Frederick Post Model 1795 Blackboard Compass
date: label: date made
content: ca 1950
name: label: maker
content: Frederick Post Company
notes: label: Description
content: In the years following the Civil War, American mathematics teachers began to use oversized compasses like this one to draw circles on a chalkboard. This example was sold by the Frederick Post Company of Chicago. It consists of two maple arms, each about sixteen inches (41 centimeters) long, which are held together by a wing nut at one end. At the other end are a rubber tip and a piece of chalk.
label: Description
content: Makers often sold such instruments as part of a set that also included a straight edge, a protractor, a T square, and a triangle. After passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958, such instruments could be purchased by secondary schools with subsidies from the federal government. This particular instrument was used by Margaret G. Aldrich (1918-2007), who taught at Montgomery College from 1957 to 1984, chairing of the math department on the Takoma Park campus for many years. She had an undergraduate degree in mathematics and an M.A. in psychology, both from the University of Minnesota.
label: Description
content: Blackboard dividers that are different from this instrument are advertised as model number 1781 in the Frederick Post Company's 1930 and 1936 catalogs. The instrument is not shown in the 1949–1950 catalog.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: School
label: Subject
content: Women's History
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Women Teaching Math
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content: Sputnik
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Dividers and Compasses
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of L. Thomas and Margaret G. Aldrich
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1999.0117.01
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0117.01
label: accession number
content: 1999.0117
objectType: label: Object Name
content: compass, blackboard
label: Object Name
content: compass, drawing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: chalk (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 cm x 4 cm x 43.2 cm; 1 9/16 in x 1 9/16 in x 17 in