Apple describes the Distinguished Schools program:
“Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of leadership and educational excellence that demonstrate Apple’s vision for learning with technology — and we believe they are some of the most innovative schools in the world.”
As of November 2024, Apple reported that there were 889 Apple Distinguished Schools in 37 countries. The district where I serve as an educational technology leader is proud to have three Apple Distinguished Schools.
This Apple logo lapel pin is violet, a shade of purple matching one of the stripes on Apple’s classic six-color logo. The pin package is wrapped in clear plastic and attached to a 3 x 3-inch black cardboard backing that is printed in white with the words [Apple logo] Distinguished School.
The pin is made from metal with a polished chrome finish. The pin is approximately 2 mm thick, 3/4-inch across, and 7/8-inch tall. The pin is held in place from the back by a silver butterfly clutch.
Apple describes the Distinguished Schools program:
“Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of leadership and educational excellence that demonstrate Apple’s vision for learning with technology — and we believe they are some of the most innovative schools in the world.”
As of November 2024, Apple reported that there were 889 Apple Distinguished Schools in 37 countries. The district where I serve as an educational technology leader is proud to have three Apple Distinguished Schools.
This “2024” lapel pin is polished chrome with a bright orange border. The shade of orange matches one of the stripes on Apple’s classic six-color logo. The font used for the pin is San Francisco, Apple’s corporate font since about 2015. The pin package is wrapped in clear plastic and attached to a 3 x 3-inch black cardboard backing that is printed in white with the words [Apple logo] Distinguished School.
The pin is meant to commemorate new Apple Distinguished Schools added to the program in 2024. The pin is made from metal with a polished chrome finish. It is approximately 2 mm thick, 1 1/4-inches across, and 7/8-inch tall. The pin is held in place from the back by a silver butterfly clutch.
Beginning in the 2010s, Apple Stores began hosting “Apple Camp” events for school-aged children. In 2017, Apple Stores began hosting Today at Apple (#todayatapple) events and continued the Apple Camp idea as a part of this program. Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail at that time, said:
“‘Today at Apple’ is one of the ways we’re evolving our experience to better serve local customers and entrepreneurs. We’re creating a modern-day town square, where everyone is welcome in a space where the best of Apple comes together to connect with one another, discover a new passion, or take their skill to the next level. We think it will be a fun and enlightening experience for everyone who joins.”
Apple Camp events were taught by Creative Pros, Apple’s “liberal arts equivalent” to its technical Geniuses. As of 2024, Apple’s website has a single mention of Apple Camp:
“This year at Apple Camp, kids ages 6–10 created their own interactive storybooks inspired by kindness on iPad with Apple Pencil. Sign up to be the first to know about the next Apple Camp.”
This t-shirt was provided to those who participated in an Apple Camp experience in approximately 2022. The shirt is bright green with a bright orange logo featuring hand-drawn sketches that fill the shape of an Apple logo. The t-shirt is size 2XL and includes its original cardboard packaging.
My collection includes an earlier design of this t-shirt that uses a yellow logo and the word “Camp,” before Apple Camp was associated with Today at Apple.
This dark green t-shirt was made for Apple’s Back to School events and promotions in 2011. The front features a stylized hand-drawn sketch that includes an Apple logo and icons for Pages, GarageBand, iMovie, Keynote, Twitter, iTunes, and other drawings.
The back of the shirt includes an Apple logo and the words “Back to School 2011” in Apple’s Myriad font, used by Apple from approximately 2003–17.
The shirt is made by American Apparel, a brand “that stands for inclusiveness, equality and empowerment.” The shirt is a Men’s/Unisex Large size.
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.
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 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.
The 3.5-inch floppy disk was used in the very first Macintosh computer in 1984 after its initial introduction by Sony in 1981. By 1992 the format had evolved several times and was used as a relatively inexpensive and reliable way to share digital files before the Internet. At the time, the CD-ROM was gaining popularity, but most users had access to 3.5-inch floppy drives.
This Macintosh Educational Software Guide from 1992 contains a compressed HyperCard Stack.
HyperCard was a software application and development kit for Apple computers that allowed users to create and/or read hypermedia documents, a format that was used before the World Wide Web. The system was developed and used extensively between 1987 and 1994, and retired in 2004.
According to its accompanying envelope—found digitally, but not a part of my collection:
The “MacEduGuide ’92” compressed HyperCard stack on this floppy disk includes information about more than 1,300 software programs for students, teachers, and administrators in K-12 schools. Each product listing includes the following information:
Product description
Publisher’s name, address, and phone number
Education pricing (when available)
Grade range
System requirements
Additional items included with the software
Product review citations in educational software journals
Publisher’s policies (copy protection, site licensing, 90-day free trial, and so on)
The special features of this stack allow you to search for information using any combination of elements: title, publisher, subject and topic, specific grade or grade range, and system requirements.
You can print any or all of the product lists and product information. The “mailer” button that appears with each product description allows you to print a letter to the publisher requesting additional information.
Further, the HyperCard Stack was compressed using the .sea compression method popular at the time for Macintosh computers. While Windows primarily used .zip for compression, Apple used .sea (Self Extracting Archive). The format was built into the Macintosh Operating System at the time and did not require a “helper app” to open and decompress the file.
These Apple Unified School System notepads feature the logotype for the Apple Unified School System at the bottom center with a yellow-gold logo above that depicts a highly stylized image of a three houses with people (perhaps students and teachers) above represented by a combination of shapes and whitespace. The top of the notepads have a black Apple logo.
I have been unable to date these notepads specifically, but an Apple Corporate Timeline on the Mac Mothership website reports that in March 1987, Apple Marketing introduced “the Apple Unified School System and Apple’s Education Purchase Program (EPP) in a shared commitment with educators to integrate computers into the learning process.”
Each notepad measures 8.5 x 11 inches and is bound with a tearaway edge.
My research has not yielded much specific information on the Apple Unified School System. The OAC (Online Archive of California) contains a listing for an Apple Unified School System report at Stanford, but it is not available online (and the report is undated). An online history of the 1985 “edutainment” software Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? claims that the Apple Unified School System helped popularize this game when Apple’s “nationwide computer-in-the-classroom infrastructure” was implemented in the late 1980s.
In the early 2000s, Apple Education hosted education events at conferences, schools, and at their Executive Briefing Centers. These events often included providing printed materials to attendees on various topics, product brochures, and/or event agendas.
This small collection of Apple Education folders from 2000–2002 included three different folders from Apple Education. Each folder measures 9 x 12 inches and includes two internal pockets.
