Teacher's desk
Category
Education objects
Date
Unknown
Materials
Oak, brass and metal
Measurements
1065 mm (length); 594 mm (width); 1090 mm (height)
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 665972
Summary
An oak, all in one, teacher's desk and chair, both supported on a single pair of horizontal struts, each with two castors. Above the struts is a raised foot platform connecting the desk to the chair which has a tip-up seat. The desk has a hinged sloping lid, two inkwells with sliding brass covers and two grooves for pens. The hinged, panelled door at the front of the desk opens to reveal a cupboard containing two shelves.
Provenance
'Derbyshire Museum Service History of Education Collection' - a collection established by Derbyshire Museum Service (through gifts from individuals, Derbyshire schools and purchases) in the 1940s and stored at Sudbury Hall from the early 1970s to 2012. The National Trust managed the collection between 1991 and 2012 when legal ownership was transferred from Derbyshire County Council to the National Trust. Archival records information - "The collection was established as a result of isolated gifts in the 1940's, and the 'savings' of certain school records (now passed to County Records) during wartime paper salvage." "During the 1950s it was L.E.A. practice to hold an Easter Course for teachers, and the County (Derbyshire) Museum arranged a special exhibition for teach course. As by the mid 1950s quite a collection had already accumulated, it was decided to produce an exhibition on the history of education with special reference to Derbyshire. Consequently, further material was purchased, from which items were selected. The exhibition was subsequently shown at a number of centres, and after disbandment, additions continued to be made with the aim of eventually producing a reconstructed classroom as a base for research. The Derby Bishop Lonsdale College of Education has frequently made use of the collection in various ways."