Too cool for school: School supplies through the years

By Abigail Constantino
August 22, 2019 | 4:30 AM

Composition Of Multicolored Stationery(Getty Images/iStockphoto/RomoloTavani)

Slates, like the ones above from the 19th century, were often wrapped on the edges to minimize the noise when students open them (like the book slate on the right) or put them down on the desk. — <strong>WRITING SLATES</strong> A writing slate looks like a small blackboard. It was usually made of a hard, flat material, say, a rock called slate. Children used it to practice their handwriting and to do arithmetic. In the 19th century, they used a slate pencil, which was <a href="https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/27169/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made of soapstone or softer pieces of the slate rock</a>. Talk about nails on a chalkboard! A big issue with writing slates was that students could not take notes and had to rely mostly on their memory to retain information. “Your learning would be different back then because you would do a lot of memorization, a lot of repetition,” said Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs, curator of the Division of Cultural and Community Life at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Surely paper was available, then? They had papyrus in ancient Egypt, did they not? Yes, there was paper, but it was expensive. “Not every student could afford to have a paper composition book,” Schaefer-Jacobs said.

Composition books from the Division of Cultural and Community Life at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Second from right is a composition book that features Topsy from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s "Uncle Tom’s Cabin." The composition book on the right is from the 1920s, which represents the Americanization period from the 1880s through the 1920s.

Writing books from the 1840s to 1900s. The blue book on the left is a math book from 1842 that belonged to a young woman. Second from left is a history book from 1900. — <strong>COMPOSITION BOOKS</strong> Paper was very expensive before the Civil War, and it was used sparingly in schools. Composition books were usually reserved for tests or examinations, Schaefer-Jacobs said. “Maybe you would have one composition book per year or per semester.” As paper became less expensive, composition books — which were called tablets — started getting developed.

School supplies often reflected the time period. The pencil box with the American flag and the eagle is from the Americanization period that started in the 1880s, during the beginning of a large immigration wave, curator for the National Museum of American History's Division of Cultural and Community Life Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs said. During this time, there were a lot of immigrants coming in from Mediterranean countries and from Russia, Lithuania and Poland. Some of these immigrants wanted to retain some of their ethnic traditions so that would be why sometimes school supplies would have scenes from their old country, like the pencil case on the top right with a Venetian scene, she said. — <strong>PENCIL BOXES</strong> Pencil boxes were called scholar’s companion and were bought in stationery stores or ordered from a catalog. These were usually gifts that a parent, grandparent or favorite aunt or uncle would give to the student at the beginning of the school year or at the end of the year as a reward for being a good student or as a rite of passage if you go from primary school to the next grade, Schaefer-Jacobs said. Pencil cases were usually made in Germany and transported and sold in the U.S. At about 1915, there were fewer items coming from Germany because of World War I, and more homegrown imagery and materials emerged.

Many writing utensils were called crayons, and they can be wax, charcoal or chalk. For example, colored pencils and chalk were classified as crayons. <span style="font-weight: 400;">In modern English, the term crayon is commonly associated with the wax crayon. </span> — <strong>WRITING MATERIALS</strong> To write on the slate, 19th century school children used slate pencils that you sharpen with a pen knife. When students started using fountain pens in school, teachers would often have a communal jug of ink that would be used to fill students’ inkwells, Schaefer-Jacobs said.

Schoolchildren in the 19th century carried their books with leather book straps.

The modern backpack has changed over time, from this 1960s one-pouch bag made of denim to a multi-compartmented construction made out of nylon and with wheels.

School children used lunch pails made of metal to bring their lunch. — <strong>LUNCHBOX</strong> Lunch pails in country schools were not just for food, they could also be used to get water from the well, gather up coal or wood or cow patties to fuel the stove, Schaefer-Jacobs said. Lunchboxes eventually replaced the lunch pail, and the material of which the lunchboxes were made also evolved, from tin to plastic to nylon lunch bags.

Lunchboxes depicting popular culture are on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's cafeteria.

A lunchbox featuring characters of the TV show "Knight Rider."

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First-day-of-school outfit. Check. New kicks. Check. New pens, crayons, notebooks. Check, check, check. Children may lament the end of summer but there’s no denying the excitement of getting brand-new school supplies.

Take out your slate, here’s what generations of American schoolchildren used to learn their three Rs.

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