Dr. Edwin Lewis StephensӰר desk Ӱרstuck out like a green thumb.Ӱר
Susan Richard knew she had muddled metaphors Ӱר but describing the avocado color that once coated the rolltop used by the ӰרӰרs first president required some linguistic license.
Displayed alongside other furniture from StephensӰר office in Ӱרs , the desk looked nothing like the chair, shelves and card file that completed the set. Those pieces remained their original golden oak color, while the deskӰרs hue might best have been described as guacamole.
Who painted the desk green, and when, are details lost to history, but the Ӱרgreen thumbӰר was an historical sore spot nevertheless, said Richard, interim dean of Ӱר Libraries.
ӰרWe needed to bring the desk back to the way it was originally, especially to match the other furniture,Ӱר she said.
Enter George Parker, owner of Parker Woodworks & Furniture Repair in Lafayette. He and a crew of restorers spent nearly a year painstakingly returning the desk to a condition that even Stephens might recognize.
That required removing, by hand, several layers of coating, glazing and paint before the deskӰרs original shellac finish was exposed. That layer came off, too. Only then did Parker and his team begin restoring the rolltopӰרs original finish.
But the process wasnӰרt quite that cut and dyed, Parker said. ӰרThere are plenty of complications that go along with restoring a piece like Dr. StephenӰרs desk.Ӱר
For instance, someone Ӱר again, who, when and why are mysteries Ӱר had replaced the deskӰרs locking mechanism with screws. Its tambour, the cylindrical cover that gives the rolltop its roll, was sealed shut.
ӰרFor all we knew, there could have been bearer bonds or gold or anything inside that desk,Ӱר Parker said with a chuckle.
There werenӰרt. When opened, though, the tambour unveiled cubbies, small drawers, nooks and stacked compartments. During StephensӰר tenure, they would have been filled with correspondence from prospective and current students, parents, notes from state and community leaders, reports from faculty and other documents.
The opened tambour also revealed Ӱרa lot of the original color inside the desk,Ӱר which had been spared the painterӰרs brush, Parker said. ӰרThatӰרs how we knew what color we needed to make it. Plus, we had Dr. StephenӰרs desk chair, and it was the original color.Ӱר
Restoring the tambour itself was a ӰרmeticulousӰר task, he added. The cover gets its crescent shape from its ability to bend, but that meant green paint had seeped into the crevasses. ӰרWe donӰרt have some magic tank where we dip this thing and it comes out free of paint,Ӱר Parker explained. ӰרItӰרs got to be done by hand with a brush and some mild paint stripper.Ӱר
Rolltop desks were mainstays in late 19th and early 20th century offices. Abundant storage space enabled easy access to documents. In addition, StephensӰר desk was outfitted with a swiveling turret that concealed more filing space and compartments.
ItӰרs a distinctive feature, Parker said. ӰרItӰרs the only one IӰרve ever seen.Ӱר
The desk retains clues to its workhorse status in the presidentӰרs office. One drawer holds an alphabetized file index. Others contain handwritten notations on labels that indicate when files were removed and returned.
The earliest date, May 16, 1905, enables an approximation of when Stephens purchased the desk from its maker, Moon Desk Co. in Muskegon, Michigan.
That was five years into StephensӰר long tenure as president of Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute. He oversaw the schoolӰרs name change to Southwestern Louisiana Institute in 1921 and remained president until 1938.
Whether he used the desk throughout that period isnӰרt clear, though it is unlikely.
As the institution gained students, and paperwork and correspondence increased, the desk would have become less functional. In fact, rolltop desks began to fall out of favor as the 20th century progressed; they just couldnӰרt keep up with increasing demands of modern office life.
In 1905, Southwestern had roughly 200 students and about 15 faculty. In 1938, the last year of StephensӰר tenure, 2,100 were enrolled and the faculty included 100 members.
The desk reminds viewers of the ӰרӰרs modest beginnings, said Zachary Stein, head of Special Collections.
Now fully restored, itӰרs returned to the Jefferson Caffery Reading Room where it sits alongside other pieces of StephensӰר office set and within feet of parlor furniture and a trunk that belonged to the libraryӰרs namesake. Edith Garland Dupré was among the first eight faculty members Stephens hired.
Collectively, the pieces Ӱרtake a person back to the early days of the Ӱר,Ӱר Stein said.
ӰרOur main goal is to be able to preserve these artifacts so students and visitors can get an idea of what the faculty and administration used back then, and where weӰרve come from as an institution.Ӱר
Top photo caption: Dr. Edwin Lewis StephensӰר newly restored rolltop desk is on display alongside other furniture from the founding presidentӰרs office in Edith Garland Dupré LibraryӰרs Jefferson Caffery Reading Room. (Photo credit: Rachel Rafati / Ӱר)
Bottom photo caption: Dr. Edwin Lewis StephensӰר desk is seen in the left corner of this undated archival photo of the presidentӰרs office. (Photo courtesy of UL Lafayette Special Collections)