A oversized certificate functioning as a collective reward of merit for multiple students in the same school. This particular example was awarded to 16 students from Grammar School No. 68 by its principal. Its text identifies it as a "ROLL OF HONOR [...] FOR PUNCTUALITY. DILIGENCE. DEPORTMENT. PROGRESS." The document is in black and white and was printed and then filled in when awarded, as the names and signature are handwritten on printed lines within the images of hanging scrolls. The border around the entire poster is a design of ivy, bunches of grapes/berries, and fern leaves growing on a trellis. Below the title is an illustration that invokes the imagery of the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States without exactly replicating it: a bald eagle with outstretched wings clutching a bundle of arrows and an olive branch in its talons, with a scroll with the words "E pluribus unum" draped over its legs.The decorated section in the center below the eagle image is for the specific name of the school and the word "School" in the middle. An image of a school bell is below the name of the school in the center of the document. At the bottom center is more floral border in the shape of an oval and the principal's name is recorded in the center of the oval. Daniel Slote & Co. holds the 1879 copyright.
Daniel Slote & Co was a New York City publishers & printers, 1860s-1900's. Daniel Slote (1829-1882) appears in City directories and as a printer of materials for the New York City Board of education, as well as blank books and copy books. Slote started in stationery in the partnership of Ellis & Slote in 1854. By 1860 he was on his own as Daniel Slote & Co. He was on the New York City Board of Education auditing committee in 1861. He is most known for purchasing in 1873, the lucrative patent, #477040, from Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) for a scrapbook featuring moisture sensitive adhesive. He also convinced Clemens in 1880 to invest $5,000 in shares and $42,000 on shady "inventor" Charles Sneider in the unsuccessful Kaolotype Engraving Company venture.