Dr. Edwin Lewis StephensСAPP desk СAPPstuck out like a green thumb.СAPP
Susan Richard knew she had muddled metaphors СAPP but describing the avocado color that once coated the rolltop used by the СAPPСAPPs first president required some linguistic license.
Displayed alongside other furniture from StephensСAPP office in СAPPs , 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 deskСAPPs hue might best have been described as guacamole.
Who painted the desk green, and when, are details lost to history, but the СAPPgreen thumbСAPP was an historical sore spot nevertheless, said Richard, interim dean of СAPP Libraries.
СAPPWe needed to bring the desk back to the way it was originally, especially to match the other furniture,СAPP 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 deskСAPPs original shellac finish was exposed. That layer came off, too. Only then did Parker and his team begin restoring the rolltopСAPPs original finish.
But the process wasnСAPPt quite that cut and dyed, Parker said. СAPPThere are plenty of complications that go along with restoring a piece like Dr. StephenСAPPs desk.СAPP
For instance, someone СAPP again, who, when and why are mysteries СAPP had replaced the deskСAPPs locking mechanism with screws. Its tambour, the cylindrical cover that gives the rolltop its roll, was sealed shut.
СAPPFor all we knew, there could have been bearer bonds or gold or anything inside that desk,СAPP Parker said with a chuckle.
There werenСAPPt. When opened, though, the tambour unveiled cubbies, small drawers, nooks and stacked compartments. During StephensСAPP 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 СAPPa lot of the original color inside the desk,СAPP which had been spared the painterСAPPs brush, Parker said. СAPPThatСAPPs how we knew what color we needed to make it. Plus, we had Dr. StephenСAPPs desk chair, and it was the original color.СAPP
Restoring the tambour itself was a СAPPmeticulousСAPP task, he added. The cover gets its crescent shape from its ability to bend, but that meant green paint had seeped into the crevasses. СAPPWe donСAPPt have some magic tank where we dip this thing and it comes out free of paint,СAPP Parker explained. СAPPItСAPPs got to be done by hand with a brush and some mild paint stripper.СAPP
Rolltop desks were mainstays in late 19th and early 20th century offices. Abundant storage space enabled easy access to documents. In addition, StephensСAPP desk was outfitted with a swiveling turret that concealed more filing space and compartments.
ItСAPPs a distinctive feature, Parker said. СAPPItСAPPs the only one IСAPPve ever seen.СAPP
The desk retains clues to its workhorse status in the presidentСAPPs 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 StephensСAPP long tenure as president of Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute. He oversaw the schoolСAPPs name change to Southwestern Louisiana Institute in 1921 and remained president until 1938.
Whether he used the desk throughout that period isnСAPPt 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 couldnСAPPt 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 StephensСAPP tenure, 2,100 were enrolled and the faculty included 100 members.
The desk reminds viewers of the СAPPСAPPs modest beginnings, said Zachary Stein, head of Special Collections.
Now fully restored, itСAPPs returned to the Jefferson Caffery Reading Room where it sits alongside other pieces of StephensСAPP office set and within feet of parlor furniture and a trunk that belonged to the libraryСAPPs namesake. Edith Garland Dupré was among the first eight faculty members Stephens hired.
Collectively, the pieces СAPPtake a person back to the early days of the СAPP,СAPP Stein said.
СAPPOur 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 weСAPPve come from as an institution.СAPP
Top photo caption: Dr. Edwin Lewis StephensСAPP newly restored rolltop desk is on display alongside other furniture from the founding presidentСAPPs office in Edith Garland Dupré LibraryСAPPs Jefferson Caffery Reading Room. (Photo credit: Rachel Rafati / СAPP)
Bottom photo caption: Dr. Edwin Lewis StephensСAPP desk is seen in the left corner of this undated archival photo of the presidentСAPPs office. (Photo courtesy of UL Lafayette Special Collections)