In some parts of the US, students have already returned to the classroom, while others are frantically squeezing the last drops of freedom from summer break as they prepare to start a new school year. One school supply that unites most students is the classic, yellow-coated, No. 2 pencil. For centuries, the pencil was a tool so vital that many would use theirs until only a tiny stub remained. An entire market for various pencil accoutrements existed in the 18th and 19th centuries, including a pencil grip called an ‘extender’ that allowed you to use the last bit of a pencil so as not to waste what was, at the time, a precious commodity. Think of it in terms of all the things you buy to enhance your mobile phone or tablet, and then imagine that the pencil once held equal value as a communication device. (In our hearts, it still does.)
Class, please take out a No. 2 pencil…
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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World Chocolate Day
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High above the reef
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Cannes, France, in the spotlight
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Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California
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Pride Month
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Nursing the world to health
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Engineering an artificial harbor in Normandy
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All in a day s work
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Caribou on the move
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Happy Birthday, Eiffel Tower
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Road-trip worthy attraction in the heartland
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Salmon return to the Copper River
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Legacy mural in Philadelphia
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Macro photograph of a migrant hawker dragonfly
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Grand Teton National Park
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Ode to the sun
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International Haiku Poetry Day
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Burrowing owls
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This park is Superkilen
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The Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy
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Oktoberfest begins
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Darwin s Arch
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A monster view in Scotland
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Aw shucks, It s Oyster Day
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A day for our oceans
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Celebrating Minnesota’s statehood
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You re feeling sleepy
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Cherry blossoms spring to life
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Fall for Chile
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Santorini, Greece