Using A Letter Opener

I've used a lot of different letter openers in my life, starting with my first office job when I was 17. There were 19 or 20 different offices in my working span of 47 years. I'm sure most of the letter openers I used were those standard 9" stainless steel ones, though somewhere in my memory banks there was one with a green marble handle. It seems like it was part of a desk set, so maybe one of my bosses had it and I used it on occasion.

In this day and age, there are many fewer letters to open, especially when you are retired. Generally I just rip the envelopes open, but I do have a letter opener by my chair in the living room and one on my desk in the office. I remember my Mom using a paring knife to carefully open her envelopes.

This is the letter opener next to my chair. There is enough print left on the handle to read 'Stitzel Electric'. A search returns Stitzel Electric as a company in Des Moines, so I assume this opener was one I used at one of my jobs in the Capitol City.

I suppose I was so attracted to that knife blade in the handle that I 'accidentally' included this letter opener when I packed up my stuff at the end of whichever job it was I was leaving. And just what is that knife for anyway? Maybe to open boxes? Or for self defence? I don't know where it came from, but I have had this letter opener for many years.

Though not as long as I've had this one, my favorite. I bought this letter opener at an antiques show in Des Moines in 1969. I can't remember the exact location, but I do remember the large open area of a building along Merle Hay Road or Harding Road and 'Armory' sticks in my mind. But it could also have been in the gymnasium of a school. I know I was pregnant with Kari and it was her Dad and my son Doug with me looking through all the different booths.

I was first drawn to this letter opener because it was/is 'my color'. But it was the woman's head at the end that made me buy it for sure. It may have been my grandmother Lynam's collection of lady head vases that got me interested in collecting anything with women's heads, or maybe it was my passion for the Women's Liberation Movement, but collect them I did.

Yesterday I had some mail to open here at my desk. I used this letter opener, thought about how long I've had it, and for the first time wondered about the words in the inset on the handle - INLAND MFG. DIV. GMC.

An online search turned up information that really surprised me. Inland Mfg. Div. GMC was the only division of General Motors Company created within the company and not acquired by purchase. It used the buildings and technology of the defunct Dayton Wright Airplane Company and was organized in 1922 for the manufacture of wood wrapped steering wheels.

During World War II, the Inland Division was tooled up to produce M-1 Carbines and a pistol called the Little Monster designed to be air-dropped to reisistance fighters in Europe. They also manufactured many other items for the war effort including tank tracks for both American and Great Britain tank manufacturers, helmet liners, gun sights, shoulder rests, fire extinguisher horns and many other small parts needed for the war effort.

An image search shows the letter opener also in colors of red, blue-green and pink. One site describes the handle as Femme Art Deco. In others it is referenced as based on the hood ornaments found on Pontiac automobiles which were named after the Ottawa Indian Chief Pontiac.

I prefer to think of the face on my letter opener as being feminine. It has been interesting to me to learn more about the Inland Mfg. Div. GMC.