Vintage Writing Tools

American Colonial & Post Colonial Era Pens, Journals, Portable Writing Desks & More

Writing, in the Colonial America era, was a complex technical process that required an array of materials and techniques, many of which were often difficult or expensive to acquire. Some of the personal writing tools used in colonial America included quill pens, ink, journals, paper, stoneware inkwells, sealing wax (the idea of separate envelopes did not exist) and portable writing desks that could be placed on another table top or in the lap. Formal writing instruction was deliberately limited to certain elite classes of the time of both sexes and men of business and trade. Probably the most famous of these portable writing desks was the one used by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 to write the Declaration of Indepensamce. Crazy Crow offers a replica of this desk in two versions that include diffent levels of writing supply.