What The Heck Is A Perrygraf?

American Slide Chart: The Carol Stream, Illinois Company That Has Been Quietly Running the Analog World Since 1970

Most people have never heard of American Slide Chart. But if you’ve ever spun a cocktail mixing wheel, used an HVAC sizing chart, or received a popup college acceptance letter, you’ve almost certainly held one of their products without knowing it.

In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, I finally fulfill a 14-year obsession by sitting down with Nanette Keir, the creative force and public face of American Slide Chart, to explore the full history of the company and the industry it inhabits. From Perrygraf — founded in 1934 by Lester Perry in Maywood, Illinois, and so synonymous with the product that “perrygraf” became the generic term for a slide wheel — to the bootstrap founding of American Slide Chart by James E. Johnson in 1970, to the moment in 1988 when American Slide Chart became so successful it bought back its parent company and became the largest producer of slide charts in the world.

Along the way the conversation covers the Oughtred Society (the secret underground organization dedicated to the preservation of slide rules and calculating devices), the surprising and poignant story of company president Julie Anne Johnson, the tactile analog comeback driven by digital fatigue, and why volvelles and popup polyhedrons might be having their moment again.

This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in print history, information design, Chicago business history, analog technology, or the quiet persistence of companies that do one thing extraordinarily well.

*Bonus* Slide Charts in Hollywood

At one point in time, slide charts were so popular that they popped up in many Hollywood films!  Listen as Nanette and I discuss the charts in Plan 9 From Outer Space, Dr. Strangelove, and Ocean Pacific.  For those keeping score, that’s Ed Wood, Peter Sellers, and John Wayne all holding “perrygrafs”.  Plus we discuss a few of the ones commissioned by the biggest con artist in American history.