Desk, Portable

Description

Slant-top portable desk of white pine. Slant-top lid has maple breadboard ends tongue-and-grooved to lid ends, and is hinged with small brass butt hinges and steel flat-head wood screws. The desk interior is undivided. A 2 3/16" deep drawer slides into its compartment from the proper left end. The interior is divided across its width with a further divider near its proper right side. The compartments formed by the dividers are covered with writing ink, yielding a blue-green color. The remainder of the drawer interior is covered with yellow paper. A small turned maple knob is centered in the drawer front.

Notes

Used for many years by Sister Emma J. Neale. Made in 1834, this desk performed the same functions as earlier writing boxes: holding papers and writing equipment and providing a convenient writing surface. Written in pencil on the underside of the drawer is "O.H. June 6, 1834." The initials refer to Orren Haskins (1815-1892), who was 18 years old when he made this pine desk. The small size of the desk belies its intricate construction. The box-over-drawer arrangement is akin more to a chest-with-drawer form than the English writing boxes from which it derived. The case is secured with dovetail joints and contains two inside chambers. The top one serves as a box, and the lower one holds the drawer.