In the early 1950s, cities around the country provided two metal identification tags to all school children. Authorities had considered tattooing, but the threat of severe burns cancelled that. Fingerprinting was out, too, as an invasion of personal privacy. So, it was metal tags, which the kids were supposed to wear around their necks on a metal bead chain. These are two that were issued to children in Jackson School. I’ve covered the information because the people are still alive.
And, while researching these tags, I found out that the “tooth notch” found on authentic military dog tags of the time (and later: when I got my dog tags in 1963, the notch was there…I have no idea of where those tags are now) was actually there to properly orient the metal tag in the Model 70 Addressograph Hand Identification Machine.
I never got tags when I was in school, but, then, we moved around a lot.
