Glass Inkwells

Archaeological Objects

ca. 1770 - 1920

Abiel Smith School Digital Catalog

ABS.0044.061

Northeast Museum Services Center, National Park Service

Inkwell inserts
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Students used paper and ink less frequently than writing slates and slate pencils. These glass inserts held ink and were placed within inkwell casings.*

*Information from “Abiel Smith School Digital Catalog” Northeast Museum Services Center, NPS

 

Questions to Consider

  1. Why would students use paper and ink less frequently than writing slates and slate pencils?
  2. As a student of the Smith School, how difficult do you think it would have been to use dip ink to write?

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Smith Court Stories

Smith Court Stories is a collaborative project of the Museum of African American History and Boston African American National Historic Site – a unit of the National Parks of Boston.

The creators of Smith Court Stories acknowledge that Smith Court in Beacon Hill sits on the unceded territory of the Massachusett Peoples, and their neighbors the Wampanoag and Nipmuc Peoples. We recognize these communities have stewarded this land for hundreds of generations.