Lyle:
Whatever I might have known about pencil holders, I've long since forgotten. You might try some patent research. I suspect these were gifts/mementos and not especially useful for writing.
Many of the pencils found on school sites are broken, usually split. For the Michigan school sites we measured and statistically described the lengths. Some were used to the point of exhaustive (again, about one inch) and many likely were lost, usually, if memory serves, at around two to three inches.
Jim
 
 
 
James G. Gibb

Gibb Archaeological Consulting

2554 Carrollton Road

Annapolis, Maryland USA ?? 21403

443.482.9593 (Land) 410.693.3847 (Cell)

www.gibbarchaeology.net ? www.porttobacco.blogspot.com
 
On 04/19/16, Lyle E. Browning<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
Is there a distinction between slate pencils that were used au naturelle and those used in holders? There are various very fancy (gold and silver) holders for pencils in the 19th century. Most recovered specimens seem to be the dog ends of those too short to be held.

Lyle Browning, RPA

> On Apr 19, 2016, at 3:37 PM, Jim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Henry Petroski's oddly-shaped The Pencil (1989) is an excellent read on the subject of pencils, one of a bunch of microhistories published in the late 1980s through early 2000s.
> April Beisaw and I looked at pencils from school sites, especially several she worked on in Michigan. We found that one-inch is the shortest length a small child could manage to use before discard. Many people used knives to carve a ring around the non-working end for a string tie and to resharpen the point. Manufacturers machine ground the points.
> The slate pencil is a ceramic product. We found at least two types of material...gray/black and brown...were used, presumably representing different types of shale or slate ground to make the principal part of the ceramic. We found striations running perpendicularly and parallel to the shaft suggesting two methods in cutting the ceramic plates into individual pencils. The sociological-anthropological implications remain undetermined.
> We also have suggested that the presence of slate pencils implies writing slates rather than paper and pen/pencil. Until pulp paper became common in the 1890s, this would have reduced the cost of school supplies. While the writing slates and pencils survive, what the students wrote does not. That meant students who did not have paper couldn't save their writings and those writings do not survive for analysis by us, the researchers.
> Pencils are a lot more interesting that it would seem at first blush.
> 
> 
> 
> James G. Gibb
> 
> Gibb Archaeological Consulting
> 
> 2554 Carrollton Road
> 
> Annapolis, Maryland USA ?? 21403
> 
> 443.482.9593 (Land) 410.693.3847 (Cell)
> 
> www.gibbarchaeology.net ? www.porttobacco.blogspot.com
> 
> On 04/19/16, Meg Gorsline<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Good afternoon,
> 
> I'm trying to gather some information about slate pencils. I've come across
> a few publications about writing slates (including Davies 2005 and Swords
> 2008) and I'm wondering if folks have any additional suggestions for
> literature about slate pencils?
> There are a few slate pencils in a 19th century northeast U.S. domestic
> collection I'm analyzing, and I am curious to hear what others have made of
> any slate pencils they've recovered. Thanks in advance for any references,
> information, or insight you may have to share!
> 
> Best,
> Meg Gorsline
> Doctoral Candidate
> The Graduate Center, CUNY
> New York, NY