Almanac: The pencil and eraser 02:05. And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac: March 30th, 1858, 156 years ago today . . . the day a Philadelphia inventor made his mark.

The pencil eraser was patented in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Hymen Lipman, a Jewish immigrant from Kingston, Jamiaca, on this day in history, March 30, 1858.

Before the discovery of the eraser, people did use bread and bread crumbs to erase pencil marks. Edward Nairne is credited with popularizing the use of rubber, which by his own account, was quite ...

Written by Karen Kilpatrick and Luis O. Ramos Jr. Illustrated by German Blanco Ages 3–6 “When Pencil Met Eraser,” by Karen Kilpatrick and Luis O. Ramos Jr. This hilariously illustrated book ...

6. Pencils with built-in erasers on the tops are a largely American phenomenon. Most pencils sold in Europe are eraser-less.Read into that cultural difference what you will.

WHEN PENCIL MET ERASER Authors: Karen Kilpatrick and Luis O. Ramos Jr. Illustrator: German Blanco Macmillan Imprint, $17.99, ages 4 to 9 The straight-ahead plot of “When Pencil Met Eraser” hi… ...