From Quill to iPad

Writing Tools Through the Ages

For over 20 years, Dresden-based collector Hagen Kreisch has been gathering writing instruments from past centuries.

Among them are elegant writing tools—such as engraved steel nibs and desk sets made of Meissen porcelain—that reflect their owners’ desire for representation. But above all, his collection is shaped by steel nibs and inks from industrial production. These include inkwells and promotional materials from the Chemnitz-based company Eduard Beyer, which became one of Germany’s largest ink manufacturers in the second half of the 19th century. Documents from the Chemnitz City Archive and private collections complement the company’s history. And since TU Chemnitz is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, it prompts the question: how did students once write, and how do they take notes in lectures today?

When the first pupils began their training at the Chemnitz Trade School 175 years ago, they still wrote with quills and iron gall ink. They took notes with pencils. The paper they used was made from rags. It wasn’t until Friedrich Gottlob Keller from Hainichen invented a process for producing paper from wood pulp in 1843 that paper could be manufactured more cheaply and in larger quantities.

Over the course of the 19th century, the steel nib increasingly replaced the quill, and improved ink formulas made writing easier. The fountain pen eventually evolved from the steel nib. From the 1880s onward, it became a mass-produced item and remains essential for learning to write in many primary schools today.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the typewriter revolutionized office and clerical work. It was also used in universities for official correspondence, such as reports and invoices, while students continued to write out their notes by hand. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the typewriter became more common in private use, though lecture notes were still written by hand—with fountain pens or ballpoint pens.

Today, however, laptops and iPads have long since taken over university lecture halls.