A Pee-Chee folder art hack—afros, hairy legs, and frying eggs
(image: Greg Narvas, Flickr)
Posted on 09/02/2014 2:38:46 AM PDT by beaversmom
A Pee-Chee folder art hack—afros, hairy legs, and frying eggs
(image: Greg Narvas, Flickr)
Growing up in Denver, I called sugary, carbonated beverages “pop.” When I moved to California for college and all the coastal kids called it “soda,” I realized just how much geography defines even the most quotidien bits of our lives (I now call it “soda,” too.). I had that realization all over again recently while reminiscing about Pee-Chee folders, encountering a completely blank stare from a New York-native friend who had never heard of them. And here I’d thought the pulpy paper pockets had been a part of every American’s back-to-school memories.
Naturally, I had to look into the history of the Pee-Chee, which as far as I could recall had come in just one color and design. Of course, the school supply aisle was probably as diverse a few decades ago as it is today, lined with Trapper Keepers of a thousand neon faces. But somehow the Pee-Chee wasn’t left behind in favor of flashier options—probably because kids knew that hacking the face of their folder themselves was a far superior personal statement to choosing between the plastic unicorn binder and the plastic race car binder.
Modifying the message on a Pee-Chee folder
(image: Greg Navas, Flickr)
In case you grew up outside of Pee-Chee territory, the folder was, as you might guess, peachy-yellow in color, with vertical side pockets on the interior rather than the more common horizontal pocket at the base. The inside contained multiplication tables and other practical reference charts for students. The outside was adorned with line drawings of young people playing sports. The illustrations are iconic (to those in the know), yet pretty boring. In fact, even the man who drew them, Frances Golden, sounds like he was bored when he executed the project back in 1964 (the very first Pee-Chee folder was released in 1943 but it was Golden’s cover design that became best known).
Golden was interviewed for an article in the Spokane Chronicle in 1989, when he was 73 years old. According to the author, the artist “had to be reminded what a Pee Chee is.” After having his memory jogged, he remarked simply, “‘When I look back, it was rather insignificant…It was probably a rush job, I did it over a weekend or some night and that was it.’”
While Golden did commercial work throughout his career, his watercolor paintings were at the center of his own identity as an artist. His portrayals of sport fishing, hunting, and wildlife donned the pages of Collier’s, Sports Illustrated, Audubon, and the covers of L.L. Bean and J.C. Penney catalogs. Indeed, reading Golden’s biography at the gallery that now represents his work elucidates just how little his commercial illustrations meant to him compared to his painting. “e was highly respected as a wild life and sporting scene painter probably because with enthusiasm and gusto he painted what he knew with competence and virility,” says the biography. He was named one of the 12 best outdoor artists in the nation by Sports Afield. In 1939, according to his biography, he painted the background on Salvador Dali’s Dream of Venus pavilion for the World’s Fair in New York City. Golden is (or was—I have been unable to verify whether he’s still living) also ”a tenor in a barbershop quartet, bakes apples pies gourmets envy and is considered ‘a macho Renaissance man’ by those who know him well.”
A Pee-Chee dyptych,
by Rain Jokinen (image: Rain Jokinen)
And yet, or those of us who do not know him well, Golden is the man who, 48 years ago, doodled the coed athletes on top of which millions of students would doodle inappropriate appendages, death metal band names, and screeds against substitute teachers. And while not every American kid had one in their school days, the retro fetishism that exists for Pee-Chees today has turned the folder into a nostalgia object even for those who missed it the first time around. Just check out this vintage-inspired swag for Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward’s indie duo She & Him. And this Patrick Martinez art piece-cum-tee shirt design for Upper Playground (scroll down).
These days, Mead Corporation sells the folders in five colors, and has tried to move away from the confines of peach hues by renaming the product “Color Talk Pee-Chee Folder.” But as of this writing, the version closest to the original is the only one that’s sold out on the Mead site. Because it’s hard to see blue Bic ink on teal or raspberry cardboard. And that’s the whole point.
See article at Smithsonian.com
I’m 65 years old, I raised three children and I’ve never heard of nor seen a Pee Chee folder before. Must not have been common on the East Coast.
BTW, I came to CO from Maine in 1975 when I was 7. It was odd when I heard my friend refer to "soda" or "coke" as "pop".
Never seen it in Dallas...or Texas.
Lol...I wish I had a Pee Chee map! :) Pee Chees were big here in Colorado. Everyone had their Pee Chees on the first day of high school. Of course, they only cost about a 25 cents back then. It can’t only be Colorado, though. Gotta be some other people out there in FRland that remember the folder that grew up in another state.
These relatively inexpensive folders are made of card stock and have two internal pockets for the storage of loose leaf paper. The pockets are printed with a variety of reference information including factors for converting between Imperial and metric measurement units, and a multiplication table. The folders have fallen out of general use by the 2000s, but are available from Mead as of 2014.
The illustrations on Pee-Chee folders changed occasionally over the years, but usually depict high-school-age students engaged in sports or other activities. Artist Francis Golden, best known for watercolors of fishing and hunting, drew the illustrations that have graced the Pee-Chee folders since 1964. It became popular to deface these figures, often with scurrilous doodles and thought balloons. The major difference between Pee-Chees and other paper folders is the inside pockets. Pee Chees have pockets located at the sides, not the bottom, which prevents the contents from falling out if the folder is inadvertently stored upside down.
The Pee-Chee portfolio was given its name because the folders were initially only available in peach; the folders are now available in five colors and have been renamed “Color Talk Pee-Chee Folders″, but the original yellow-peach color remains the most popular by far.
The retro Pee-Chee illustrations now add nostalgic flair to official merchandise for the indie duo She & Him, which consists of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, T-shirts, and iPad cases.
Pee Chee folder “art” from the 70s and 80s:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/peecheefolderart/
Just had chalk’n boards, did ya?
Pee-Chees were also big on the entire West Coast. I had them going to school in Washington State.
And I also remember the Trapper Keeper! I had one of those as well. Wish I still had it, too! I know they still sell the Trapper Keeper, but I recall the original designs. They were pretty cool, and quite handy. Now that I’m teaching English, I can tell you there’s nothing like that here in Europe, unless you want to go an office-supply store and pay and arm and a leg for an organizer, typically, leather-bound here.
Wow, that’s quite a list! Great job. know we had a Zayre’s here in Colorado when we arrived in the mid-70s. And the Woolco was near my high school in the 80s. I liked that department store. When I was in middle school, I can remember dabbling in some theft from Woolco! I think I stole a lip gloss. And I do remember MacFrugal’s, too. It was where the Woolco had been! :) We also had one here when we arrived called Yellow Front. Joslins was a department store that went out of business. I’m not sure of the stores we had in Maine. I would have to ask my mom.
Wow, I’m glad someone other than a Colorado person remembers. :) I can’t recall offhand what the original Trapper Keepers looked like, but I’m sure I would remember them if I saw them. It’s kind of coming into my mind, but not quite. Lol...on the tip of my brain. I’ll have to try to search on the web and see if I can come up with anything.
And old teachers in dark grey long dresses, grey hair, glasses and orthopedic shoes! Didn’t get a younger teacher until I was in the 4th grade.
We also had Skaggs Drugs, followed by Osco, then followed by Payless Drugs. All gone.
They were must haves In Pittsburgh PA...everyone had them. And we drove the Nuns nuts with what we did to them.
Yes, that is what was starting to come to my mind (see below for images). Didn’t they have velcro that kept them closed?
Skaggs was the food store of choice in the 70’s, Piggly Wiggly was another until they left DFW.
So Pee Chees were in the East?! Interesting.
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