Wooton Patent Desks

A Victorian innovation in office furniture

by Deborah Cooper

W
" ith th is Desk a man absolutely h as no excuse fo r changes in the manufacturing and business world during the 1 9th
slo venly h a b its in the dispos al of h is n u merous century. Wooton desks (see the photos above and others on the
p apers, and the man of metho d may here re al ize following pages), manufactured in Indiana from 1 874 to 1 897, were
that pleasure a n d co mfort wh ich is only to be att a ined in the typical of the increasing use of mass-production techniques and
verification of the maxim, 'A pl a ce fo r e ve ryth ing and e very­ machinery to yield high-quality furniture in quantities sufficient to
th ing in its pl ace '. " (Advert isemen t, circa 1880, for the Wooton satisfy the worldwide markets opened by expanding communication
Ca b inet Office Secret a ry.) and transportation systems. The design of the desks provided an
With dozens of pigeonholes and compartments, hinged and rotat­ ingenious solution to the businessman's problem of organizing the
ing parts, and elaborate exteriors, Wooton Patent Desks embodied increasing volume of paperwork that accompanied the rapid expan­
the Victorian love of things adaptable, convenient and complex. Both sion of business. From both the business and design perspectives, the
in their construction and use, these desks reflect the drastic Wooton Patent Desk eamed the sobriquet "Desk of the Age."

52 Fine Woodworking PhotOS above: Courtesy of Richard and Eileen Dubrow Antiques
 illustration of a school desk, which was probably the company's
primary product at that time.
On Oct. 6, 1 874, Wooton's Patent Cabinet Office Secretary, now
known as the Wooton desk, officially came into existence when
patent # 1 55,604 was issued to William S. Wooton for "a secretary
constructed in three parts, two of which are together equal in
width to the other, each part being provided with compartments
or pigeonholes suitable for storing books, papers, etc., and the
lesser parts hinged to the greater part, to serve as doors to the
secretary." The patent also described the hinged writing table and
a locking mechanism for the doors. The accompanying patent
drawing illustrated these pOints, as well as d1e basic form of the
secretary, although it differed in several details from d1e desks that
were actually produced. For instance, the writing table hinges
shown in the patent drawing were replaced by pivots with sup­
porting brackets; the locking mechanism, although operating like
the one shown in the patent drawing, was recessed into the door;
and the pigeonhole configuration shown in d1e drawing was also
modified during production of the desks. Such differences in de­
tail point to Wooton's overall concept of a convenient, capacious
cabinet secretary as the significant part of the patent. A month after
the date of the patent, Wooton, together with John G. Blake and
Harmon H. Fulton, filed articles of association for the Wooton
Desk Co., and rapid activity followed to begin production. On
March 5, 1875, d1e Indianapolis Journal reported, "The Wooton
Desk Co. will erect a factory this season with room for 1 50 men.
Thus, from little industrial acorns do great manufactories grow."
On Jan. 1 8, 1 876, only 15 months after patenting his secretary,
Wooton was granted patent # 172,362 for his Rotary Desk (see the
two left photos on the following page). The patent describes pivot­
ed or hinged cases installed in the ends of desks that provided
more shelving and pigeonholes than available on a more conven­
tional desk, and, at the same time, made the storage area easily
accessible. The actual mechanism for hinging or pivoting the cases
was not described, but Wooton did point out that the panels inside
the kneehole had to be curved to accommodate the rotating cases.
This Superior-Grade Cabinet Secretary, known as the Globe desk Both these patents reflect Wooton's goals as an inventor. He
(shown open at left and closed at right), was made by the Wooton
seemed less concerned with gadgetry, mechanisms and the teclmi­
Desk Co. of Indianapolis, Ina., around 1880 and is one of thefin­
est examples of its kina. Wooton Cabinet Secretaries were also cal aspects of desk consu-uction than with the larger questions of
sold in three lesser "grades"-ordinary, standard and extra-all of the user's needs. He saw the trend toward bigger business and
which were similar but distinguishable mainly by the amount realized new devices were needed to cope with the changes. His
and quality of the decoration on the external case, drawer fronts inventions offered efficient, compact utilization of space, as well as
and writing flap (shown closed at left) .
convenient access to high-capacity storage and filing systems. Woo­
ton desks were used by all kinds of businessmen, including those
The founder of the desk-manufacturing company, William S. at the forefront of industrial and financial development. John D.
Wooton, was born in Ohio on May 1 2 , 1835, the eighth of thirteen Rockefeller owned one, as did railroad magnate Jay Gould and
children. Records from the Friends Church show that prior to President Ulysses S. Grant.
1860, he was living near Terre Haute, Ind., where he was a mem­ In spite of the worldwide success of his furniture business,
ber of the Honey Creek monthly meeting. By 1860 he had moved by 1 880 Wooton had turned away from it to devote his full energy
to Richmond, Ind., where he was listed as a patternmaker in the to various Quaker ministries across the country. After he sold
City directory. From April to December of 1 869, Wooton was a d1e business, it was renamed d1e Wooton Desk Manufacturing Co.
partner in the Richmond furniture manufacturing firm of George and continued to produce desks in Indianapolis and Richmond,
H. Grant and Co., which mass-produced school, office and court Ind., under various owners until 1 897. When Wooton died on
furnishings. In 1868 and 1869, while working in Richmond, Woo­ Aug. 26, 1907, his obituary remembered him only as a well-known
ton designed and patented a school desk and chair that could be evangelist and religious organizer who as a young man spent his
folded together for easy storage and transport, demonstrating spare time in cabinetmaking.
his interest in adaptable furniture, as well as his concern for
protecting his inventions with patents. The age of the Wooton desk- Throughout the 20 years that Woo­
When Wooton moved to Indianapolis in 1 870, he established ton desks were produced, the basic form remained the san1e,
William S. Wooton and Co. During its first year of business and although there were numerous modifications in the details of
with only four employees, one of whom was probably Wooton, the functional design and decorative styling. In u'acing the changes,
company produced school furniture, office desks and church fur­ one can distinguish an early period of experimentation followed
niture valued at $ 18,500. An early business card carried the by increasing standardization. The early desks display various com-

March/April 1991 53
 Wooton's Rotary Desks featured ped­
estals with pigeonhole cabinets that
pivoted open. They were available in
only two grades, standard and extra,
but came in an array of styles, in­
cluding flat top, rOll-top and cylinder
top. The standard-grade flat-top oak
desk with a single rotary tier (left)
was the simplest example of this style,
while the extra-grade cylinder-top two­
tier rotary desk (below), with its burl­
veneered panels and incised designs,
was one of the most orna te.
char and
PhotO: Courtesy of Ri d Eil
een Dubrow Antiques

Above: The Eastlake pattern secretary was

an attempt to capitalize on the popularity
Of Charles Eastlake's book Hints for House­
hold Taste, which decried excessive orna­
mentation. The plain pattern secretary
(below) was developed after the Wooton
Co. moved to Richmond, Ind., in 1884. It
was similar to the original ordinary-grade
desk, but was even plainer.

Building the king of desks by Gene Lehnert

A Wooton desk is a magnificent piece of furniture. Even though the for the ledger-card file boxes). The drawing on p. 57 shows how a
Victorian-age filing system is a little outdated, I think the Wooton Wooton desk goes together and it gives the overall dimensions of a
Cabinet Secretary offers several advantages over a flat-top desk black walnut secretary I built (also shown in the top, right photo
I've seen a Wooton used quite effectively as a credenza behind a con­ on p. 56). It is a reproduction of a standard-grade desk that I
ventional desk, and as a home office, the 1 00-plus pigeonholes pro­ measured during a repair job. My material costs ran around
vide a hiding place for eve rythin g. Just as the manufacturer claimed
in the late 1 800s, it is unquestionably the "king of desks."
Building a Wooton Cabinet Secretary is an involved process that
$ 1 ,600, which included leather for the writing surface; brass for
the hardware; veneer for drawer fronts, writing flap and exterior
raised panels; as well as about 1 50 bd. ft. of black walnut and 90
touches on almost every facet of woodworking: carcase jOinery, bd. ft. of pine for drawer parts and pigeonholes and as structural
box-in- box construction, turning, carving, engraving, joinery, material in the main case and doors. The following construction
pigeonhole construction, shaping moldings and veneering; it also tips aren't intended to cover eve rythin
g you need to know to build
requires leather work, metalwork and even cardboard work (used a Wooton, but an experienced furnituremaker with adequate time

Photos this page except where noted:

54 Fine Woodworking this
Wooten Patent Desks, manufactured by the Wooten Desk Co. in Indianapolis, Indiana
Collection of the Oakland Museum of California
Oakl
binations of shelves, drawers and pigeonholes and the exterior de­ Between 1 880 and 1 884, the Wooton Desk Manufacturing Co.
signs varied from desk to desk. But by 1876, the Wooton Desk Co.'s changed its marketing approach. The ordinary and superior grades
first illustrated catalog showed the company had developed standard­ had proved unpopular and the company stopped marketing them.
ized designs that allowed it to adopt more efficient mass-production Further, the concept of grades was replaced by an emphasis on
techniques to meet the increasing demand for its products. pattern, which allowed production of more models in the stan­
The 1876 catalog showed six different models of Rotary Desks, dard-grade category. The Wooton Desk Manufacturing Co. then
each in two grades: standard and extra. They included flat-top, roll­ sold four patt ernsof desks: the standard pattern and the extra pat­
top and cylinder-top desks with rotary cases installed in both ends tern, which looked the same as before, and two new patterns, the
or just one; there was also a Partner's Desk with rotary cases in­ Queen AIme and the Eastlake (shown in the top, right photo on
stalled in all four corners. The secretaries in the catalog were of­ the facing page). The Queen AI1ne pattern is well represented
fered in four grades-ordinary, standard, extra and superior. The among surviving desks, which attests to its popularity. On the oth­
catalog illustrations were carefully drawn in great detail and match er hand, Eastlake pattern secretaries, named after furniture-design
numerous extant desks. Further, existing desks match each other writer Charles Eastlake, are rarely encountered today.
in the configuration of interior compartments and in the stylistic One other pattern of secretary was developed, probably after
detailing on the exterior. The variation that appeared in earlier the company moved to Richmond, Ind., in 1 884. The interior of
secretaries was no longer tolerated; in fact, special requests for tl1e new plain pattern (see the bottom, right photo on the facing
pigeonhole alterations were refused. An 1875 letter from the Woo­ page) was only slightly simpler than the other desks, but the e)"1:e­
ton Desk Co. to Spencer Baird at the Smithsonian Institution states rior was plain indeed. There was no decorative gallery, no carving
that d1e company was "so hurried in getting out our desks that we and no veneer to contrast with this oak secretary. Some of the ex­
calmot at this time undertake any changes in interior arrangement terior moldings had chamfered edges and others were reeded, but
of desks." According to the Indianapolis News of April 14, 1876, tl1e effect was simple and utilitarian. Perhaps the design SimpliCity
d1e factory was producing 1 50 desks per mond1 and marketing reduced the cost of production and put the selling price within
them to customers worldwide. reach of new customers, because this pattern is well represented
The significant difference between d1e grades of Cabinet Secre­ an10ng surviving desks.
taries and Rotary Desks was not in function but in decorative style The plain pattern seems to have been the company's last suc­
and ornamentation. All grades of Wooton desks had similar pi­ cess. During the 1 870s and 1880s, when large pigeonhole files
geonhole configurations and were constructed primarily of black were a viable solution to the businessman's needs, the company
walnut from Indiana forests. But d1e amount and complexity of the had merely to keep pace with popular taste in furniture design.
e)"1:erior ornamental detailing and the type of veneer used on the But by the 1890s, it was the functional rather than the decorative
raised panels depended on d1e grade of d1e desk. The ordinary aspect of Wooton desks that had become old fashioned. The in­
grade had no veneer. Burl walnut adorned the standard grade; crease in paperwork had outgrown the limited storage capaCity of
maple or Spanish cedar trimmed the extra grade; and the most a Wooton desk and pigeonholes were being replaced by the wide­
expensive veneers-holly, satinwood and ebony-embellished d1e spread use of manila folders and file drawers. Unlike the easily
superior-grade desks. remodeled decorative style of the desks, the functional design was
By using grades to distinguish its models, d1e company clothed bound by the patent specifications. It could not be significantly
its desks in robes of increasing richness so d1ey could be sold in a redesigned and the product still be called a Wooton Patent Desk.
variety of markets. At a time when cabinetmakers earned abOlJt $2 And so the time passed when Wooton's ingenious invention could
per day and a seven-piece suite of parlor furniture could be pur­
chased for $55, even the smallest ordinary-grade secretary was ex­
pensive at $100. The standard-grade secretary cost between $135
be called the "Desk of the Age. "

Deborab Cooper is project manager at tbe Oakland Museum in

D
and 165, depending on the size of the desk, and d1e extra grade
sold for between 200 and $250. The superior grade (shown in the
photos on pp. 52-53) cost from $500 to $750, which was so expen­
Oakland, Cal. Parts of tbis article were adap
ted from es:says by
Cooper and Betty Lawson Walters in tbe 1983 exhibition catalog,
Wooton Patent Desks: A Place for Everything and Everything in Its
sive for the time that even John D. Rockefeller purchased an extra­ Place, published jointly by the Indiana State Museum, Indianap­
rad1er dun a superior-grade secretary. olis, Ind., and The Oakland Museum, Oakland, Cal.

and patience should be able to glean enough to draw a plan and and their front edges are doubled to create a 1 %-in.-wide surface
build a similar desk. for the hinges. I reinforced the rail-and-stile joints of the side and
back frames by gluing and screwing %-in.-thick pine boards across
Base: The rectangular area of the base is sized to fit the main case, them on the inside of the case, although this was not done on the
and the side pieces, or legs, extend to support the doors. I laminat­ original. The bottom is glued and screwed into rabbets in the
ed the legs from five pieces of %-in.-thick stock and doubled up sides, and the top overlays the sides and is screwed and glued to
both cross pieces. It would have been nice to use a shaper with the top rails of the side and back frames. The two horizontal di­
knives ground to the leg molding profile, but I achieved the same viders are glued and screwed to the top of the pine reinforcing
results with multiple router passes using three different router boards that run front to back. I glued and screwed 2x2s to the case
bits. The door support bumper helps prevent the doors from sag­ bottom to secure the case to the base.
ging and keeps the mating doors positioned when closed.
Door cases: Door construction is similar to case construction
Main case: The case must be solidly built and securely joined to except for the curved parts at the top. I bent the curved rails,
the base to support the hinged doors and writing flap when open. which have an outside radius of 1 2 in., by kerfing their back sides
The %-in.-thick side frames are mortised and tenoned together, and soaking them in water. I cut the blanks for the C-caps and the

March/April 1991 55
 Left and rigbt: Lehnert pat­
terned his desk after a Wooton
standard-grade cabinet secre­
tary. He took great pains to re­
produce the details, including
40 cardboard dra wers, incised
decorations on the writing flap
and intricate patterns on the
hinges. Below, left: A trophy­
plate engraving machine is
used with a double-size tem­
plate to carve the hardware
patterns onto a brass sheet.
Then the hardware's o u ter
shape is sawn. Below, rigbt:
Lehnert uses a Mill-Route du­
plicating machine to rout the
design on the writing flap
panel. The Mill-Route works
like a pantograph: it guides
a router via a stylus that is
moved around a fu ll-scale
pattern of the desired design.

front and side panel moldings with my bandsaw circle-cutting jig. $3,000 to set up and cast the hardware for one desk, I decided to
Note that the inside radius of the front panel moldings is % in. engrave it instead. I made charcoal rubbings from an original desk
smaller than that of the C-caps to accommodate the deeply inset and photo-enlarged them to double size. Working from these
curved panel. The panel is a %-in.-thick pine board, which I soaked copies, I used a scroll saw to make %- in.-thick plastic templates
for a day so it would be pliable enough to bend. I then glued and and engraved the brass hardware using a two-to-one trophy-plate
screwed it to the back side of the curved rails and applied the engraving machine (see the bottom, left photo). I then sawed the
walnut burl veneer to the panel after it had fully dried. outer shape of each particular piece of hardware, spray painted
As with the main case, the framework is reinforced by %-in.­ them black and removed the paint from the engraved surfaces
thick pine boards glued across the joints inside the door cases. The with steel wool. The decorative design in the bird's-eye maple ve­
left door is 1 7/16 in. narrower than the right door so the moldings neer on the writing flap was routed Similarly. Here, though, I used
on the right door are centered when the doors are closed. The center a Mill-Route duplicating machine (made by Progressive Technol­
moldings overhang the right door by 9/16 in. to span the YI6-in. gap ogy, Box 672525, Houston, Tex. 77267) and a one-to-one pattern
between the doors and to overlap the left door by % in. (see the bottom, right photo).
The decorative groove (false frame and panel) on the inner sides
of the door cases is routed with a template and guide bushing. The Det ailing and finishing: The decorative appliques and carved
door latch operates via a T-handle connected to a 1 4-in.-Iong steel elements of the gallery were roughed out on the bandsaw and then
rod runnin
g through the inside of the right door. An old-fashioned carved to final shape and assembled. I sanded all surfaces to at least
keyed door-lock mechanism is mounted under the escutcheon on 200-grit and most to 600-grit before finishing. Much of the furni­
the door case. When the handle is turned, a notched latch engages a ture built during the Victorian period was varnished and so I wanted
hook on the main case and a lock strike on the left door. to follow suit. However, the vertical surfaces, pigeonholes and nu­
merous carvings and moldings intensified problems witll varnish
Pigeonholes: The pine pigeonhole boards are trimmed with solid runs and sags. I solved these problems by using Bartley's Clear Var­
walnut splined onto their front edges, which adds a dramatic color nish (available from Bartley Collection Ltd., 3 Airpark Drive, Easton,
variation. I cut and dry-assembled the outer frame of the pigeon­ Md. 2 1601 ). This gel varnish is applied like an oil finish; it's rubbed
hole sections first, to ensure they fit perfectly inside the cases. I on with a cloth and the excess is wiped off almost immediately.
used a dado blade on the tablesaw and a sliding crosscut table with a For the pigeonholes that were too small to get my hand into, I
hold-down clamp to cut the shallow dadoes for joining the parts.

En gravings: The original Wooton desks had decorative cast

applied the finish with a cloth wrapped around a stick.

Gene Lehnert teaches woodworking and builds furn iture

0
hinges and escutcheons. But when I found it would cost about in Galveston, Tex.

56 Fine Woodworking Photos this page: Jim Boese

l; drawing: Bob La Pointe
Wooton desk construction
Gallery is doweled,
glued, to top.

Cover flap for

top pigeonholes
Right-door case,
44%Hx20"A6Wx12D
23%
Upper main-case pigeonholes are
Hx37'.4Wx 1 1%D.
Right-door pigeonholes,
43YsHx18�6Wx10%D

Writing flap,
1 V.x233j,6X37Y'6
Left-door pigeonholes,
43YsHx17Wx10%D
(contains mail drop box)

Left-door case,
44%Hx19Y4Wx12D

Handle is linked to

Cardboard
latch with steel rod

drawers
through groove in side.
Detail: Cross section of drawer front Drawers have
half-blind dovetails
in front and through Detail : Exterior of right door
dovetails in back.

I nset rosette Lower main-case pigeonholes are

(JIE::::::::
::: ::::
::: ?''-
::: Walnut, % in. thick 2CYIi6Hx37'.4Wx1 1%D.

Drawer pull
Center moldings
Panel, l4 in. thick, is curved, overhang 0/16 in. to
veneered and glued to inside overlap other door
of kerf-bent frame. when closed.

Pigeonhole case

Panels, 0/.6 in. thick,

are veneered and
Burl veneer glued to flat walnut
panels, % in. thick.

Handle

Panel molding

Stile is kerf-bent to a
12-in. outside radius.

March/April 1991 57