Take a look at your backpack. It’s probably 
got some zippers, a few pouches for storing 
books and notebooks, and maybe even 
mesh for carrying your water bottle on the 
side. It’s pretty convenient compared to 
how students used to carry their books to 
class. Students in the early 1900s wrapped 
a strap around their books to hold them 
together, and then carried them over their 
shoulders. Lunch boxes have evolved, too, 
from kids carrying empty cookie tins to 
tote their food to commercial lunch boxes 
decorated with every kind of princess and 
superhero. 
The backpack was reportedly invented 
in 1938 for rock climbing by Gerry 
Cunningham, owner of Gerry Outdoors 
in Boulder, Colorado. He put zippered 
compartments on bags for easy access 
and by 1967, was making them out of nylon. 
By 1969, there were more backpacks, 
and they had started making their way to 
college campuses, requiring the bottoms 
to be sturdier to hold the weight of books. 
Interest spread, and backpacks were 
developed specifi
 cally for students. A bit 
of reconfi
 guring, and by the late 1980s, 
backpacks were everywhere, and getting 
bigger. 
Backpacks are changing again! With kids 
carrying fewer books and more electronic 
devices, some companies are adding 
slimmed-down options, with room for a 
tablet and some wires.

4 | AUGUST 25 • 2022 

I

sla Edelson of Bloomfi
 eld Hills made 
her 6th birthday celebration extra 
special by having guests bring school 
supplies instead of presents to her 
party. Kids arrived with pencils, markers, 
crayons, folders, binders, notebooks 
and scissors for donation to clients of 
area nonprofi
 t Jewish Family Service. “I 
wanted to donate them to kids that don’t 
have school supplies,” she says. 
Isla, who turned 6 in July, had a party 
at Springdale Park and then went with 
her mom in early August to drop of
 the 
supplies at JFS ahead of the start of the 
school year. She says she hopes the kids 
who receive them feel happy with their 
new items as they head into fall. “They 
get new stuf
 for the classroom,” says 
Isla. 
This is her second year in a row 
collecting school supplies at her 
party. Her sister, Milly, who turns 4 in 
November, collected hats and mittens for 
JFS at her birthday party last year.

Helping Out!

Isla 
Edelson

KARA LEE

