History of the Home Craftsmen Forum Patch & Logo

by David Houston, 1997

The Home Craftsmen Forum was organized November 11, 1948 and the first meeting was held December 8, 1948. For many years the Forum had no logo and used only the name of the organization on the meeting notices and letterheads.

The following remarks were found in the September 15, 1982 meeting notice. "It was pointed out at an earlier meeting that the club lacks a logo, something graphic to help explain what the group is about. Suggestions would be most welcome. Bring them to the meeting or send them to the return address on this newsletter. Samples will be printed in the next newsletter for discussion at the October meeting."

Three designs were submitted and printed in the October 20, 1982 meeting notice.

1) 2) 3)

Design #1 was submitted by a prospective member, Jimmy Reina. The tools represented are familiar to craftsmen.

Design #2 was submitted by Glen Jable. The house represents the "Home," the saw blade represents the "Craftsmen" and the Roman column represents the "Forum."

Design #3 was submitted by Bob Chiplis. He stated that this was an old logo made up by someone quite a few years ago.

The members were asked to study the submissions and be prepared to discuss the design at the October meeting. Any improvements or modifications to the designs would be considered.

At the October 20, 1982 meeting there was considerable discussion on the subject with several suggestions of modification to the designs. Apparently there was an agreement among the members present to use design #3 with some modifications.

The November 17, 1982 meeting notice carried the following logo at the top. This is a modification of the #3 design.

Although this design was put to use, it was stated in the March 16,1983 meeting notice that "Bergy Bergerson has undertaken to get some professional artwork done on our logo. When this is completed there is a likelihood of having the logo made into a patch that can be sewn on hats, jackets and the like."

The April 20, 1983 meeting notice stated, "Bergy Bergerson will have some exciting developments with our logo. Come to the meeting and give us your input before the logo is finalized."

The design agreed upon in final form is the design we currently use today. This design was first used as the letterhead on the October 19,1983 meeting notice. In this meeting notice it stated that a decision was made to order 300 patches in dark brown on tan with burgundy around the outside. Patches were ordered October 12,1983 from the Thread-Letter Monogram Co., Indianapolis, IN. The patches were received and made available for sale to the members at the November 16, 1983 meeting.

The information in this article was obtained from various past meeting notices in the archives.