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Last updated 9/1/2024

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Introduction

Jack James Skillman (usually known as Jack J Skillman) was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on 30th March 1915 and died in Chicago on 12th December 1977.

Possibly uniquely for a famed paperfolder of his era, Skillman was black (see entry for 1977).

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Chronology

1915

According to a brief biography of Skillman in 'The Best of Origami' by Samuel Randlett (see entry for 1963 below), Jack J Skillman was born in 1915 in Terre Haute, Indiana. His gravestone (see entry for 1977) gives his date of birth as 30th March 1915.

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1929

According to a profile of Skillman written by Lillian Oppenheimer in 'The Origamiian' Vol 2: Issue 4 of Autumn 1962 (see below), Skillman began paperfolding in 1929 when he and his brothers bought a copy of Murray and Rigney's 'Fun with Paperfolding'.

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1934

According to the Indianapolis Recorder of Saturday 9th June 1934 Skillman was one of a number of 'coloured graduates' who graduated from Wiley High in Terre Haute, Indiana during this month. (Information from Brian K Webb.)

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1942/48

According to a profile of Skillman written by Lillian Oppenheimer in 'The Origamiian' Vol 2: Issue 4 of Autumn 1962 (see below), Skillman served in the army during these years, and saw service in Europe where he learned the Froebel Star.

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1959

According to a brief biography of Skillman in 'The Best of Origami' by Samuel Randlett (see entry for 1963 below) he made contact with Lillian Oppenheimer in this year.

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According to the exhibition catalogue, Skillman contributed a number of designs to the 'Plane Geometry and Fancy Figures' exhibition held at the Cooper Union Museum in New York in the Summer of 1959:

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1961

Skillman featured, along with Philip Shen and Bill Kruskal, in an article published in the Chicago Daily Tribune of 25th June 1961 where he is described as a senior clerk with the board of health.

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'The Origamian' Vol 2: Issue 2 of Autumn 1961 contains an exposition by Florence Temko of some of Jack Skillman's ideas about the categorisation / classification of paperfolds.

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1962

'The Origamiian' Vol 2: Issue 4 of Autumn 1962 contained a profile of Skillman written by Lillian Oppenheimer which, inter alia, mentions Skillman's 'Parallelopiped' and 'Jackstone'.

It also contains diagrams for two of his designs:

Ani-Mule (2-part compound design)

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Flapping Goose

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1963

'The Best of Origami' by Samuel Randlett, which was published by E P Dutton in New York in 1963 and by Faber and Faber Ltd in London in 1964, contained the following biographical details:

And diagrams for two of Skillman's original designs:

Japanese Lantern

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Butterfly

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1964

'Secrets of Origami', by Robert Harbin, which was published by Oldbourne Book Company in London in 1964, contained diagrams for a number of Skillman's designs:

Couch

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Double Boat

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Armchair

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Salt Cellar Table (also attributed to Uchiyama)

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1965

Vol 5: Issue 1 of 'The Origamian' for Spring 1965 included photo diagrams for Skillman's Jackstone design.

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Vol 5: Issue 2 of 'The Origamian' for Summer 1965 contains a profile of Philip Shen, written by Alice Gray, which states that he was stimulated and encouraged by Skillman:

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The same issue included an article by Fred Rohm, 'On Bases', which also contains references to Skillman:

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1968

On 10th December 1968 Skillman was granted a patent for an Improved Pour Spout for a boxlike container. Full details can be found at US3415439A.

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1969

Skillman's 'Embroidered Ball' , a 2-part modular design, appeared in Issue 4 of the Flapping Bird. (This ball will collapse flat in two directions, but this property does not appear to have been known to its inventor, or at least to have been important enough to be mentioned.)

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1976

On 18th May 1976 Skillman was granted a patent for a folded Pour Spout for a boxlike container. Full details can be found at US3,957,180

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1977

On 5th July 1977 Skillman was granted a patent for the design and assembly of folded paper modules, one capable of producing 'stellated' designs, which is folded from a parallelogram divided into equilateral triangles, and the other 'pierced' polyhedra, which is folded from 2x1 rectangles. Full details can be found at US4033068A.

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Skillman died on 12th December, 1977 and was buried in the town of his birth, Haute Terre, Indiana.

A brief obituary was published in Vol 13 Issue 4 of the Origamian.

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His gravestone is in Grandview Cemetery, Terre Haute (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20286315/jack-james-skillman). My thanks to Peggy Van Norman for this information.

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