Toy Slate

Q:I collect old school slates. I know they wrote on slates instead of paper in schools in past centuries. When did students stop using slates?

A:Slate is still used as blackboards in many school buildings, although new rooms use painted or dry erase boards. Small pieces of slate, usually framed with wood and bound in red cord, were used by American students until about the 1880s. The cord binding helped keep the slate from making scratching noises when it was dragged across a desktop. Early slates were often marked with the owner’s initials. Slates for school children were still being sold in some areas in the 1930s.