We've all had a few stomach-dropping moments these past months — something was cancelled, someone was cancelled, or maybe you got some bad news that left you gasping for breath. For me personally, this happened one morning in late April when I logged onto Facebook to see myself tagged in a friend’s post about Crane Stationery closing permanently. Had I been wearing pearls, I would have been clutching them, for Crane is not just an American stationery brand, it is America.

Its founder Stephen Crane participated in the Boston Tea Party, so this house of paper had major revolutionary street cred from the start. One early client, Paul Revere, used Crane paper for his engraved banknotes — and those banknotes helped finance the American Revolution. I'm guessing it wasn't long after Crane started printing currency, government proclamations, stocks and bonds, and important documents of every imaginable type from its Dalton, Massachusetts, plant in 1799 that the  Crane name became pretty much become synonymous with the best papers and printing.

So closing Crane would have been an enormous loss on more levels than I care to examine. The good news is, that post I was tagged in was bona fide fake news, and Crane is not closed or closing. The more difficult news is that in order to keep it presses printing, a lot of necessary changes have had to be implemented, and we all know that change is never easy!

So with that exposition and the understanding that there's a good chance that what you have read recently about Crane was inaccurately reported, I wanted to let Crane take their narrative back, as it is their story after all. So please join me and my very special guest, Bart Robinson, Chief Revenue Officer of Crane Stationery, to learn more about what the present looks like for Crane, as well as its hopes for the future.

**Thank You Sponsors**

Please be sure to support these all-American, women-owned houses of paper.

Girl w/Knife is your incredibly sharp new stationery BFF. Check out this award-winning, ultra-polished range that everyone's talking about — it slays on several brilliant levels!

Kitty Meow Boutique was founded on the idea that your paper goods don't have to be a snooze fest. These stylish, laugh-out-loud selections are by turns sassy and sweet, all the while maintaining a consistent cool.

Music Credits: “Your Treasure is Your Self”; written and performed by Sharon Glassman; Courtesy of Sharon Glassman/Smile Songs. smilesongs.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices