C. C. Shepherd's Monitor Slate Desk
date: label: date made
content: ca 1877
notes: label: Description
content: This model is the 1877 Monitor Slate Desk which was also known as Shepherd's Improved Writing Slate Wood Desk. The desk was designed by Charles C. Shepherd of Passaic, New Jersey and New York. It was patented for use in school drawing and penmanship lessons, January 1877.
label: Description
content: This wooden lap desk is comprised of a double sided stone slate top with a small hook to keep closed in transport. The base is wedge shaped to facillitate an angled writing and drawing surface and the base contains three divided compartments for storage of the patterns or stencils, slate pencils and other utensils, and another section contains a cleaning cloth. Double sided interchangable wood slat patterns and heavy card board paper patterns fit across the top in wooden slots on either side. Advertisements claim that the compartments below the hinged lid were used as a receptacle for pictures, slate pencils, and slate-rubber and of course patterns for copying. The interchangable patterns contain line drawings and images that include animals, household objects, human faces, numbers, cursive, symbols, and geometric shapes.
label: Description
content: Charles C. Shepherd was born circa 1835 in New York. He was drafted by the Union Army during the Civil, but by the 1870 census was making a comfortable living as a maufacturer of slates, living in Passaic, NJ married to Anna E. (1849) , and had a growing family. In 1880 he listed himself as a manufacturer of transparent cloth. by 1900 he was an agent of fertilizer. By 1910 his wife was listed as a widow.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York
label: patented; original place of manufacture
content: United States: New Jersey, Passaic
title: label: Title
content: Shepherd's Portable Slate Desk
topic: label: used
content: Education
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Education
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. Richard Lodish American School Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.0244.324
label: accession number
content: 2014.0244
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0244.324
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lap desk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18.5 cm x 26 cm x 6.2 cm; 7 9/32 in x 10 1/4 in x 2 7/16 in