Schoolmaster’s desks served as symbols of authority

For as long as we have had classrooms, teachers have played many roles in them. This is especially true in the one-room schoolhouses that American students attended from the late 18th century up to, in some areas, the mid-20th century. Teaching in a oneroom schoolhouse meant running an entire school, from lighting the stove in the morning to cleaning and closing down the classroom

after school. And…