24 February 20

Thomas W. Holley was born in Canada around this date in 1860. In 1888, while working in a paper mill in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Holley got the idea to bind up the paper scraps (known as "sortings") into pads that could be sold cheaply. The result was our well-known legal pad, although the origins of the standard yellow color and the red margin marking (called "down lines") are obscure. This date has been celebrated (at least once, in 2011) as National Office Supply Day. In other news, today is also recognized as National Tortilla Chip Day!