BLACKBOARDS AND SLATES

by Michael Day

The blackboard is so closely tied to our concept of teaching that it comes as quite a surprise to learn that its history, at least in this country, is relatively short. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that teachers with experience in Europe began introducing the blackboard to their American contemporaries. The first blackboards in America were introduced at West Point Military Academy shortly after 1800 as an aide to teaching geometry. The West Point method was then carried to the Bridgewater (Massachusetts) Normal School by its first Principal, Nicholas Tillinghast, who had graduated from, and later taught at West Point. Gradually the idea spread to other colleges and in time filtered down to the lower levels. That the blackboard was just an oversized version of the child's individual slate was a concept that took American teachers a long time to recognize.

Slates, or individual chalk boards, have played a role in education from the earliest days of the county, but a smaller role than many people think. The school slate seems to have been in common use in Europe by the 1400's, but was little used in American schools, largely because of the expense of  importing them from Europe. Although there were some references to them in the colonial period (they were advertised in newspapers as early as 1737), it was not until the 1800's that they were commonly used. Even then, the "slate" was often a black painted wooden board, rather the thin sheet of stone that we normally think of.

The increased use of blackboards and individual chalk boards after the Revolution reflected changing attitudes regarding the purpose of public education. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the emphasis was on learning to read, first by memorizing the syllables listed on a hornbook, and then by reading the Bible or Psalter. This was in line with the original purposed for which the earliest schools were established: to provide the skills necessary for each person to read for himself the Scriptures. With this narrow view of education in mind, the hornbook became the primary educational tool because it focused on reading to the exclusion of everything else.

In pre-Revolutionary America, writing was considered of much less value and mathematics was viewed largely as an occupational skill needed by only a small number of merchants. Specialized schools were available for teaching those skills, so the students at the local common school probably had little exposure to either subject. With the close of the Revolution, people began to take a broader view of the role of public education; and the consensus grew that writing and arithmetic were skills to which the average students should be exposed.

The introduction of the blackboard fit nicely with this new perspective. Now teachers could present text and numbers to a class regardless of the size of the group, and could change the presentation throughout the day. Children with slates could copy those words and numbers from the blackboard and then practice writing and or explore arithmetic without the added expense of buying paper. Blackboard and individual slates or chalk boards gradually became a standard school items, but often these were homemade. The hornbook, which had been the basic tool of common school education for hundreds of years, disappeared within a generation.

As an aside, it might be noted that at about this same time a game called battledore, somewhat like our game of badminton, became popular. The old hornbooks, now of little value for school use, made very acceptable paddles, and great numbers of them were destroyed in the process.

By the 1830's education leaders were promoting the use of blackboards and slates at every level. The Connecticut Common School Journal of February 1839 recommended that, "In all the operations performed by the pupils . . . blackboards should be used for demonstrations and illustrations." Texts for teachers on the use of the blackboard began to be written. The teachers themselves were a bit less enthusiastic. In 1839, Henry Barnard reported that, "Blackboards are not uncommon, but are little resorted to by the teacher." Early blackboards were, in fact, black boards: large pieces of wood painted with a thick black paint, though there are reports of some people using boards coated with black oilcloth. Slate boards were available, but were far more expensive than the home-made wooden boards. Over time there was a transition to slate, but the use of wooden boards continued (especially in country schools) well into the 20th century. Wooden boards need repainting on a periodic basis, and a number of school supply companies listed "blackboard paint" in their catalogs. Today, spray cans of black "chalk board paint" are still available through most of the large home improvement centers.

For the "sticklers of authenticity".....

If you are restoring an old schoolhouse and are a stickler for authenticity, here is a recipe for blackboard paint from 1853: "Lampblack and flour of emery mixed with spirit-varnish. No more lampblack and flour of emery should be used than are sufficient to give the required black and abrading surface; and the varnish should contain only sufficient gum to hold the ingredients together, and confine the composition to the board. The thinner the mixture, the better. The lampblack should be ground with a small quantity of alcohol or spirit-varnish, to free it from lumps. The composition should be applied to a smoothly planed surface of the board with a common painter's brush. Let it become thoroughly dry and hard before it is used. Rub it down with pumice-stone, or a piece of smooth wood covered with the composition. This composition may also be used on the walls."

To prepare for a group visiting your schoolhouse, you may wish to have on hand a set of individual chalk boards for the young scholars to use. Here is an easy approach: Start with a 4 foot by 4 foot piece of quarter inch plywood and cut it into 35 pieces that measure 6 ½ by 8 ½ inches. Sand, prime and spray each piece with black chalk board paint. A bit of screen molding around the edges will make your boards look a bit nicer. Use a soft white chalk to write with, or again if you are a stickler for authenticity, make your own "blackboard crayons". In the 19th century, the term "crayon" meant "a type of pencil". Here is the recipe for "crayons" from an 1853 publication.

"Directions for making crayons. A school, or the schools of a town, may be supplied with crayons very cheaply, made after the following directions given by Professor Turner of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb.

Take 5 pounds of Paris White, 1 pound of Wheat Flour, wet with water, and knead it well, make it so stiff that it will not stick to the table, but do not so stiff as to crumble and fall to pieces when it is rolled under the hand. To roll out the crayons to a proper size, two boards are needed, one, to roll them on; the other to roll them with. The first should be a smooth pine board, three feet long, and nine inches wide. The other should also be pine, a foot long, and nine inches wide, having nailed on the under side, near each edge , a slip of wood one third of an inch thick, in order to raise it so much above the under board, as, that the crayon, when brought to its proper size, may lie between them without being flattened.

The mass is rolled into a ball, and slices are cut from one side of it about one third of an inch thick; these slices are again cut into strips about four inches long and one third of an inch wide, and rolled separately between these boards until smooth and round.

Near at hand, should be another board 3 feet long and 4 inches wide, across which each crayon, as it is made, should be laid so that the ends may project on each side - the crayons should be laid in close contact and straight. When the board is filled, the ends should be trimmed off so as to make the crayons as long as the width of the board. It is then laid in the sun, if in hot weather, or if in winter, near a stove or fire-place, where the crayons may dry gradually, which will require twelve hours. When thoroughly dry, they are fit for use. An experienced hand will make 150 in an hour."

I'd be interested in hearing how well successful modern school-ma'ams are in discharging this old time chore.

Michael Day has been a regular contributor to our e-newsletter and we thank him again. Visit his website at www.clippership-publications.com for resources for your one-room school museum. He will be a featured speaker at the Country School Association Conference in Nashua, NH, June 18th-20th, 2007.