We have many spaces to sit and work in the library! We recently highlighted the Richmond House Room as a spot for library time travel and today we want to share some more information about another place in the library that might make you feel as you have traveled back in time! In the stairwell landing between levels 2 and 3 of the library is an interesting two-sided desk that has a long history at Duke.
Before it came to Duke, it was the property of the Reverend Henry Montagu Butler, D.D., headmaster of Harrow School (1859-1885), dean of Gloucester (1885-1886); master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1886-1918); and vice chancellor of Cambridge University (1889-1890). He used this desk at Harrow and later in his study in the Master's Lodge, Trinity College. Dr. William John Dann then presented it to Duke Hospital in March 1938.
During the earliest days of Duke Hospital, it sat in the foyer of Duke Hospital. As shown in the pictures below, patients gathered around it before being directed to treatment. Dr. Thomas D. Kinney also sat at the desk during his evening work in the foyer of Duke Hospital directing patients for emergency treatment when he was a student.
In 1967, the entrance to Duke Hospital was changed and the desk moved to storage. Dr. Kinney, remembering his days as a medical student, asked if he and his wife could buy it. Dean Barnes Woodhall refused, but offered them the chance to store it and arrange for its restoration. The Kinney family made a study of the desk's construction period, the hardware and motifs, and ultimately restored the piece. When the black oil cloth was removed from the top surface, there in the middle was an 8 x 12 inch copper plate engraved with an inscription that provided information about the origins of the desk and Rev. Butler.
It is cool to think about the wide array of people who have sat and worked at this desk! We are glad this desk now has a home in our library!