The Hoosier Pen Club is an Indiana-based organization to connect fountain pen collectors from the greater Indiana area and celebrate the joy of fountain pens and ephemera.

About Our Membership

 

We polled members of our Facebook group to see where members are located, and as suspected, we are a diverse group of individuals from across Indiana and surrounding states (Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois). We have seen over the past five years that individuals have driven far (sometimes hours!) from the North, South, East, and West to meet up with with other pen fans.

Because of this broad geographic diversity, we plan to continue hosting meetings in Indianapolis due to its central location. This photo of the map does not include members from more remote states who participate or attend largely through virtual options (as far away as Mexico, Canada, and England!)

  • Katherine Palmisano

    CURRENT CO-PRESIDENT
    INDIANAPOLIS, IN

    Somehow, managing a midwest-based club for fountain pen collectors seems wildly on brand for me. Even as a child, I was always collecting things and trying to start or maintain interest groups. My adult life has been characterized by passionate collections, intense hobbies, and lots of “involvement” (see: President of the Pride Alliance, Chair of the Wellbeing Committee, Indiana Delegate for the ACP Leadership Day, etc). As a collector of hobbies and expert on hyperfixation, fountain pens are a perfect fit.

    I am a life-long stationery aficionado and distinctly remember opening and feeling the paper inside of the 3-subject notebooks at Target to find the best texture to avoid smudgy pencil marks. My fountain pen journey began in February 2017 when a medical student turned great friend on my team showed up with a TWSBI. I fell quickly and deeply down the rabbit hole and attended my first pen show in May 2017 (Chicago).

    This hobby has all the things to make it the best hobby - seemingly infinite depth and complexity in the thing we collect (consider vintage pens, repairs, grinding, ink, paper, custom work, etc) and a wildly passionate and engaged community. I fell in love with the fountain pen community even more than I fell for the pens. I have had the immense pleasure of helping run the Hoosier Pen Club for a number of years after the previous leader stepped down, and it has given me so much joy to bring our community together. It is through the HPC that I met my soon-to-be-wife Renee, so the HPC now holds an even more precious place for us both!

    I am a physician by day. I am board-certified in Internal Medicine and specialize in hospital medicine and wound care. Renee and I live in Indy with our five cats where we have a small vegetable garden and a large rose bed, more art than walls, and a budding collection of mid-century modern furniture, dishes, and accessories.

    Follow me on Instagram @inkykatwrites

    I infrequently blog at www.inkykatwrites.com

  • Renee Lipstraw

    CURRENT CO-PRESIDENT
    INDIANAPOLIS, IN

    As a leftie & lab nerd, I’ve always been on the hunt for the best writing experience. I fell into the world of fountain pens with a Platinum Preppy from Jet Pens in 2018 and expanded collecting slowly to TWSBI, Kaweco and Lamy pens. My experience of the pen community was largely through Reddit in the beginning, and it wasn’t long into collecting that I got some of my first grinds (all through the mail from Kirk of Pen Realm!). I found the Hoosier Pen Club through Katherine - I had been scrolling through fountain pen hashtags on Instagram and noticed one of her posts had Indiana tagged. She told me about the HPC and encouraged me to come to a meeting.

    I attended my first HPC after vaccines made post-quarantine in-person meetings possible, and Katherine and I became fast friends. But it didn’t take long to see there was so much more than a friendship between us. Since joining the HPC, I’ve been to many pen shows, added many pens to my collection, and made many pen friends. So now I have amazing friends AND the love of my life thanks to this incredible hobby! I am not quite the hobbiest that Davy or Katherine are, but I do dabble in mechanical keyboards and pen-adjacent and EDC-related hobbies.

    For my “real” job, I am a clinical microbiologist working in project management for clinical trial design in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. I work from home and as such can control the paper I use, so am able to use fountain pens all day for work.

    Follow me on Instagram @inkyrayray

  • Davy Chinn

    IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
    MARION, INDIANA

    By day, I am a university music professor specializing in choral music. One of the major highlights of my job is that I get to travel around the country and the world with my choir. Choral music has taken me to Italy, South Korea, China, and all over the United States. I have had the privilege of singing with some pretty notable musicians and love being able to share about that part of my life. BUT, we all must have hobbies… So, pens.

    I consider myself a collector of hobbies and collections. I love to learn and research, which is why pens are such an ongoing hobby of mine. I have been into stationery goods since childhood, but my fountain pen journey really began in 2016 (which you can read about on my blog!)

    I am often asked about pens and why I love them so, and my stock - but honest - answer is “I love pens because of the people.” The Hoosier Pen Club and the many online/pen-show friends that I have made through this hobby is the hands down highlight. Secondarily, this hobby has opened my eyes to even more cool hobbies like watches!

    Despite my love of music and my love of pens and pen people, those both pale in comparison to my love of my beautiful (and hobby-supporting) wife, Olivia, and our beautiful daughter Violet.

    Pen TikTok @davychinn

    Follow me on IG @davychinn

    I post so rarely, but when I do it is at www.chinnthings.com