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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Ready. Set. Snow.
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A Great view from above
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Across the great plains of Africa
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Monarch butterflies in Angangueo, Mexico
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Lavender fields on the Valensole Plateau in Provence, France
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Watch your step
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Yellow-eyed penguins, Moeraki, New Zealand
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Celebrating Take Your Dog to Work Day
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Sailing across the ice
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Replica of a Viking home in Dublin National Botanic Gardens, Ireland
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Green is the new black
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A long, erratic commute
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To Sua Ocean Trench
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Digging the birds
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Nazar amulets, Goreme National Park, Cappadocia, Turkey
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Spring awakens
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Big Bend National Parks birthday
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Pascua Florida Day
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Monarch butterflies migrate south
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Happy birthday to Crater Lake National Park
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Guiding ships to safety
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Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Arkansas
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50 years of Earth Day
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Honoring those who served
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All eyes on sustainability
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Bearded reedlings in Flevoland
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Batten down the hatches
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Antarctica Day
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National Napping Day
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World Meteorological Day