Description
The 1863 edition of The Massachusetts Teacher, a curriculum manual for teachers, states that there were 16 tablets in the set. It provides the following directions for use of Boston Primary School Slate, No. 2 on page 266: “Write the small script letters and draw the plane figures. Exercises in writing and drawing to be illustrated by tablets and blackboard.” Similar instructions were given in another teaching journal in 1870. In addition to teaching cursive, the curriculum provided for teaching printed words, which was also deemed essential, with Boston Primary School Slate No. 1. It was of similar design but with printed letters as exemplars.
Joseph L. Ross (1798-1879) was proprietor of a Boston based cabinet maker and school supply manufacturer of the mid 19th century. Based on extant advertisements and surviving objects, the firm made school supplies such as desks and chairs, school desk inkwells, and small educational slates. A broadside advertisement of the firm for Ross’s Improved Metallic Inkwell, as well one for Joseph L. Ross, Practical Manufacturer of Desks and Chairs, For School, each provide the address at corner of Hawkins and Ivers Streets, Boston.
Full publication information: Joseph L. Ross, Manufacturer and Proprietor, Boston, Mass. Copyright Secured. Uses explained in the Boston Primary School Manual.
Condition: Generally good for a utilitarian object that would have been used by students in the 19th century. Old chalk marks and stains on slate, as well as one small hole. White printed lines on penmanship side quite worn with losses. Toning, darkening, wear, soiling, handling, some losses to printed paper borders on frame.
References:
Kaminski, David. “The Varieties and Complexities of American Handwriting and Penmanship: Library Hand.” Scalar. https://scalar.usc.edu/works/handwriting/index (3 March 2023).
“Koreznik (Diana) Collection of Art Education Ephemera and Books, Box 66, Item 01.” Online Archive of California. https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8x35359/dsc/ (3 March 2023).
The Massachusetts Teacher (1858-1871). Vol. 16, No. 8 (August 1863). pp. 264-268. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45025751 (3 March 2023).
