What do you like about doing business in Ohio?
Zaner-Bloser serves schools in all fifty states and internationally, but we remain firmly rooted in Ohio, where our company was founded over 100 years ago. Our strong connection to our history makes doing business in Ohio enjoyable and rewarding.
Description of business:
Zaner-Bloser, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Highlights for Children, is a premier publisher of research-based reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary, and handwriting programs. Our mission is to create dynamic, appealing, and effective educational programs and services that inspire all students to become engaged, literate participants in the global society.
Our handwriting program, Zaner-Bloser Handwriting, has been a national institution for several generations, and we continue to add new products and adapt to the changing educational landscape by developing technology products, such as eBooks and apps.
The company's history dates back to 1888, when Charles Paxton Zaner founded the Zanerian College of Penmanship in Columbus. The school's curriculum prepared students for careers as penmen, who wrote by hand most of the documents used by business and industry.
By 1895, the Zanerian had become the Zaner-Bloser Company, which offered courses in penmanship, published professional materials about handwriting and illustration, and sold handwriting supplies.
In 1904, Zaner-Bloser published The Zaner Method of Arm Movement, a landmark text that taught the simplified style of writing learned by students at the Zanerian to children in elementary schools all over the United States.
Zaner-Bloser became part of Highlights for Children, publisher of the popular children's magazine, in 1972.