. In an attempt to showcase this little contraption, we did a call out to the twitterverse for other archivists to share their collection of paper clips. Needless to say, it was not a disappointment. Now go forth archivists! And remember Clippy will always be there to *help*.

PreviousPauseNext

1 of 18

Clip art or artifact of paper torture. Courtesy of Smithsonain Institution Archives Preservation Team.

Fastner display. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives.

Fastener collection put together by National Archives staff while processing records in Denver between 1985 and 1990. Courtesy of Chloe MacDonald and the National Archives at Denver.

Fastener collection. Courtesy of Alan Walker and the National Archives at College Park.

Paper clip collection. Courtesy of @archival_trash via Twitter.

Paper clips collected from materials at the Freer|Sackler Archives. Courtesy of Lisa Fthenakis.

Paper clips from the Penn State Special Collections Library. We Are....! Courtesy of Katelyn Town.

Multi color paper clips from Smithsonian Institution Archives' AIM team. Courtesy of author.

Paper clips in a row from Smithsonian Institution Archives' AIM team. Courtesy of author.

More paper clips from the AIM team (we never really stop finding them). Courtesy of author.

Even more paper clips from the AIM team. Courtesy of author.

Yes....even more paper clips from the AIM team. Courtesy of author.

Stainless steel paper clips. These are what archivists like to see and use. Courtesy of author.

An honorary mention for the paper clip's younger fastener friend. The binder clip. Courtesy of Jessica Hartman at the National Archives, College Park.

Thanks to all the archives, libraries, and archivists that contributed images for this fun and whacky blog.