Richmond No. Y32 Junior Spelling and Number Educational Board: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This model Y32 educational board is an approximately 9" square bright red spelling and counting board with two slots in the center for spelling words or creating short sentences on the front side with letter tiles. The rear side features numbers and mathmmatical operators for simple mathematical equations. Both sides show a farm in the center and a border consisting of labelled farm animals. Four metal "bridges" or supports on the numbers side provide stability and are original to the board. This spelling and counting game board was manufactured by the Richmond School Furniture Company.

Richmond School Furniture Company was founded in 1892 in Richmond, Indiana by Quaker lawyer, manufacturer William Foulke Spencer (1833- 1920). The company manufactured school furniture such as desks, benches, chalkboards, as well as office furniture like Wooten type desks, and church furniture. Spencer also was granted 2 patents for Improvement in School Furniture: 176,701 on April 25, 1876 (CL.65.0397 in the NMAH collections) and patent 179,877 on July 18, 1876 (see CL.65.0513 in the NMAH collections). He later was issued a patent for an opera chair. By 1880, Spencer was listing his profession as a manufacturer of school furniture, having joined the firm originated by John P. Allen and George H. Grant. It became Haynes, Spencer & Company. When it was destroyed in a fire in 1892, he founded the Richmond School Furniture Company. After an 1840 fire in the Cressco manufacturing plant, Horatio Cress sold his patent rights for education boards to the Richmond School Furniture Company and they expanded their product line to include educational toys. The company remained headquartered in Muncie, Indiana until 1961 when they went out of business.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1948-1955
• maker: Richmond School Furniture Company
• Object Name: spelling and counting board
• Object Type: educational toys
• Object Type: educational toys
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: cardboard (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 21 cm x 24 cm x 2.5 cm; 8 9/32 in x 9 7/16 in x 31/32 in
• place made: United States: Indiana, Muncie
• used: Education
• ID Number: 2014.0244.053
• accession number: 2014.0244
• catalog number: 2014.0244.053
• model number: Y32
• Credit Line: Gift of Dr. Richard Lodish American School Collection
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.