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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A national icon
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An uncommon look at an American icon
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International Women s Day
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In honor of those we ve lost
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International Museum Day
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International Literacy Day
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A spectacle unlike any other
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Seventeen arches at sunset
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The power of the forest
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New York City skyline
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Saint Nicholas Day in Verbier, Switzerland
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Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
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Fog above the forest
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Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
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Bird’s-eye view of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
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Red fox
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A big place to shop small
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A wild and scenic scene
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The story of a rediscovered redwood
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Congratulations, 2019 Nobel Prize laureates!
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Everglades National Park, Florida
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Presidents Day
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A polar bear near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
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Tokyo welcomes a futuristic new art museum
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New Orleans for Mardi Gras
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Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California
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Snow aglow in central Japan
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Nazar amulets, Goreme National Park, Cappadocia, Turkey
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Clouds over the River of Grass
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Is that a smile?