Occasionally, objects that are handed down to us from previous generations keep their life stories secret, hiding who made or used them. But, a few feint scratchings and ghost letters can reveal a few clues. The combination of permanent writing lines incised into the slate and the remnants of letters written in chalk confirm that […]
Keyword: writing slate
Scratch, Scratch, Squeak
Imagine the scratchy, squeaky sound this slate pencil made against this slate when five-year-old Alice Conway began practicing her writing on it in 1894 in Berry. Amplify that sound, according to the number of children in her school, all writing at different paces and rhythms, and we hear the uncomfortable noise of a typical nineteenth […]