What is the (brief) history of the pinboard?  By pinboard I refer to
the type of (usually cork) noticeboard to which pieces of paper are
attached with pins.  By brief history I mean - who invented it? when?
who first marketed it? where & when was it first marketed? etc...

waxwing-ga:

Thanks for the opportunity to answer your Question.

As I mentioned in my comment below, tTe idea of a bulletin board made
with corkboard for use with tacks was patented by George Brooks (of
Topeka, Kansas) in 1924. The patent number is 1,494,583. You can view
this patent by going to:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-bool.html

Enter 1494583 in the search field, select 'Patent Number' as the type,
and change the range to '1790 to 1975 [PN and CCL only]', then click
Search.

The method described by George Brooks is based very much on hand
construction, so one can only assume that he manufactured and marketed
it himself, or in conjunction with others in Topeka, Kansas.
Unfortunately, because this was back in 1924, there is no information
that can be found about this other than perhaps in the newspaper
archives in the Topeka public library.

In those days, patent protection lasted for 17 years from the date of
grant, so Mr. Brooks' patent protection expired in 1941.

In 1940, another gentleman by the name of George E. Fox, received a
patent for a bulletin board designed to hang on a wall. This patent,
Number 2,195,985, represented the first improvement on the standard
corkboard; instead of cork, it used foam rubber with a cardboard
backing. This in turn was improved upon by patent number 2,757,469
issued in 1956 to Earl Knudsen of the Modern Display Co. of
Pittsburgh, PA. This latest iteration replaced the foam
rubber/cardboard concept with fiberboard.

Most telling in the patent application for Earl Knudsen's design,
though, is the following statement:

"One of the best types of bulletin boards now in use consists of a
wooden molding frame having a wooden board backing fixed in the frame.
Sheets of cork are attached to the wooden backing which are arranged
to receive tacks by which the bulletins, drawings or the like may be
attached to the board. Such a bulletin board is quite heavy, requiring
a fastening device at each corner for attaching it to a wall, and is
used only with the cork face outward."

(excerpt from US Patent 2,757,469 page 1)

This indicates that bulletin boards were a common item by the
mid-50's. Whether or not this meant that bulletin boards were common
in homes, is uncertain. However, given their overall popularity, one
can assume that the white-collar and blue-collar workers of the 50's,
familiar with the convenience of a bulletin board in the workplace,
would ignore the convenience of having one in the home, as well.

The home-based utility of the bulletin board may have reached its
tacky peak with the introduction of the 'Noteworthy' designer
telephone by AT&T in 1974:

http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/images/dl/nt-a.jpg
http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/images/dl/nt-b.jpg

This telephone for the home featured both a blackboard and a corkboard
for leaving notes and messages.

Incidentally, the other vital component of a bulletin board, namely
the push-pins, was invented in 1900 by Edwin Moore, founder of the
Moore Push-Pin Company:

http://www.push-pin.com/mpphist1.html


I hope that this helps!

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Very fast, very detailed.  Thank-you very much.

waxwing-ga:

The idea of a bulletin board made with corkboard for use with tacks
was patented by George Brooks (of Topeka, Kansas) in 1924. The patent
number is 1,494,583. You can view this patent by going to:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-bool.html

Enter 1494583 in the search field, select 'Patent Number' as the type,
and change the range to '1790 to 1975 [PN and CCL only]', then click
Search.

The method described by George Brooks is based very much on hand
construction, so one can only assume that he manufactured and marketed
it himself, or in conjunction with others in Topeka, Kansas.
Unfortunately, because this was back in 1924, there is no information
that can be found about this other than perhaps in the newspaper
archives in the Topeka public library.

If you find this helpful, please let me know and I will post it as the
Answer for you.

Thanks,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Thats a good answer - thanks.  If you have any idea when pinboards
started to become popular in people's homes that would be interesting
too.  Thanks for your help.

As a personal observation, I can recall first noticing pinboards in
people's homes in the late 1950s. I speculate that as more women began
to work outside the home, there was a greater demand for family
messageboards to keep track of activities and grocery lists and such.
Until the late '50s, I can't recall that pinboards were typically
marketed in such a way as to appeal to non-business users. From about
1958 on, it became more and more common to see pinboards and colorful
push-pins sold as household accessories by places like Sears and J.C.
Penney.

I live in an urban area of Oklahoma. I do not know whether my
experience is typical; often we are on the tail end of trends.

Thanks Pinkfreud, thats a helpful recollection/observation which
reinforces my own speculations.  My personal interest in this subject
comes from research i am doing into some artists who appeared to adopt
a pinboard "look" in their art of around this time and, ultimately,
various intersections of high/low culture and aesthetics.  As such,
all of the responses have been most helpful and given me a number of
leads to follow up on - including advertising materials for the stores
you mentioned.  Thanks again.