The @AppleEDU Twitter account was started in January 2012 and as of 2023 has one million followers. Its description reads:
“Spark new ideas, create more aha moments, and teach in ways you’ve always imagined. Follow @AppleEDU for tips, updates, and inspiration.”
This set of vinyl stickers is printed with @AppleEdu in Apple’s San Francisco font in a variety of colors—red, orange, green, blue, hot pink, and black. Oddly, the Twitter account name is @AppleEDU (with EDU in caps), but the stickers use the “CamelCase” convention from the 1990s—an odd inconsistency given the usual fussiness of the Education Marketing team.
These stickers were available at technology conferences for attendees who visited Apple’s dedicated area. At the EdTech conference I attended, Apple had a part of a hallway and a dedicated conference room where various sessions and activities were offered where attendees could learn about Apple’s programs and offerings for schools.
Each sticker sheet measures 4 x 1.25 inches. Removed from the backing, the custom-die-cut sticker measures approximately 3.5 x 0.625 inches.
The Visual Almanac is the earliest Apple Education multimedia product in my collection. According to the kit’s Laser Disc, pictured on the Domesday86 website:
“The Visual Almanac is composed of 3 parts: the Visual Almanac Videodisc, the Visual Almanac software, and the Visual Almanac Companion (a book). This two-sided videodisc contains an Introduction, over 7000 images and 2 channels of sound organized into 12 collections. It is designed to be used under control of a Macintosh computer.”
The printed materials include a guide (First Steps in the Visual Almanac) and a spiral-bound book. Media includes three 3.5-inch disks: HyperCard 1.2.2; Visual Almanac Home (home HyperCard stack; Collections Directory (pre-made collections), and a CD-ROM. The kit also includes a cable.
The cable is described as a “LaserDisc Player Serial Lead,” designed to “connect a Pioneer player (with a 15 pin D-Sub connector) to the Apple Macintosh mini-DIN serial port.”
The box containing all the items in the kit measures 12.75 inches square and is 1.5 inches deep. The accompanying spiral-bound book is titled The Visual Almanac: An Interactive Multimedia Kit Companion, measures 11 x 8.5 inches, and contains 216 pages, printed in full color.
The Preface of the book contains a welcome message that states the resource’s intent:
“Welcome to The Visual Almanac! We designed the The Visual Almanac to give everyone a glimpse of potential computer-centered futures and have tried to show how current multimedia technologies might be used to do something new. We tried to make something that could be used now, but would also provoke the development of methodologies, technologies and pedagogies for the future. It is an interactive multimedia kit aimed at children and all their teachers—in schools, in homes and in various public environments—as well as business people, researchers and developers who make educational and other materials for our youth.”
Although the full package is dated January 1990, the accompanying CD-ROM is dated 1989 and the CD (as well as the Laser Disc) specifies that it was “Produced by the Apple Multimedia Lab.”
The box in my collection is missing the accompanying 2-sided LaserDisc that contains the primary content in 78 “collections” for the kit:
Side A Collections Animals and Plants Earth View Everyday Physics Solar System Sounds Side A
Side B Collections American History Around the World History of Daily Life Everyday Objects Historical Portraits Sounds Side B Studies in Time
Special thanks to the Domesday86 website for providing an excellent, detailed entry about this kit that allowed me to better describe this early educational multimedia example.
This set of two book covers were presumably created for the education market for students to use to cover their textbooks (of the heavy, printed variety).
The book covers measure 10.75 x 26.25 inches and feature the original Macintosh “Picasso” logo on the front side, and the 6-color Apple logo on the back with the tagline “The power to be your best.”
The center of these book covers that would fall along the spine of the textbook have an Apple logo printed sideways and labels for “Name” and “Class” (with lines on which to write). All text is printed in the Apple Garamond font, Apple’s corporate font used between 1984 and 1993.
Apple’s Personal Internet Solution Bundle is a 3-ring binder containing 3-hole-punched, 8.5 x 11-inch pages and is part of the Apple Education Series from 1995.
The design of the binder uses a beige-on-beige background accented with gold and teal graphics—all using a woodcut-style design. This design was used throughout the mid- to late-1990s for Apple Education products.
The binder is a professional learning resource for educators to teach them the basics of using tools on the World Wide Web. The four major sections include:
Getting Started—Step-by-step instructions for getting connected to the Internet
Internet Provider Connection—from Portal Information Network
Each printed section in the binder is separated by dark green tabs for easy navigation.
Some of the highlights of this resource include the title of the Netscape Navigator section, “a friendly handbook on the coolest way to explore the Internet,” and the 151-page manual about how to use email!
This Apple Education Series booklet, titled Out of the Box and Onto the ’Net: The Internet, Teaching, and Mac OS 8 was written to explain to educators how to use Internet in school with the Mac OS 8 operating system.
The Table of Contents included the following sections:
Welcome
The Internet in Education
The Internet: an introduction
How the Internet is transforming education
Uses of the Internet in education
Communication and collaboration
Conducting research
Publishing on the World Wide Web
Getting ready to go online
Preparing students to go online
Learning activities and teacher resources
Mac OS 8 Internet Features
Mac OS 8 overview
Setting up your computer to access the Internet
Registering with an ISP
Adding or changing LAN or ISP settings
Creating and importing settings information
Connecting to and disconnecting from the Internet
Disconnecting from the Internet
Using the Connect To command
Sending e-mail with Mac OS 8
Personal Web Sharing
Mac OS Runtime for Java
Using the PointCast Network
Using the Mac OS Info Center
The book measures 8.5 x 11 inches with a full-color cover. The interior is printed in black.
This collection of CD-ROMs is part of the Apple Education Series and is titled “Multimedia Learning Tools CD Library.” The CD booklet measures 7.5 x 9.25 inches and is made of clear vinyl. It has a side attachment that allows the book to be bound in a 3-ring binder. The booklet’s front and back cover design use a beige-on-beige woodcut pattern design with a bold rectangle woodcut image in the center depicting stylized characters and multimedia icon images.
The interior front and back flap have internal pockets for paperwork. Three inside pages contain pockets that can hold 4 CDs each (2 in front and 2 in back).
This VHS tape is in a bright red cardboard case and is titled, Making Connections: Learning, Language, and Technology. The cover of the VHS tape indicates that:
“This video is cosponsored by Apple Computer, Inc., the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).”
Three schools are featured in this video, Sneed Elementary (Alief, Texas); Marine Park Middle School (Brooklyn, New York), and Santa Fé Indian School (Santa Fé, New Mexico). The box provides a description of the program:
“Technology can be a powerful tool in helping students master their first or second language. This video demonstrates how multimedia technologies enhance the eurriculum in ESL (English as a Second language) and Bilingual classrooms around the United States. The schools featured effectively demonstrate how technology helps develop the literacy skills of students at different levels of language development.”
One of my Apple collection entries includes a set of books I titled the “Macintosh Advantage Collection (1996)” that contains the following materials:
50 Macintosh Advantages book (1996)
Why do People Prefer Macintosh? brochure (1996)
Why Macintosh? brochure (1996)
I recently acquired a brown cardboard shipping box measuring 11.5 x 8.75 x 6.5 inches, complete with its original shipping label to its original recipient—a former Apple sales rep. Apparently, the three items I cataloged above are a part of a larger collection for potential Apple customers that was used in late 1990s.
The shipping label refers to this box as Apple part 52241, and based upon the part numbers that follow, this box contains all its original contents. I have listed the part numbers below and matched them to their items. At the end of each part number an asterisk is followed by a number, likely indicating the quantity of each item (all quantities are “1” in this box, except for the 5 Apple logo window clings).
Curiously, two of the VHS video tapes in the box include both the NTSC and PAL formats—an odd choice since, generally, only NTSC was used in the United States.
Part number list and box contents:
52241—Part number for entire box
L02206A—6-color Apple logo sticker set
L02270A—Apple’s Operating System Strategy, March 1997, VHS tape (NTSC format) L02270APAL—Apple’s Operating System Strategy, March 1997, VHS tape (PAL format)
L02222A—Apple and NeXT: Combining unparalleled ease of use with industrial-strength performance, Information About Apple’s OS Strategy, January 1997, 8.5 x 11-inch whitepaper, 4 pages
L02181A—Apple Technology Update—Mac OS 7.6, January 1997 VHS tape (NTSC format)
L02177A—The 1997 Apple MacAdvocate CD-ROM. (Spring 1997)
L01760A—Macintosh or Windows? Spring 1996 VHS tape (NTSC format)
L01760APAL—Macintosh or Windows? Spring 1996 VHS tape (PAL format)
L01856A—Personal Computer Satisfaction: An Independent Study of People Who use Both Macintosh and Windows 95 Computers (Evans Research Associates) (1996)
L01973B—Go figure: A Quick Look at Some Important Apple Facts, 1.97 10-panel, full-color brochure (1997)
L01970A—Apple logo window clings (quantity 5)
L01667A—Why Macintosh? booklet (1996)
L00440C—50 Macintosh Advantages, Why Macintosh computers are better than PCs running Windows 95. 1996, 8.5 x 11-inch booklet
L01749A—Why do People Prefer Macintosh? (Why people think Macintosh computers are better than PCs running Windows, in their own words.) April 1996, 8.5 x 11-inch booklet
Not listed on box, likely sent with Mac OS 7.6 VHS tape: L02182A—Mac OS 7.6 At a glance tri-fold brochure (2-color)
While the above books are detailed in my previous post, a fascinating new addition to my collection is the seemingly innocuous Apple and NeXT whitepaper. The 4-page document is the first printed source I have seen that describes Apple’s plan to proceed after their acquisition of NeXT. The whitepaper describes the “Rhapsody” project—the operating system that eventually becomes Mac OS X—the basis for the macOS we use today, over 25 years later. The whitepaper includes this description:
“Rhapsody is the code name of the first system software effort planned from the prospective union of Apple and NeXT. Its intent is to extend the existing strengths of both companies to provide a computing environment that is both stronger and more flexible—and, ultimately, better able to meet the needs of our customers.”
This Why Macintosh? complete box set is a fascinating glimpse into Apple’s pre-Internet communications plan with customers at a pivotal time in their history—just after Steve Jobs returned to the company.
This Apple Resource Guide booklet focused upon K–12 Vocational Education. The book opens with Apple’s case for using “Technology to Change Vocational Education:”
“As the SCANS Report notes, the personal computer ‘has reconfigured the world of work as has perhaps no other invention since electricity or the assembly line.’ The nature of work is changing as is the ‘foundation needed to find and hold a good job.’ Technology holds a promise, not only of new kinds of work, but also of the means of attaining the skills and capabilities that will permit our work force to accomplish those tasks.”
Released in 1991, “The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) examined the demands of the workplace and whether young people were capable of meeting those demands. Specifically, SCANS determined the level of skills required to enter employment” (United States Department of Labor).
In the next section of Apple’s booklet, the section titled “Why use the Macintosh computer?” lays out a use case for Macintosh in Vocational Programs. Three reasons include: “The software is easy to learn,” “It’s idea for graphics,” and “It helps build the foundations—and more.”
The book is primarily comprised of six case studies about vocational education programs across the United States that use Macintosh. Schools that are profiled include:
Delta County School District—District Planning Provides Computers and Opportunitites at All Schools
Auburn High School—Industrial Technology Benefits from Computer Technology
Butler Middle School—Learning the Engineering Behind the Magic of Technology
Walter Biddle Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences—Computer Links Agriculture and Business in Philadelphia School
Tulsa County Area Vocational-Technical School District #18—Educational Enhancement Center Serves All Students with Technology
Burkburnett High School—Business Class Keeps Curriculum and Technology Current
The booklet concludes with a series of Resources for Using Technology in Vocational Education.
The booklet measures 8.5 x 11 inches and is printed in black.
This Apple Resource Guide booklet focused upon K–12 Business Education. The book opens with Apple’s case for using Macintosh in Business Education programs for “Meeting the Challenges with Technology.” It reads:
“In today’s competitive global economy, business education is more important than ever before. The need for trained, skilled workers is growing rapidly, but nearly half of all students who complete high school still do not continue on with their education. These students need—and want—preparation in the skills that will enable them to earn a living right out of high school.”
The next section, Why use the Macintosh computer?, lays out a use case for Macintosh in business education.
“A growing number of business education teachers have selected the Apple Macintosh as the standard microcomputer for their classrooms. For them, the choice was clear… The software is easy to learn… It’s powerful and easy to use.”
The book is primarily comprised of six case studies about business education programs across the United States that use Macintosh. Schools that are profiled include:
Abilene High School—New Technology Tools Transform a Business Department
Enterprise Village—The Enterprise Village Experience
Marcos De Niza High School—Student Entrepreneurs Develop Business Plans
Steel Valley Senior High School—Macintosh Moves Steel Valley High Into Office of the Future
Trinity High School—Making Connections in Business Law
Yarmouth High School—A Small Department Manages Big Innovations
The booklet concludes with a series of Resources for Using Technology in Business Education.
The booklet measures 8.5 x 11 inches and is printed in black.
