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The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive needs your help! To donate click, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022 Or a check made out to Bob Cudmore, send to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
... In 1921 Clarence Collette patented an improvement to the paper clip to make it hold papers more securely by notching ridges in the clip, which was then called a gripper clip.
Yes, the latest episode of The Historians will be on Amsterdam Radio today at 12:07PM
Episode 413-The first highlights episode of 2022 with excerpts from seven Historians Podcasts including Evacuation Day in New York City, 100 years of WGY radio in Schenectady, a chat with New York State historian Devin Lander, the case for Benedict Arnold and more.
WCSS 106.9FM and 1490AM
Focus on History, Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
by Bob Cudmore
Collette Manufacturing Company in Amsterdam was famous for making Mendets, paper clips and juvenile sporting goods. Mendets are bolt-like contraptions to plug holes in pots and pans.
Marjorie Eckler of Hagaman was 15 in 1925 when a girlfriend of hers was working at Collette’s, packaging Mendets.
Marjorie’s daughter, Arlyn (Lynn) Smith of West Galway, said, “My mother and her friend thought it would be fun to put their names and addresses in the boxes of Mendets, hoping someone would write to them.”
A year or two later, Marjorie received a letter from Maggie Arnold who worked at a hardware store in Wilmot, Tasmania, and found Marjorie’s name and address in a box of Mendets.
Marjorie and Maggie became lifelong pen pals. In the late 1970s, Maggie Arnold from Tasmania, a large island south of Australia, came to America and visited Marjorie and her family. By then Marjorie had married town of Amsterdam farmer Leland Johnson. In 1980 Marjorie and her family visited Maggie in Tasmania.
Cobleskill native Clarence C. Collette, born in 1876, moved to Amsterdam as a young man and began manufacturing Mendets on the third floor of the Recorder building on Railroad Street downtown.
Mendets illustrated the philosophy, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
Collette’s was incorporated in 1907 and in 1916 moved to the former Eighth Ward School on Clizbe Avenue near the Rockton Wye. It subsequently had other manufacturing sites in Amsterdam, Hagaman and other cities.
In 1921 Clarence Collette patented an improvement to the paper clip to make it hold papers more securely by notching ridges in the clip, which was then called a gripper clip.
Dave Gordon, who operated Collette’s before it closed, said the patent protected only small size of gripper clips. The patent did not prevent other manufacturers from making gripper clips of different sizes.
By the 1930s, Collette’s was making juvenile sporting goods—baseballs, footballs and basketballs. Many local women and men worked at Collette’s at some point in their lives.
The company was among the first to come up with a way to sew baseballs by machine to keep the cost down. According to a 1940 article by newspaperman Earl O. Stowitts, “The balls which the company sews by machine are not flat-stitched, but have a slightly raised seam.”
The balls were covered with inexpensive leather and the cores were made from cotton or felt scraps.
Monday more information on todays Collette Story. Audio Podcast-March 14, 2022
Collette’s turned from making a million baseballs a year to products that helped the Allied cause during World War II such as canteen covers, cot covers and foul weather clothing. Mendets continued to be made to preserve cooking utensils in the face of wartime metal shortages.
Collette’s received government contracts for some years after the war for canteen covers and the like. In the 1950s, employment ranged from 150 to 300 people.
Clarence and his wife Edna Collette had two daughters, Edna and Shirley. They owned a house on Locust Avenue and later built a home on Golf Course Road.
Clarence Collette was still president of the company when he died in 1965 at the age of 88 at his winter home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Executive vice president Eli Robinson became head of the firm.
Collette’s moved to a former Mohasco carpet mill on De Graff Street in Amsterdam’s East End in 1976.
Dave Gordon, whose parents had operated the Toy Tent store in downtown Amsterdam, bought Collette’s in 1978. Gordon sold it to a Boston investment group in 1983 and left the company in 1984. The investment firm operated Collette’s until the business closed in 1989.
Tomorrow, take a break from snow removal
Episode #215
Sunday, March 13, 2022-Michael Doyle is the author of “The Ministers’ War: John W. Mears, the Oneida Community, and the Crusade for Public Morality.”
Listen to The Historians on Google https://podcasts.google.com/search/The%20Historians
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, March 12, 2022
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Heavy snow. Total snow accumulation of 5 to 10 inches.
Winds gusting as high as 40 mph.
* WHERE...Montgomery, Fulton, and Southern Herkimer Counties.
* WHEN...Through 10 PM EST tonight.
* IMPACTS...Travel will be very difficult due to snow covered
roadways and low visibility. Gusty winds will contribute to
blowing and drifting of snowfall.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Snowfall rates may exceed one inch per hour
this morning into the early afternoon.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in
your vehicle in case of an emergency.
Next Week on The Historians
Next Week on The Historians
Friday, March 18, 2022-Episode 414-Annette Libeskind Berkovits discusses her historical novel “The Corset Maker” which follows a courageous Orthodox Jewish teen, Rifka, who was living in Warsaw Poland in the late 1920s and early ‘30s.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Saturday, March 12, 2022
Daily Gazette
Amsterdam nets $5 million for ‘transformational’ projects in federal bill
AMSTERDAM — The city of Amsterdam will receive a combined $5 million towards a pair of “transformational” projects improving accessibility…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Education news in brief
Fonda-Fultonville kindergarten registration begins March 21 FONDA — The Fonda-Fultonville Central School District has announced that kindergarten registration for the 2022-23 school year will begin on March 21. Children must be...
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
GESD struggling with cronic absenteeism
by Jason Subik
https://www.leaderherald.com/
View all episodes
By Bob Cudmore
The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive needs your help! To donate click, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022 Or a check made out to Bob Cudmore, send to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
... In 1921 Clarence Collette patented an improvement to the paper clip to make it hold papers more securely by notching ridges in the clip, which was then called a gripper clip.
Yes, the latest episode of The Historians will be on Amsterdam Radio today at 12:07PM
Episode 413-The first highlights episode of 2022 with excerpts from seven Historians Podcasts including Evacuation Day in New York City, 100 years of WGY radio in Schenectady, a chat with New York State historian Devin Lander, the case for Benedict Arnold and more.
WCSS 106.9FM and 1490AM
Focus on History, Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
by Bob Cudmore
Collette Manufacturing Company in Amsterdam was famous for making Mendets, paper clips and juvenile sporting goods. Mendets are bolt-like contraptions to plug holes in pots and pans.
Marjorie Eckler of Hagaman was 15 in 1925 when a girlfriend of hers was working at Collette’s, packaging Mendets.
Marjorie’s daughter, Arlyn (Lynn) Smith of West Galway, said, “My mother and her friend thought it would be fun to put their names and addresses in the boxes of Mendets, hoping someone would write to them.”
A year or two later, Marjorie received a letter from Maggie Arnold who worked at a hardware store in Wilmot, Tasmania, and found Marjorie’s name and address in a box of Mendets.
Marjorie and Maggie became lifelong pen pals. In the late 1970s, Maggie Arnold from Tasmania, a large island south of Australia, came to America and visited Marjorie and her family. By then Marjorie had married town of Amsterdam farmer Leland Johnson. In 1980 Marjorie and her family visited Maggie in Tasmania.
Cobleskill native Clarence C. Collette, born in 1876, moved to Amsterdam as a young man and began manufacturing Mendets on the third floor of the Recorder building on Railroad Street downtown.
Mendets illustrated the philosophy, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
Collette’s was incorporated in 1907 and in 1916 moved to the former Eighth Ward School on Clizbe Avenue near the Rockton Wye. It subsequently had other manufacturing sites in Amsterdam, Hagaman and other cities.
In 1921 Clarence Collette patented an improvement to the paper clip to make it hold papers more securely by notching ridges in the clip, which was then called a gripper clip.
Dave Gordon, who operated Collette’s before it closed, said the patent protected only small size of gripper clips. The patent did not prevent other manufacturers from making gripper clips of different sizes.
By the 1930s, Collette’s was making juvenile sporting goods—baseballs, footballs and basketballs. Many local women and men worked at Collette’s at some point in their lives.
The company was among the first to come up with a way to sew baseballs by machine to keep the cost down. According to a 1940 article by newspaperman Earl O. Stowitts, “The balls which the company sews by machine are not flat-stitched, but have a slightly raised seam.”
The balls were covered with inexpensive leather and the cores were made from cotton or felt scraps.
Monday more information on todays Collette Story. Audio Podcast-March 14, 2022
Collette’s turned from making a million baseballs a year to products that helped the Allied cause during World War II such as canteen covers, cot covers and foul weather clothing. Mendets continued to be made to preserve cooking utensils in the face of wartime metal shortages.
Collette’s received government contracts for some years after the war for canteen covers and the like. In the 1950s, employment ranged from 150 to 300 people.
Clarence and his wife Edna Collette had two daughters, Edna and Shirley. They owned a house on Locust Avenue and later built a home on Golf Course Road.
Clarence Collette was still president of the company when he died in 1965 at the age of 88 at his winter home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Executive vice president Eli Robinson became head of the firm.
Collette’s moved to a former Mohasco carpet mill on De Graff Street in Amsterdam’s East End in 1976.
Dave Gordon, whose parents had operated the Toy Tent store in downtown Amsterdam, bought Collette’s in 1978. Gordon sold it to a Boston investment group in 1983 and left the company in 1984. The investment firm operated Collette’s until the business closed in 1989.
Tomorrow, take a break from snow removal
Episode #215
Sunday, March 13, 2022-Michael Doyle is the author of “The Ministers’ War: John W. Mears, the Oneida Community, and the Crusade for Public Morality.”
Listen to The Historians on Google https://podcasts.google.com/search/The%20Historians
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, March 12, 2022
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Heavy snow. Total snow accumulation of 5 to 10 inches.
Winds gusting as high as 40 mph.
* WHERE...Montgomery, Fulton, and Southern Herkimer Counties.
* WHEN...Through 10 PM EST tonight.
* IMPACTS...Travel will be very difficult due to snow covered
roadways and low visibility. Gusty winds will contribute to
blowing and drifting of snowfall.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Snowfall rates may exceed one inch per hour
this morning into the early afternoon.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in
your vehicle in case of an emergency.
Next Week on The Historians
Next Week on The Historians
Friday, March 18, 2022-Episode 414-Annette Libeskind Berkovits discusses her historical novel “The Corset Maker” which follows a courageous Orthodox Jewish teen, Rifka, who was living in Warsaw Poland in the late 1920s and early ‘30s.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Saturday, March 12, 2022
Daily Gazette
Amsterdam nets $5 million for ‘transformational’ projects in federal bill
AMSTERDAM — The city of Amsterdam will receive a combined $5 million towards a pair of “transformational” projects improving accessibility…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Education news in brief
Fonda-Fultonville kindergarten registration begins March 21 FONDA — The Fonda-Fultonville Central School District has announced that kindergarten registration for the 2022-23 school year will begin on March 21. Children must be...
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
GESD struggling with cronic absenteeism
by Jason Subik
https://www.leaderherald.com/