This pencil case belonged to the Chekhov family and was donated to the museum in 1995. The writer’s nephews were artists. A lot of their stationery has been preserved which dates back to the turn of the 20th century and the Soviet period.

The writer also described the contents of the pencil case. “All kinds of nibs went into the case… Then there was a rubber with an elephant drawn on it, a crayon, two pencils, one for writing and the other for drawing, a penknife with a mother-of-pearl handle, an expensive pen (it cost 20 kopecks), and colored pasting tabs, drawing pins, pins, and pictures.”

Wooden pencil cases were popular in the Soviet Union until they were replaced by plastic ones. Pencil cases had retractable lids, which were sometimes marked so that they could be used as rulers. Inside, there were usually two or three compartments, one for pencils and brushes, one for a fountain pen, and one for an eraser.

Students carried their spill-proof inkwells separately, often in a special pouch. Pencil cases were not very diverse — in the paintings made by artists from various countries in the early 20th century, all such cases look almost the same.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, soft pencil cases came into fashion. Nowadays, pencil cases come in many shapes and sizes. There are tube cases, rectangular pencil cases with a rigid shell encasing and rubber bands for fixing pens and pencils, metal and plastic ones, and pencil pouches made of fabric and other soft materials. They are used for keeping pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, rulers, marker pens, scissors, glue, and other stationery. Any pencil case should be practical, functional, and durable, designed for daily use.