Two women watch as two young children look over a worksheet together. One of the women has her hands on the paper, applying wax. The table has a blue table cloth and various educational materials.

Wax Seals and Wonder: Homeschoolers Write to North Carolina’s Future

Author: Chelsea Kiefer

Closeup of a wax seal with the America 250 NC logo

On Friday, October 3, America 250 NC team members Chelsea Kiefer and Alana Gomez traveled to the Charlotte Museum of History for the museum’s first ever Homeschool Day! These events, held at various locations across North Carolina, offer local institutions a chance to connect with homeschool families and share educational resources.

At the America 250 NC table, visitors could pick up worksheets, coloring pages, lesson plans, Jr. Historian magazines, and QR code links to our Educator Page to learn more about how we can support education across the state.

Dear Future NC children's worksheet

However, the highlight of the day came from a hands-on activity that always draws a crowd: our wax sealing station. With just our “Dear Future NC” letters, wax, a lighter, and a seal stamp, students were able to imagine the North Carolina of tomorrow while creating a document that represents the state today.

Adult and child work on a wax seal, at a blue table that has an assortment of America 250 NC materials scattered around

The letter template allows students to create their own historical record  that could be read in the future to understand what the state is like in the present time. This encourages participants to take pride in the fact that their North Carolina story is a vital part of our state’s ongoing history and narrative.

The wax seal, while attention grabbing, also sparks additional educational conversations. Wax seals have a long history in both North Carolina, and the United States as a whole. They provided security to ensure written letters remain unopened, a personalization in design, and a way to verify the identity of the sender, much like a signature! The use of beeswax can also provide an agricultural lesson to young students, who may not consider the vast historical uses of beekeeping. In addition, some types of parchment paper had to be sealed with a ribbon under the wax, as it would not stick properly to the paper, adding an additional element of changes to common styles of paper over time to the history lesson.

An adult stands behind the America 250 NC table while a child writes on a worksheet. The blue table has America 250 materials scattered around.

Wax seals were much more popular before the invention of envelopes that could be sealed on their own, but the art and tradition of personalized wax seals have remained alive in North Carolina and beyond, though mostly for art, and no longer for functional purposes.

America 250 NC and Education and Outreach, will be at Reed Goldmine’s Homeschool Day on Friday, November 7th. Stop by to see if they are sealing the past, present, and future in wax!

 

 

 

Sources:

Kratz, Jessie. “Holding It Together: Before Passwords-Ribbons and Seals for Document Security.” National Archives and Records Administration, October 14, 2021. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2021/10/14/holding-it-together-befo….