Taking Note of National Pencil Day
Dixon Ticonderoga Company Ethan Allen pencils and American flag slate pencils. Photo: National Museum of American History/Dr. Richard Lodish American School Teaching Collection
Happy National Pencil Day! A perfect opportunity to look at how collectors can love everyday objects — like pencils. Slate pencils were made of soapstone or softer pieces of slate rock, sometimes wrapped in paper. Other early writing instruments used lead rods. Then a large deposit of the magic material, pure carbon called graphite, was […]