Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association is a volunteer run charity, established in 1996 and registered as a charity in 1997. The Pen Museum operated by the charity opened in 2001 and a further gallery and activity space was added in 2002. Thanks to funders, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, it is about to redevelop the museum and employ its first paid member of staff.
Its aims are:
To promote and preserve the history and legacy of the steel Pen Trade in Birmingham, for the advancement of the education and benefit of the public.
To maintain a museum that displays the skill and craftsmanship of the Pen Makers and their employees and also houses historic artefacts and ephemera related to the art of writing.
To actively engage with, interest and inform as wide a cross-section of the community in the West Midlands as possible as to the social significance of the introduction of the steel pen, including the wider national and international impact of the Birmingham Pen Trade. To provide opportunities, to develop an interest in written communication and an appreciation of its place in the modern world.
To promote and preserve the history and legacy of the steel Pen Trade in Birmingham, for the advancement of the education and benefit of the public.
To maintain a museum that displays the skill and craftsmanship of the Pen Makers and their employees and also houses historic artefacts and ephemera related to the art of writing.
To actively engage with, interest and inform as wide a cross-section of the community in the West Midlands as possible as to the social significance of the introduction of the steel pen, including the wider national and international impact of the Birmingham Pen Trade. To provide opportunities, to develop an interest in written communication and an appreciation of its place in the modern world.
