Construction Crew Goes To Renovate A School In Oklahoma City, Discovers Chalkboards Frozen In Time For Over 100 Years
Emerson North High School is pretty much the closest thing to a time machine there is. In 2015 and 2016, construction crews went there for what they thought was ordinary work. But what they discovered was anything but that — historic drawings from the early 1900s.
The boards contribute to the already rich history of the school, established in 1911. The principal at the time, Sherry Kishore loved the historical treasures. She said they provided a glimpse into people that were in this building before and the way they taught.
More info: okcps.org
At first, workers renovating the school in downtown Oklahoma City discovered slate blackboards with incredibly well-preserved pieces dating back to 1917. They included an old multiplication wheel as well as civic and music lessons. All from the year when the first Jazz record was released. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band would be proud. There were also rules for keeping clean and a vocabulary list with words like “blunder” and “choke” written in cursive.
Later, the school decided to pull old chalkboards to make room for smart boards. Again, workers were called in and again they found priceless artifacts. A detailed rendering of Oklahoma’s Indian territory, more sentences in cursive, and various shapes explaining perspective. Some flowers in different shades of green and yellow. Everything has perfectly stood the test of time.
The current principal of the school, Jack L. Reed, M.Ed., took the position after his predecessor, Ms. Kishore, was promoted to Alternative Education Director for the Oklahoma City Public Schools. She was the one who informed him about the discoveries. “A few [of them] are exposed with an acrylic glass protecting them,” Mr. Reed told Bored Panda. “Others have a sheet of plywood covering them until funding can be received to purchase and install the acrylic glass to expose them.”
“These boards have a significance to the school that the teachers and students could not have realized back in 1917. They have survived the test of time and now represent the school in a way that no person could have imagined.”
People had a lot to say about this
I hope they get the funding to preserve the rest with acrylic too! What an amazing time capsule it was easy to imagine the teachers and kids having a lesson. So cool!
This is awesome!! Seems like the chalk would have fell off after all those years.
Remember when it was your turn to take the erasers outside and bang them together to get the chalk off ?
those, who did it, must have done it on purpose - what a splendid spirit.
Exactly! At first I thought it was an article about Waldorf
Load More Replies...Last summer (summer of 2019), my school built a new building but before we left the old building, everyone in my class marked our names in permanent marker on the whiteboards since they were going to the dump anyway my new school is really good and has 3 floors unlike the old school which had 1 floor (I was late to all my classes across the building but I still am today XD)
Little did the teacher know it was the last time he or she would write on this particular board
Such a unique find, a good thing the workers did not damage the great find, I do wonder about other similar school houses that the history was lost, surely there would have been more, perhaps not all would value the find, and destroyed the blackboards !!!
I went to a one room country school in the backwoods of Tennessee, 1943 thru 1950. Used a slate chalk board also, only 14 students in the school, grades (Pre-Primer thru the 8th grade).
Utterly amazing images that yes should be saved for future people to see what and how things were taught, simply great stuff all round.....
This is an amazing time capsule and yes should be saved at all cost so future generations can see what came before them, utterly great stuff.
I’m guessing you mentioned December 29, 1917, which is colored red. So I looked for that date and ended up being a Saturday instead of a Thursday as it shows in the picture. My curiosity made me look again and then I noticed that the second and third of December are missing in action. Someone was not paying attention that month! Lol.
Load More Replies...This looks exactly like a Waldorf school blackboard does today... my son went to Waldorf school from 3-8th grade ( until 2017) the chalkboards are filled with colored chalk drawings and cursive verse. It was an excellent education!
There were obviously a couple of years out of sinc because Christmas Day 1917 was a Tuesday according to Google!
Kids don't even learn cursive handwriting anymore! I was looking at a catalog that featured summer classes for kids. One was called "Breaking the Code." I thought it was about coding, as in computer programming. No -- it was TEACHING HOW TO READ AND WRITE CURSIVE HANDWRITING! "Our Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence in cursive writing; you will need to learn how to write your name in cursive writing to sign documents." :-O
They teach cursive in Waldorf schools- it's an important part of developing the hand mind connection- I was dismayed that it wasn't being taught in our local public schools- it was one of the many reasons why we switched to Waldorf ( and were so relieved to have done so)
Load More Replies...Hmm. Snopes has this as true. Could've sworn I originally saw this for a different city. Anyway, still a cool find.
Fascinating! However, the calendar for December is not correct. There are 31 days in December and the dates are off. The 25th would have been on a Tuesday. Had to check because December is my birth month. ;-)
Looks like the dates are left over from November with only the 1st being on the right day (sat) and all the others are still on November days and dates, so that might mean the work took place very early December.
Load More Replies...The kid in blue is using a bong. Clearly this chalkboard predicted the future!
Yes back in the days when the schools taught the 4 R's with less indoctrination to PC.
If you'll notice, there is still bias in what was written there - just different bias than what is currently being taught.
Load More Replies...Well, if other cities uncovered similar wonderful time capsules, I'd love to see them too. I guess you're upset when you see more than one story on beautiful old churches, abandoned buildings, or other cool things that happen to occur more than once on this planet?
Load More Replies...I hope they get the funding to preserve the rest with acrylic too! What an amazing time capsule it was easy to imagine the teachers and kids having a lesson. So cool!
This is awesome!! Seems like the chalk would have fell off after all those years.
Remember when it was your turn to take the erasers outside and bang them together to get the chalk off ?
those, who did it, must have done it on purpose - what a splendid spirit.
Exactly! At first I thought it was an article about Waldorf
Load More Replies...Last summer (summer of 2019), my school built a new building but before we left the old building, everyone in my class marked our names in permanent marker on the whiteboards since they were going to the dump anyway my new school is really good and has 3 floors unlike the old school which had 1 floor (I was late to all my classes across the building but I still am today XD)
Little did the teacher know it was the last time he or she would write on this particular board
Such a unique find, a good thing the workers did not damage the great find, I do wonder about other similar school houses that the history was lost, surely there would have been more, perhaps not all would value the find, and destroyed the blackboards !!!
I went to a one room country school in the backwoods of Tennessee, 1943 thru 1950. Used a slate chalk board also, only 14 students in the school, grades (Pre-Primer thru the 8th grade).
Utterly amazing images that yes should be saved for future people to see what and how things were taught, simply great stuff all round.....
This is an amazing time capsule and yes should be saved at all cost so future generations can see what came before them, utterly great stuff.
I’m guessing you mentioned December 29, 1917, which is colored red. So I looked for that date and ended up being a Saturday instead of a Thursday as it shows in the picture. My curiosity made me look again and then I noticed that the second and third of December are missing in action. Someone was not paying attention that month! Lol.
Load More Replies...This looks exactly like a Waldorf school blackboard does today... my son went to Waldorf school from 3-8th grade ( until 2017) the chalkboards are filled with colored chalk drawings and cursive verse. It was an excellent education!
There were obviously a couple of years out of sinc because Christmas Day 1917 was a Tuesday according to Google!
Kids don't even learn cursive handwriting anymore! I was looking at a catalog that featured summer classes for kids. One was called "Breaking the Code." I thought it was about coding, as in computer programming. No -- it was TEACHING HOW TO READ AND WRITE CURSIVE HANDWRITING! "Our Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence in cursive writing; you will need to learn how to write your name in cursive writing to sign documents." :-O
They teach cursive in Waldorf schools- it's an important part of developing the hand mind connection- I was dismayed that it wasn't being taught in our local public schools- it was one of the many reasons why we switched to Waldorf ( and were so relieved to have done so)
Load More Replies...Hmm. Snopes has this as true. Could've sworn I originally saw this for a different city. Anyway, still a cool find.
Fascinating! However, the calendar for December is not correct. There are 31 days in December and the dates are off. The 25th would have been on a Tuesday. Had to check because December is my birth month. ;-)
Looks like the dates are left over from November with only the 1st being on the right day (sat) and all the others are still on November days and dates, so that might mean the work took place very early December.
Load More Replies...The kid in blue is using a bong. Clearly this chalkboard predicted the future!
Yes back in the days when the schools taught the 4 R's with less indoctrination to PC.
If you'll notice, there is still bias in what was written there - just different bias than what is currently being taught.
Load More Replies...Well, if other cities uncovered similar wonderful time capsules, I'd love to see them too. I guess you're upset when you see more than one story on beautiful old churches, abandoned buildings, or other cool things that happen to occur more than once on this planet?
Load More Replies...
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