Richmond No. 50 Junior Spelling and Counting Educational Board
date: label: date made
content: 1940-1955
name: label: maker
content: Richmond School Furniture Company
notes: label: Description
content: This oval shaped red, spelling and counting board has two slots in the center to be used to create words and sentences. One side features letter tiles for spelling and the rear displayes numbers and operator symbols for creating simple math equations. Both sides are illustrated with an old woman in a shoe nursery rhyme and objects with corresponding numbers. This Model 50 spelling and counting board was a popular model according to advertisements and was manufactured by the Richmond School Furniture Company.
label: Description
content: Richmond School Furniture Company was founded in 1892 in Richmond, Indiana by Quaker lawyer, manufacturer William Foulke Spencer (1833- 1920). The company manufactured school furniture such as desks, benches, chalkboards, as well as office furniture like Wooten type desks, and church furniture. Spencer also was granted 2 patents for Improvement in School Furniture: 176,701 on April 25, 1876 (CL.65.0397 in the NMAH collections) and patent 179,877 on July 18, 1876 (see CL.65.0513 in the NMAH collections). He later was issued a patent for an opera chair. By 1880, Spencer was listing his profession as a manufacturer of school furniture, having joined the firm originated by John P. Allen and George H. Grant. It became Haynes, Spencer & Company. When it was destroyed in a fire in 1892, he founded the Richmond School Furniture Company. After an 1840 fire in the Cressco manufacturing plant, Horatio Cress sold his patent rights for education boards to the Richmond School Furniture Company and they expanded their product line to include educational toys. The company remained headquartered in Muncie, Indiana until 1961 when they went out of business.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Indiana, Muncie
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: 2014.0244.057
label: accession number
content: 2014.0244
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0244.057
label: model number
content: 50
objectType: label: Object Name
content: spelling and counting board
label: Object Type
content: educational toys
label: Object Type
content: educational toys
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 cm x 33 cm x 2 cm; 9 7/16 in x 13 in x 25/32 in