We wish all pupils and students positive impressions, success and achievements, and their tutors - patience and wise mentoring that will leave an imprint not only in their minds, but in the hearts as well.

The practical organization of any educational process is impossible without stationary. In the contemporary electronic and interactive 21^st, the writing tools are pens and pencils, as well the computer or other electronic device keyboard. From the earliest times, when a human being had just acquired the ability to reason, a demand for sharing ideas with others aroused. A person wanted to leave a memory, in other words – to record it. It happened when he met something worth remembering – interesting events and new acquaintances, was eager to share experiences and feelings. More than six thousand years ago, people wrote or drew pictures that denote different words, by finger on wet clay, a sharpened stone or charred stick on roche. Clay books were the most ancient. More than five thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians wrote with reed brushes on papyrus. In ancient Greece and Rome, inscriptions were made by metal or ivory stick pointed at one end – stylus.

In ancient Russia, people wrote on birch bark. The signs and marks were applied by the sharpened from one end bone stick and an eyelet on the other end, through which a twine was pulled.

With the development of culture and technology, China converted to the books from bamboo sticks, later the messages were written on silk. This "paper" was rough and fragile. A few centuries later, paper-like material appeared that was made from bamboo filament or silk processing waste. Finally, already in our era, a method for producing paper from wood substance was invented. In the 11-12^th centuries, paper appeared in Europe, where it soon replaced parchment.

Since the 18^th century, writing sets for correspondence were in fashion and came into common use in Europe. Writing sets could include various objects and often became real works of art. Bronze, silver, gold, ivory - writing sets were created from these materials. Those items gradually became integral to a parlour or library of a noble or high-ranked person. When private correspondence became fashionable in the top echelons of European society, writing set gained the decorative function as well. Artisans created writing sets to suit every taste: ponderous and delicate, luxuriant and stylish.

Writing sets were often decorated with coats of arms or the owners’ monograms, clocks, mirrors, sometimes with small secret drawers.

In the 17^th- 19^th centuries, a writing set quality and value reflected a person's cultural and social status.

Thematic album dedicated to the Knowledge Day is in the museum Photo Gallery.

Item from the museum Collection exposition is on the cover:
Writing set: stand, inkpots (pair), bell, blotting-pad, paper cutting knife, box for matches, ashtray.
Russian Empire, Moscow. Late 1880s.
A.S. Kaminsky, Sokolov art bronze factory