100-year-old chalkboard drawings found at Oklahoma school

Chalkboard drawings and lessons from 1917 were found at a high school in Oklahoma.

While remodeling Emerson High School in Oklahoma City, contractors found lessons nearly 100 years old preserved underneath old chalkboards that were to be replaced with new whiteboards.

The chalkboard lessons included a drawing of a turkey for Thanksgiving, a lesson on the Pilgrims and calendars dated Nov. 3 and Dec. 4, 1917.  

"It was almost like a spiritual moment because people who had lived and played and worked in here -- a part of them is preserved," Principal Sherry Kishore said to The Oklahoman.

The hidden chalkboard in English teacher Cinthea Comer's room depicted a drawing of a girl wearing a blue dress blowing a bubble.  

"It was so eerie because the colors were so vibrant it looked like it was drawn the same day," Comer told The Oklahoman. "To know that it was drawn 100 years ago -- it's like you're going into a looking glass into the past."

Emerson High School was built in 1895, according to The Oklahoman.

The chalkboards are going to be preserved, said Robert Neu, superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools, according to NBC News.

"It may mean we have to delay the start of school in these classrooms, but we've got to preserve these," Neu said.

As renovations continue, school employees are hoping that more historic chalkboards will be unearthed.  

"We are all just like holding our breath because we don't know if there's going to be anything behind those boards," Comer told NBC News. "We're so excited to see and have all this wonderful history come to life for us."