When did kids start wearing backpacks to school?
- on 06.07.09
- Backpacks
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
In movies dated in the 1960-70s, you always see students carrying their books in a stack, even when they're walking from school to home. It has me wondering if backpacks were around back then.
So when were backpacks invented, and when did students start using them to carry their books?
Late 70's and early 80's is when we see the school backpack come into style.
Before that backpacks were big hulking things only used for camping and outdoor adventures. They date back to the 1800's and probably even before that. This was due to the rigid frames most people thought you needed to distribute the weight. Eventually, somebody came up with the knapsack (early 20th century or there abouts) and it only took a few decades to get the knapsack renamed a bookbag.
Late 70's and early 80's is when we see the school backpack come into style.
Before that backpacks were big hulking things only used for camping and outdoor adventures. They date back to the 1800's and probably even before that. This was due to the rigid frames most people thought you needed to distribute the weight. Eventually, somebody came up with the knapsack (early 20th century or there abouts) and it only took a few decades to get the knapsack renamed a bookbag.
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Before the spread of the nylon backpack it was common to carry books and equipment in satchels, leather packs that could be carried on the back or over one shoulder.
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About the late '80's. It was easier just to carry them in your arm and put them in the locker when you got to school. Back packs have been clinically proven to cause premature back pain in children, whose packs are too heavy for their muscular/skeletal structure.
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