First National Bank of Morris blotters

Before the days of the inexpensive ballpoint pen people used pens with ink that had to flow easily.
The ink didn't always dry quickly so to prevent smearing people would "blot" the ink.
Some banks gave out free ink blotters just for this purpose. Five ink blotters loaned
by Rene Elliott are shown here. Some were used and if so the back side is also shown.
Most had no dates, but a few were from 1953 when the First National Bank of Morris, NY
celebrated its "Sixtieth Year of Sincere Service."

Again, the blackbirds sing, the streams wake, laughing, from their winter dreams. And tremble in the April showers, The tassels of The Maple flowers. Whittier

For over Sixty Years this bank has rendered sincere and efficient Banking Service to its many clients in the Butternut Valley and surrounding territory. Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [Notes: The photograph "Desert Solitude" is from Ewing Galloway, labelled B-3512. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewing_Galloway Ewing Galloway, ran a stock photo agency that was once the largest in the USA. Some of the photographs from the collection are in the Library of Congress. Over 400,000 photographs from his agency are held by Syracuse University.]