We hope very soon to provide our web site visitors with a complete on-line catalog of our museum collection: books, artifacts, prints, and documents. Currently we are transferring our catalog to a new program, so please be patient. Thanks.
Our Collections
Artifacts
The Blackwell is home to more than three thousand artifacts that deal with the history of education. Included in this variety of material are slates, school bells, school furniture, school lunch boxes, pencils, pencil sharpeners, educational games, antique AV equipment, pull-down wall maps, inkwells, and so on.
Books
There are more than 11,000 books in the growing Blackwell collection. Most of the holdings are schoolbooks on a variety of subjects including reading, spelling, grammar, math, geography, etc. There are also teacher editions, teacher education books, and several reference books on a variety of topics in the history of education.
Special Collections
Hornbooks
This collection consists of approximately 50 original hornbooks as well as a number of research publications pertaining to hornbooks. A highlight of this collection is an original copy of the 2-volume set of Tuer’s History published in 1896.
History of Education Slide Collections
Glass Slides
The Blackwell has hundreds of original glass slides including the small, hand-painted slides used in toy magic lanterns. The Blackwell also houses a rare set of stereopticon views on the history of education consisting of lantern slides created in 1912 by Professor Monroe.
35 mm Slides
The Blackwell also holds a set of 5000 slides that includes the images on Monroe’s stereopticon views. It also contains images of many artifacts in the museum.
Print Collection
There are approximately 200 prints, lithographs, paintings, etc. in this collection. They all depict various school-related activities. Each print has been individually framed and are on display in various locations throughout the College of Education.
Antique School Sampler Collection
There is a sizeable collection of 18th and 19th century antique school samplers in the Blackwell. This collection includes other examples of student needlework and several reference books on the subject.