Rob Lammle
The Stories Behind 8 Back-to-School Essentials
by Rob Lammle - August 25, 2010 - 6:09 PM

As always, when the summer winds down, the back-to-school shopping ramps up. New clothes, a new backpack, and, of course, those daunting lists of school supplies that seem to get longer every year. While it’s no fun buying three boxes of facial tissue, a ten-pack of #2 pencils, and two-pocket folders for math, science, and social studies, perhaps knowing more about the supplies you’re buying will make your errands more interesting. At the very least, you can annoy your kids enough with your newfound knowledge that they’ll actually want to go back to school.

1. The Lunch Box

In the early part of the 20th Century, most kids packed their school lunch in an empty cookie, biscuit, or tobacco tin. In 1935, a company called Aladdin tried to create a market for specialized lunch boxes by putting Mickey Mouse on the cover of their tin box. But even The Mouse couldn’t convince kids to buy en masse. Aladdin didn’t give up, though, and they had their first bonafide lunchtime hit in 1950 when they released the Hopalong Cassidy lunch box to young baby boomers. Available in red or blue, the box and thermos combination featured a crudely drawn picture of the popular TV and radio cowboy on one side.

As lackluster as that sounds, Aladdin sold 600,000 Hopalong lunch boxes in a single year. Hoping to hop in on Hopalong’s success, the King of Cowboys, Roy Rogers, asked Aladdin about getting his own lunch box. But Aladdin turned him down, saying one cowboy was enough for them. So Rogers went to American Thermos, who upped the ante by covering the entire box and thermos with a full-color likeness of Rogers, setting a new standard in lunch box design. In 1953 alone, an impressive 2.5 million Roy Rogers lunch boxes were sold. But Roy’s lunchtime reign was short-lived, because you can’t keep a good mouse down. The Disney School Bus, featuring Mickey and the gang, became the most popular lunch box ever with 9 million units sold after it was released in 1956.

During the lunch box heyday, between 1950 and 1970, around 120 million boxes were sold, featuring cartoon characters, comic book heroes, Barbie, and even The Beatles. But things began to change when concerned moms started crusading against metal boxes, claiming they could be used as weapons on the schoolyard. Thanks to these efforts, the State of Florida banned metal lunch boxes in 1972, forcing the manufacturers to switch to plastic. After the change, sales declined quickly until 1985 when a metal Rambo lunch box for kids became the last of its kind. Today, soft, fabric lunch boxes are all the rage, but they still feature popular characters like Spider-Man, Batman, and, of course, Mickey Mouse.

2. Crayola Crayons

Early childhood education started in Europe in the 1820s, but didn’t really take a foothold in America until the 1860s and ’70s, when kindergartens began springing up all over the country. Even back then, art was considered an important part of a child’s education, however most of the art supplies available at the time, like paint or pastels, were very messy in the hands of a five-year old. Wax crayons were recognized as a great solution to this problem, so as many as 300 companies began making them to cash in on the new, lucrative educational market.

However, there was one concern – most of the pigments used to make crayons were highly toxic. So when kids inevitably chewed on their drawing utensil, they wound up getting sick. That is until the Binny and Smith Company developed new, non-toxic pigments as part of their Crayola brand crayons, first released in 1903. The unforgettable name was created by Mrs. Binny when she combined the French word for chalk, craie, with the first part of the word oleaginous, meaning oily, which described the wax used to make the crayons. From their initial offering of eight colors, the line has expanded over the years to include 150 shades, including metallic versions and others with glitter infused into the wax.

And no discussion of crayons is complete without mentioning the classic Sesame Street tour of the Crayola Factory:

3. Elmer’s Glue-All

For almost as long as kids have been eating glue, they’ve been eating Elmer’s Glue-All. First released in 1947 by Borden, the dairy company, the glue wasn’t a big seller until they added the now-familiar bull logo to the bottle. Over the years, rumors have spread that the bull meant the adhesive was made using animal hooves or hides, but those are just urban legends. In fact, the original Glue-All was made from casein, a milk by-product that Borden had in large supply thanks to their dairy operations.

The bull came to be on the label after Elsie, Borden’s famous spokescow, was hired to star in the 1940 film Little Men. Her shooting schedule prevented her from attending the World’s Fair that year where she had always been incredibly popular. So in desperation, Borden found a bull they could use instead, called him Elmer, and said he was Elsie’s husband. Elmer was a big hit with Fair-goers, too, so he became the spokesbull for the company’s chemical division. His face was added to the glass bottle of Glue-All in 1951, which is when sales finally took off. A year later, the packaging changed to the now-familiar white plastic bottle with the orange dispenser tip and has stayed that way ever since.

4. The Mechanical Pencil

One of the drawbacks of the standard #2 pencil is that you have to sharpen it all the time. But with a mechanical pencil, all you do is click, click, click and you’re good to go. It might surprise you to know that this mechanical marvel was first patented way back in 1822 by Sampson Mordan, who called it a “propelling pencil.”

Concealed as a small cylinder, the pencil would expand in length as one end was pulled out, revealing the lead from the other side. When finished writing, the owner would simply collapse the pen into its original form, making the useful little device highly portable. They were especially popular with wealthy Victorians who preferred cylinders of silver or gold, the more ornately decorated the better, sometimes working precious stones into the end cap. Even laymen had propelling pencils, though, often cast in the likeness of animals, Egyptian mummies, cannons for the military man, or disguised as everyday items like nails and screws.

Mordan’s design was just the start of a whole new industry, with nearly 200 mechanical pencil patents filed throughout the late 1800s, most featuring their own unique way of getting the lead out. The push-button, ratcheting design didn’t come along until 1879, but it has stood the test of time and is now the most common type of mechanical pencil on the market.

5. Binder Clips

After your kids finish their first assignment of the school year, a 10-page paper titled, “What I Did Over Summer Vacation,” they’re going to have to bind all those pages together. Thankfully there are plenty of inventions available to do just that.

They could start with the most recent paper-holding innovation, the binder clip. Developed in 1910 by Louis E. Baltzley, the flexible black metal clip with silver handles has remained unchanged for 100 years, proving the old adage, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

6. 3-Ring Binders

Another option would be a 3-ring binder, invented by German office supply innovator Friedrich Soennecken in 1886. Naturally, he invented the hole punch to go along with the binder, too. He also contributed to the style of penmanship known as “round writing,” a predecessor to the cursive handwriting that we all spent hours and hours practicing in elementary school.

7. The Stapler

Of course there’s always the stapler, which went through many variations until Henry Heyl patented his design in 1877. The key difference between Heyl’s stapler and earlier models was the ability to not only punch the staple through the paper, but to also bend the staple prongs under once it was through, thus securing the pages together in one motion. But with Heyl’s design, you still had to feed the staples in one at a time. A spring-loaded magazine was soon developed that could feed the staples into the rest of the mechanism. [Image credit: Daniel Manrique.]

When stationery wholesaler Jack Linksy founded the Parrot Speed Fastener Corporation in the 1930s, few could’ve imagined that his humble company—later known as Swingline—would change the world of paper-fastening forever. But that’s just what he did when he developed the 1937 Swingline Speed Stapler No. 3. According to Linsky’s son-in-law Alan Seff, to load a stapling machine before the Swingline came along, “you practically needed a screwdriver and a hammer to put the staples in. He and his engineers devised a patented unit where you just opened the top of the machine, and you’d plunk the staples in.” Amazingly enough, the mechanics of the modern stapler have remained virtually unchanged.

8. The Paperclip

Last but not least is the granddaddy of paper binding technologies—the mighty paperclip. Since the late-1860s, there had been a handful of bent-wire clasp designs that used friction to hold papers together. But the curved clip we’re all familiar with, known as the “Gem,” was first introduced around 1892. No one ever took out an official patent for the design, so there’s no definitive record of when it was actually developed.

Because of this hazy history, the invention has been attributed to many different people over the years, perhaps most famously to English sociologist and Charles Darwin-enthusiast, Herbert Spencer, who coined the term “survival of the fittest.” There’s also a Norwegian, Johan Vaaler, who designed a series of clips that were successfully patented in 1901, though they were far from the first. However, because patriotic Norwegians wore paperclips on their lapels as a symbol of unity during the Nazi occupation of World War II, the legend of Vaaler’s innovation grew as a matter of national pride. Unfortunately, none of his designs were put into production before his patent expired, so he, nor anyone else for that matter, can truly be called the inventor of the paperclip.
* * * * *
Do you remember your favorite lunch box from your school days? Is there something unusual on your kid’s school supply list this year? Did you have any first-day-of-school traditions? Tell us all about it in the comments below.

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Comments (66)

  1. Fun fact – Swingline didn’t make a red stapler until after the movie Office Space came out and they were bombarded with requests for the product!

    posted by Shandi on 8-25-2010 at 6:29 pm

  2. I have that exact stapler sitting on my office desk. I love Office Space.

    posted by JennieO on 8-25-2010 at 7:57 pm

  3. I remember a few different lunchboxes, particularly my “Green Lantern” one, but what I really remember is how the thermos’s (thermi?) were lined with glass.

    More than once a dropped thermos meant a soup or a drink with a heavy (and dangerous) shattered glass content. Imagine that today – can you say “class action lawsuit”? – but back then it was just one of the things of growing up.

    At some point they stopped exposing or using the glass lining.

    posted by Taz on 8-25-2010 at 8:44 pm

  4. I’m a sucker for office supplies. Thanks for a fun article! And the fun fact Shandi!

    posted by lisaj6112 on 8-25-2010 at 8:51 pm

  5. Thanks for posting the crayon video. A childhood favorite.

    posted by Luke Warm on 8-25-2010 at 9:11 pm

  6. Check out the documentary “Paper Clips” – about a school in Tennessee that used paper clips to symbolize the victims of the Holocaust.

    They talk about the symbolism that the Norwegians had as stated in your piece.

    posted by Leslie on 8-25-2010 at 9:41 pm

  7. Here a link about the Paper Clip Project:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Clips_Project

    posted by Leslie on 8-25-2010 at 9:42 pm

  8. As someone still in school and soon buying all those items, this was a very fascinating article

    posted by Alli on 8-25-2010 at 11:10 pm

  9. I remember seeing the short on crayon making as a little girl watching Sesame Street, and I’ve seen it once or twice online since then. What struck me this particular viewing, however, what that: a) All of the employees featured are old, and are probably now retired.
    b) No one’s replaced them, because the process must be much more automated now.

    posted by Lori on 8-25-2010 at 11:23 pm

  10. I went to school in Florida and I took a metal Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote lunch box to school during 1973-1979. Wow I was breaking the in first grade.

    posted by Christy on 8-26-2010 at 12:11 am

  11. My mom has one of those Hopalong Cassidy lunchboxes. I can’t remember if it was her’s from when she was a kid or if she bought it someplace as an adult. I just know that she has had it my whole life.

    posted by Eric on 8-26-2010 at 5:04 am

  12. The trombone was invented when Chuck Norris blew into a paperclip.

    posted by Chris on 8-26-2010 at 7:09 am

  13. OH MAN, the Sesame Street vid of how crayons are made is my FAVORITE childhood TV memory. The best part about going back to school was always the hopefull smell of a fresh box of crayons.

    posted by Me on 8-26-2010 at 8:08 am

  14. Aladdin made my blue plastic My Little Pony lunchbox.

    posted by Emily on 8-26-2010 at 8:37 am

  15. I had a blue plastic lunchbox too, Emily, and it was also made by Aladdin… but mine had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it. Actually, I had a red one, too, with the Real Ghostbusters on it.

    At some point they switched over to the same lunchbox, with different sticker art plastered on the front… I wonder if, somewhere, there exists an inventory of un-stickered plastic Aladdin lunchboxes?

    posted by Aaron on 8-26-2010 at 9:47 am

  16. I love stories like this, keep them coming!

    posted by Chris on 8-26-2010 at 10:44 am

  17. Oh and fun lunchbox fact, in the movie Spaceballs, they show “Spaceballs the lunchbox” its actually a Transformers lunchbox with a Spaceballs logo slapped on it. I have the Transformers one and you can see that the picture is the same!

    posted by Chris on 8-26-2010 at 10:48 am

  18. I was in the Peace Corps in Bangladesh and it was very interesting seeing the lack of stapelers in the office and banks (of my city at least). Everyone used straight pins to attach documents together.

    posted by Stu on 8-26-2010 at 11:51 am

  19. “Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler…”

    I had metal lunchboxes from The Incredible Hulk and The Fall Guy when I was growing up. Later on, I had a plastic Garfield one. I think they’re still at my parents’ place!

    posted by Steve from San Diego on 8-26-2010 at 12:18 pm

  20. My favorite lunch box was the “U.S. Space corps” box of my early grade school years.
    the neat thing about this was the rocket-shaped thermos.

    A pristine model of this lunch box is on exibit at the Udvar-Hazey center of The National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC

    posted by Patrick Sweeney on 8-26-2010 at 12:21 pm

  21. Also, Milton’s stapler was made for the movie (and Stephen Root took one of the 4 props!); the Swingline 747 that’s on the market isn’t a full replica – the Swingline logo is on top of the stapler.

    I’m afraid to get one, as I know it’ll be missing from my desk eventually.

    posted by Steve from San Diego on 8-26-2010 at 12:30 pm

  22. I have one favorite lunchbox- my metal R. Crumb Devil Girl lunchbox. It’s a hit at work.

    posted by Paige on 8-26-2010 at 12:40 pm

  23. I still have my Dick Tracy metal lunchbox from the 60s. Dick Tracy was an animated detective show on Saturday mornings.

    Here’s a picture:
    http://www.ioffer.com/i/1967-dick-tracy-metal-lunch-box-6804110

    posted by Common Sense on 8-26-2010 at 1:00 pm

  24. “Back in the day” as my kids would say, we only had to bring school supplies for ourselves, not the entire class. In elementary school, they usually consisted of a Big Chief tablet, #2 pencils, crayons, glue, a ruler, and rounded-tipped scissors, all of which fit into a cardboard pencil box.

    As we got older, the Big Chief tablet was replaced by lined paper and we added things like a compass and a protractor.

    posted by Common Sense on 8-26-2010 at 1:07 pm

  25. Anybody know what happened to paste? The kind in the jar with the little paddle inside the lid to spread it around? Just a passing thought – not sure it’s still around.

    posted by Roger on 8-26-2010 at 1:17 pm

  26. I remember eating paste, NOT elmer’s glue. I’ve never heard of anyone eating elmer’s glue — we used to spread it thinly on our palms and fingers so it would dry and we would try to peel it off in one piece!

    posted by Heidi on 8-26-2010 at 1:21 pm

  27. My coolness peaked in the 2nd grade when I had a Rambo lunchbox. Since then, it’s been all downhill.

    posted by Lazlo on 8-26-2010 at 1:30 pm

  28. I beg to differ about Rambo being the last metal lunchbox being made. Just took my son back to school shopping and they had a small selection of metal boxes with characters on them (like 3 choices). I was excited to see them but he was uninterested.

    posted by Nancy on 8-26-2010 at 1:32 pm

  29. @Common Sense – I had a red plastic Dick Tracy lunch box, but mine was from the 1990 Warren Beatty movie.

    I’ve still got my metal Bernstein Bears lunch box from kingergarten. I love it. And by the way, it was purchased after 1985, so I’m not sure about that reference.

    Wow–I had no idea that there were other people who love the Sesame Street Crayola tour as much as I do! Two of my favorite childhood memories are that one and the one when they toured the peanut butter factory. I was never much of a PB&J kind, but every time I saw the peanut butter video I asked my mom for a slice of bread with peanut butter on it, as that was what the girl in the video was eating.

    posted by Elle on 8-26-2010 at 1:32 pm

  30. Back in my day, I lived a block from my school and would walk home for lunch. On the rare occasions I got to stay, I had to take my lunch in a brown bag. I was always jealous of the kids with the fancy lunchboxes. I remember one of my friends had the school bus box pictured in the article.

    I was also jealous of the kids with the big 64-count boxes of crayons with the sharpener in the back. My mom would only let me get the 16-count box. But as soon as I was an adult with my own spending money, I bought myself the big box. Still have it!

    posted by Carolyn on 8-26-2010 at 1:40 pm

  31. I can’t believe nobody mentioned trapper keepers!! Those were the cool things to have when I was in school. Maybe I’m a bit younger?…
    I love that Crayola video though, too!

    posted by Jamie P on 8-26-2010 at 1:51 pm

  32. Oh, and my favorite from kindergarten were those little square crayons that had all the different colors melted into them. Oh sweet, sweet memories.

    posted by Jamie P on 8-26-2010 at 1:52 pm

  33. My metal lunchbox was a Strawberry Shortcake, complete with thermos, just what the well prepared first grader carried in 1980. I assume my mother gave it to Goodwill sometime after I outgrew it, but I wish I had it now for my little girl.

    posted by Maranda on 8-26-2010 at 1:52 pm

  34. I have personal knowledge of how effective the metal lunchbox is as a weapon (although flimsy). Between first and second grades, I broke 4 Barbie lunchboxes over my neighbor’s (and classmate’s) head.

    Ah, good times in the Catholic schoolyard!

    posted by Katie on 8-26-2010 at 2:00 pm

  35. I had a metal Holly Hobby lunchbox and I loved it. I think it’s still in my parents garage.

    posted by Cattye on 8-26-2010 at 2:02 pm

  36. I have a tiny Star Wars lunch box christmas ornament. I love it!

    The game Fallout 3′s collector’s edition comes in a metal lunchbox that I very much want.

    posted by hockeyzombie on 8-26-2010 at 2:09 pm

  37. @Lazlo, my coolness peeked about the same time but because I had a G.I. Joe Aircraft Carrier

    posted by hockeyzombie on 8-26-2010 at 2:10 pm

  38. Around 1974-75, I envied my older siblings in Jr High because they got to use their own:

    Pee-Chee folders.. they were just folders in a peach-y color, but they were cool..
    Anyone else remember those?

    posted by John on 8-26-2010 at 2:45 pm

  39. Wierd that the 3-ring binder was invented in Germany… now they only use the 2-ring kind!

    posted by hflipper on 8-26-2010 at 2:54 pm

  40. Jamie P: Trapper keepers were too new for me when I went to school. We only had the Pee Chee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Chee_folder

    Oh the drawings we would do on the front…I remember the basketball drawing on the back… Used to draw a stake and hammer being pounded into his chest… ah the dreams of boys.

    posted by Disco on 8-26-2010 at 3:05 pm

  41. A man at my church worked at Aladdin (Nashville, TN plant) when I was growing up. Every year, he would ask who my favorite character was and bring me and my sister a new metal lunch box the following Sunday. Some that I remember were Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobby, Casper the Friendly Ghost (had a game on the back with a built in spinner!!!!), and the official BeeGees lunch box. It was great! The last thing I received from him (about 1997-98)was a insulated mug that holds 128 oz of drink!!!

    posted by dee on 8-26-2010 at 3:45 pm

  42. I had the rubber/plastic Holly Hobby & then graduated to the Tupperware lunch box with a separate container for my sandwich, chips, fruit, etc. I still don’t like my food to touch!

    posted by Tricia on 8-26-2010 at 3:58 pm

  43. Boy did this take me back! I had Trapper Keepers too.

    On another note, did anyone else to to schools that passed out those brown paper book covers? You had to fold them a certain way over all your textbooks (because they were on loan from the school) to protect them. I remember how we used to scribble all over those things! They were seriously ragged by the end of the school year.

    posted by Fran on 8-26-2010 at 4:25 pm

  44. @ Chris — i just spit my water out all over my desk after your comment… Thank you! I love CHuck Norris!

    posted by Jennifer on 8-26-2010 at 5:46 pm

  45. Jamie P:

    Trapper Keepers were definitely on my list of supplies to investigate for this story. Unfortunately, I simply couldn’t find much about their history other than personal stories and a few galleries of the crazy cover designs. I will say, though, that Trapper Keepers are still available today (www.meadonline.com/Trapper/home.aspx), though they’re not nearly as obnoxious/awesome as they were back when I was a kid.

    posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 8-26-2010 at 6:06 pm

  46. excuse me, do you have my stapler

    posted by where is carmen san diego on 8-26-2010 at 7:10 pm

  47. @Maranda, I had a hand me down Strawberry Shortcake one from my older sister as well! My brother had a Peanuts one.
    I loved that video of the Crayola factory! If you find that interesting, you would probably enjoy How It’s Made on the Science Channel and Discovery Channel.

    posted by SaraP on 8-26-2010 at 8:14 pm

  48. @Carolyn – I did the same thing, as soon as I was out on my own, I got the biggest box of Crayolas I could find. It remains sitting on my desk, just for the principle of it!

    posted by Nyghtbeauty on 8-26-2010 at 8:47 pm

  49. I had that Disney School Bus lunchbox! But I wrecked it, because I pushed it down the street like a bus, and the bottom got all torn up. Damn you, 5-year-old self! I’d love to have that lunchbox today, how cool would that be?

    Did anyone else take the ink pads out of Magic Markers and put them in their glue to make colored glue?

    posted by Karen in Japan on 8-27-2010 at 3:15 am

  50. @Common Sense – Dick Tracy was a comic strip character way before he got on Saturday morning TV. He had a squared-off nose and chin and he spoke out of the side of his face.

    posted by Berbert on 8-27-2010 at 8:54 am

  51. Guess I’ll have to ask my mom if she remembers what lunchbox I had. Can’t remember for the life of me. I know it was metal because I remember it became bent for one reason or another, (the evil big brother most likely), and it was almost impossible to close….or open for that matter. But I mostly remember the smell when I opened it at lunchtime. I can almost smell it now just thinking abou it.

    posted by shaker on 8-27-2010 at 11:13 am

  52. I had a red Swingline stapler (small version) in the 70s. So they did exist before the movie. I had a metal Batman lunchbox in the 60s.

    posted by Border Bonnie on 8-27-2010 at 12:05 pm

  53. The Tot staplers were red, yes, but not the full-sized ones.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 8-27-2010 at 12:22 pm

  54. I had The Popples lunchbox in the 80s. Still have the thermos

    posted by Tigerbitten on 8-28-2010 at 1:48 pm

  55. blue plastic captain planet lunch box. my sister had a pink one with some girly thing on it, but I had to have CAPTAIN PLANET. (yes, I’m a girl. nope, I still don’t care for pink)

    posted by moonablaze on 8-29-2010 at 1:18 am

  56. I had a neon orange plastic lunch box with Thermos, Thermos brand of course. I had that until grade 5 when it was no longer cool to have a lunch box and moved on to the brown paper bag.

    I bought the red Swingline stapler for my husband and parked it on his desk, right next to his “I (heart) Source Code” bumper sticker.

    posted by Eden on 8-29-2010 at 12:09 pm

  57. @Emily and Aaron- I had a pink MY Little Pony lunch box.

    posted by Sara in Al on 8-29-2010 at 2:17 pm

  58. I had a metal Pac Man lunchbox around 2nd grade…I remember a girl at school must have been using her older sister’s because she had a Welcome Back Kotter lunchbox.

    posted by Jenny Jen Jenn on 8-29-2010 at 3:48 pm

  59. Oh, Trapper Keepers, how I loved them! Remember the brightly colored ones with unicorns and whatnot? Designed by Lisa….something. I HAD to have anything with her designs. Even as a not-particularly-frilly little girl, I loved those things.

    posted by Kate on 8-30-2010 at 1:17 pm

  60. I’ve always wondered, if we’re not supposed to eat paste, why did they make it mint flavored?

    posted by Anne on 8-31-2010 at 4:43 pm

  61. I remember having the Charlie’s Angels metal lunch box in the 70′s.

    posted by Jackie on 8-31-2010 at 4:58 pm

  62. I heard a story, that sounds like an urban legend, about the invention of the paper clip. Supposedly invented by some unknown fellow who was down on his luck. As he was playing around with a bit of wire he came up with the design and, either because he needed money fast, or just didn’t see the potential in the invention, he immediately sold it and walked away from a possible fortune.

    @Paige-That’s right up there with my R. Crumb weirdo badge.

    posted by Macho Business Donkey Wrestler on 8-31-2010 at 8:05 pm

  63. the article covers elmer’s glue, but what about paste? i always wondered about the history of paste, which is perhaps the most ubiquitous of kindergarten.

    posted by Alicia on 8-31-2010 at 10:50 pm

  64. Glue and paste are all well and good, but for me growing up, one of the most life-changing school supplies was rubber cement. It was easy to use, relatively neat, held virtually anything together, and unlike glue or paste, it was flexible, so your artwork didn’t crack if bent. Plus, you had to love the smell… :)

    Another interesting school supply is the electronic calculator. I’m old enough to remember when they were still considered exotic, and their introduction into the classroom was controversial. Not to mention the fact that even a base model (the equivalent of which can be had for a buck at any dollar store today) cost hundreds of dollars. Today, kids are routinely equipped with scientific calculators that would make Einstein envious.

    posted by Brian on 9-3-2010 at 1:35 pm

  65. I had a DC Comics superheroes lunchbox as a kid back in the mid-70s. Loved it. And I still remember the feeling I got as a five-year-old opening up a fresh box of Crayons. Thanks for a great post.

    posted by Shel on 9-7-2010 at 4:25 am

  66. @Kate You’re thinking of Lisa Frank

    posted by anna on 9-6-2011 at 4:56 pm

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