In 1939, were there lockers in high schools?

Question

I am writing a diary of a person in world war ii for school. In it, I wrote that my character went to her locker. However, my friend pointed out that they may not have had lockers then. Did they? Or did they just carry things around in their backpacks? Then, again, did they have backpacks to begin with?

Answer 1

Yes there were..

Answer 2

I wasn't born yet but I did write about WW II and you may check it out at http://crossbeak.blogspot.com/2007/07/wo... there are many posts on this if you care to read all of my essays.  Also some fiction I wrote on the same scenario at http://othercity.blogspot.com/2007/07/wa...

I guess they had lockers then as they had back packs but whether both of these were used in school, I am not sure.  After the war in grade school, we used army backpacks to carry our books.

You can always excuse yourself saying that not all high schools had lockers but a few of them did.

Answer 3

Unlikely to have  backpacks or lockers ,steel was in  demand for the war.Schools had coat closets in each room  and  books stayed in the rooms as they were very expensive..

Answer 4

ye

Answer 5

Yes, in 1939 there were "lockers" in most public schools but very different from today.  In many cases they were just "cubby" holes with the persons name engraved above the "locker".  (an open locker made of wood with no lock). But "locked" metal lockers began to appear commonly in many gyms and public schools in the 1930's.  Often the doors were metal "screened" doors rather than the pressed metal doors seen beginning in the 1950's.  In 1939 the economic conditions were very difficult but there were some schools (in white upper-class districts) that had very nice metal lockers.  However, the majority of schools did not.  The U.S. had not entered the war at this time so there was not yet a problem with metal supplies.  But, the rest of the world was already at war with Germany and Japan at that time (the U.S. waited till the last minute to enter the war).  So, this could have an effect on your book.

In many schools in the 30's, they were often small wooden boxes placed into the frame of the students desk but did not have a "lock".  Sometimes they were using small wooden storage boxes built into the bottom of the desk.

The reason is that through most of the school day the students stayed in the same classroom and so they stored their items on wooden shelves or cubbies in that same room.

There were also larger wooden storage boxes called "wardrobes" that were issued to upper classman which were used to store hats, coats, umbrellas, books, etc. Lower-classman usually were given small wooden boxes.  These were normally installed up-right in the "wardroom" which was accessed by key but the individual cabinets were often not locked.

Backpacks/Bookbags.  These were not very common.  Instead students would carry they books and belongs tied together using a leather strap which was slung over their shoulder (a book strap).  They also would carry a small wooden box to contain pen/ink, and possibly pencils (which were actually rare in 1939) - pencils were considered improper for school work!  So, pen/ink was the main way of writing.

A few students had small canvas (or even leather) bags to carry their lunch which was more of a pouch and was carried sideways on their hip.

Depending on country, they were not called "lockers" in 1939 but rather "kits" or "cubbies".  In South America, they were called "estrancos" until the 1950's when they began to call them "cajas".

In Asia they were called "chien tzu" up till around 1965 when they began to call them "goa-ta".

In Japan they are called "rokeru".

Answer 6

ya but i think the younger ones had cubbys

Answer 7

Noooooooooooooooooooo...................... were  students!!!!!!