National Paperclip Day

A Norwegian named Johan Vaaler patented a different paperclip design in 1899, often incorrectly credited as inventing the paperclip. Vaaler's design was inferior (single loops, not double); the Gem design dominated globally. Norway embraced the paperclip as a national symbol anyway. During Nazi occupation of Norway (1940-1945), Norwegian resistance fighters wore paperclips on their lapels, a subtle symbol that fellow Norwegians understood to mean 'we stick together.' Wearing a paperclip could result in arrest by the Nazis. The symbol has endured in Norwegian memory.

In 1998, a Tennessee middle school launched the Whitwell Paper Clips Project, collecting 6 million paperclips to represent the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The project inspired the 2004 documentary "Paper Clips" and built a Holocaust memorial housed in an authentic German railcar (the same kind that transported victims to death camps). The Whitwell project continues today and has received global attention. It's one of the most moving Holocaust education efforts in American history.

Microsoft's 'Clippy' (Clippit), an animated paperclip help-assistant in Office XP (1997-2007), was a controversial Microsoft feature. Users generally disliked Clippy's intrusive suggestions; Microsoft retired the character in 2007. But Clippy has had a cultural comeback, appearing in Microsoft merchandising (Hoodies, t-shirts), referenced in memes, and becoming a nostalgic icon. In 2022, Microsoft briefly revived Clippy as an Office emoji. The humble paperclip has had a disproportionate cultural life, from Norwegian resistance to Microsoft ephemera. National Paperclip Day on May 29 honors all of it.

The surprising reach of a humble object:

How a tiny object became a global artifact: