Acknowledgements I would like to thank the many friends and colleagues who have been so helpful in assisting me with this collection. Most particularly, I want to recognize the efforts of my good friend, Mr. Pedro Zurita, who has gathered slates on his many travels and without whose efforts this would be a much smaller collection. The front portion contains rows of rectangular openings which guide the stylus. The back portion has rows of indentations arranged in cells allowing the stylus to emboss dots on paper. Writing on a slate is done with a stylus, a small handle made of wood or plastic with a sharp metal point.
Styluses come in many shapes and sizes.
While in this collection there are numerous slates that meet this definition, there are also slates with no hinges, slates with no pins, slates that do not write on paper, and even slates that do not produce braille. The glorious variety of slates in the collection shows an enormous amount of creativity. But, unfortunately, the creativity was not always coupled with the best source of materials or production methods. I have selected twenty-five slates from the collection to illustrate slate features that I hope will be an impetus for a consideration and discussion of the redesign of braille slates. The Collection Here are the details for all the slates in the collection.