Introduction

Background

The blackboard has received relatively little scholarly attention, and has been neglected as a subject of material or historical research.

The literature produced can be roughly categorized as follows::

• the early 19th century - sporadic accounts appeared after the introduction of blackboards to North America shortly after 1800. (Warner; Day) Henry Barnard, like other mid-19th century American educational reformers, endorsed a more accessible education system, which depended upon the dissemination of school instruments and equipment.

• the mid to late 19th century - as a result of the expansion of education and proliferation of educational apparatus, catalogues marketing blackboards were distributed. For example, Roberts, Taylor & Co, a late 19th century blackboard producer, offered a wide range of products for those intent on adding a new board to their institution.
  
• closing decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries - instructional guides and studies sought to rationalize and understand the psychological affects of boards on students.

• more recent historical perspective - some educational histories have reflected upon the place of blackboards in a wider constellation of educational instruments, while others have largely ignored its significance. (Warner) Little work has been done from a material history perspective, excluding such authors as Peggy Kidwell and Robert Day, and has rarely focused exclusively on the blackboard.

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