Ceremonial Pen Used to Sign the Voting Rights Act

Object Details

Date
1965
Medium
Frame: metal, wood, black velour; Pen: metal, plastic; Label: ink on paper
Dimensions
Frame: 6 5/16 × 10 3/8 × 1 3/16 in. (16 × 26.3 × 3 cm)
Cite As
Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.
Caption
When a U.S. President signs a bill, a select number of people receive pens used for the occasion. This ceremonial pen was given to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) in recognition for her civil rights activism. The fountain pen’s metal nib connects to a black, plastic feed followed by a tapered, translucent barrel, also plastic. A black and gold frame holds the pen above a summary of the bill, Senate 1564. President Lyndon B. Johnson used this ceremonial pen to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law on August 6, 1965. The previous year, President Johnson presented Payne with a ceremonial pen at the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also in ACM’s Collection. The pens are treasured tokens of political favor.
Accession Number
1991.0076.0105
Type
framed pen
See more items in
Anacostia Community Museum Collection
Data Source
Anacostia Community Museum
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl85f331903-fffa-4481-912e-4e70300b1979
Record ID
acm_1991.0076.0105
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