Big Chief tablet

The Big Chief tablet was a popular writing notebook for several generations of young children in the United States. It utilized newsprint paper and featured widely spaced lines, easier to write in for those learning to write. Its prominence, though, was the cover's representation of a native American in full headdress, hence "Big Chief."

History

Western Tablet building in St. Joseph. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places

The tablet was originated by William Albrecht (1879-1945), whose family had a stationery business in Quincy, Illinois. In 1906 he opened the Western Tablet Company in St. Joseph, Missouri and it became the world's largest paper tablet producer. Albrecht's home on Frederick Boulevard in St. Joseph is now the Albrecht-Kemper Art Museum. Western Tablet trademarked the Big Chief in 1947. Western Tablet expanded in the 1920s and moved its headquarters to Dayton, Ohio but most of the manufacturing components remained in St. Joseph In 1964 it was renamed "Westab." The Big Chief peaked in usage in the 1960s when another Westab invention -- the spiral notebook -- began to claim bigger market share. In 1966 the Mead Corporation acquired the Western Tablet. Mead subsequently sold the Big Chief line to Springfield Tablet of Springfield, Missouri. In January 2001, Everett Pad and Paper of Everett, Washington purchased the inventory from Springfield. They closed operations of their plant, after 80 years of being open, and Big Chief tablet production was halted. The plant in St. Joseph where the tablets were produced was closed in 2004 when Mead left the city. In 2012, American Trademark Publishing of Brookshire, Texas resumed the production of the Big Chief Writing Tablet.

Literary references

• Hugo Award winning Science Fiction Author Connie Willis writes her books by hand on Big Chief Tablets which she buys in bulk.
• In John Kennedy Toole's novel A Confederacy of Dunces, the protagonist Ignatius Reilly pens his philosophical ramblings on Big Chief tablets.
• In the play by Tennessee Williams, 'Suddenly, Last Summer', the poet Sebastian Venable is said to write his annual 'Poem of Summer' in a Big Chief tablet.
• In "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd. Ralphie uses it to decode the secret code from the Little Orphan Annie radio show. This book of short stories was the basis for "A Christmas Story."