In addition to their backbacks and books, countless kids took their lunchboxes to school. Not only did it carry carry sandwiches, fruit, juice and possibly a note from your mother, it provided a sense of identity. Growing up in the early 1980s fellow students would bring lunchboxes illustrating such shows as the “A Team” or such popular video games as “Pacman.”

Because the lunchbox illustrates the history of popular culture through most of the 20th century and even today, one Coupeville Elementary School art teacher finds herself collecting as many as she can find.

Art teach Kim McWilliams said she is fascinated by lunchboxes because they illustrated popular movies and cartoons.

Currently she has more than 50 lunchboxes in her collection ranging from the $6 Million Man to SpongeBob SquarePants. Many of them can be seen in a display case in the lobby at Coupeville Elementary School where McWilliams is an art teacher.

She became interested in lunchboxes in the 1980s after seeing a lunchbox display in the front window of a store in Port Townsend.

She started collecting the same year she started teaching in Coupeville.

“I think it’s the joy of finding your childhood,” McWilliams said explaining her reason for collecting the memorabilia. Ironically, as a child she had to carry her lunch to school in a simple brown paper bag.

Her collection has a combination of steel, plastic and soft lunchboxes that include E.T. and Holly Hobby. Other lunchboxes in her collection include Heathcliff and the Secret Wars.

“I like the warm fuzzy ones like Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Hobby,” McWilliams said.

One of her favorite lunchboxes is one in the shape of a barn that was produced in the 1950s. While she didn’t have a lunch box through elementary school, the barn box is similar to one she used for picnics in her yard before entering school.

The origins of the lunchbox can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century where the earliest known lithographed lunchbox was produced in the shape of a small picnic basket, according to the Collector’s Guide to Lunchboxes.

In the ensuing years, the thermos was introduced and, in 1935, Mickey Mouse became the first licensed character to be placed on a lunch box, according to the guide.

The first vinyl lunchboxes appeared in 1959 and were produced until 1982.

In 1962, Huckleberry Hound became the first embossed steel lunchbox character.

Ten years later, the first molded plastic lunchboxes began appearing. Gradually plastic lunchboxes became more and more prominent. Then, in 1987, the last steel lunchbox, Rambo, was produced, according to the guide.

Many of the lunchboxes produced today are soft, padded bags. Those are part of her collection as well. In addition to SpongeBob, McWilliams also had a Spiderman bag.

While the steel lunchboxes are gone, they aren’t forgotten.

A recent browsing of Ebay revealed more than 2,700 lunchboxes currently on the auction block. Those boxes range from the Three Stooges, to Welcome Back Kotter featuring John Travolta.

Some of the rarer lunchboxes have a price tag of $1,500. Such items are worth more if they include the matching thermos.

McWilliams doesn’t go to Ebay looking for additions to her collections. She has better luck with scouring the various thrift shops in the area.

“It’s fun to get them at a good price,” McWilliams said.

While her lunchboxes are prominently displayed in a case at the Coupeville Elementary School lobby, she stores several of them in her classroom where she’s been an art teacher for the past 10 years.

She uses the lunchboxes as an example of commercial art and how the medium has evolved over the decades. She added that it also shows how cartoons have also changed over the years.