Beginnings

In 1776 Thomas Jefferson returned to Philadelphia as one of Virginias representative in the Coninental Congress. Like the previous year he stayed with his cousin Benjamin Randolph a famed cabinet maker.

During this time Jefferson designed and Randolph's shop constructed a small mahogany traveling desk. Jefferson shortly thereafter moved to the Graff house, a location more convenient to the tasks at hand.

It was there on the new little desk he drafted the Declaration Independence and a free nation was birthed.

Jefferson carried and used the little desk for almost 50 years before giving it to Elleanora and Joseph Coolidge who had courted at Monticello and were married in the parlor there in March of 1825.

All of Ellens possessions at Monticello had been packed and shipped to her new home in Boston aboard the brig Washington. The ship encounered a terrible storm and was wrecked and all was lost save the crew and a single barrel of flour.

Upon hearing of this news her grandfather sent the little desk to the newlyweds, affixing to the desk a note which reads:

Th: Jefferson gives this Writing desk to Joseph Coolidge junr as a Memorial of affection. it was made from a drawing of his own, by Ben Randall, cabinet maker of Philadelphia, with whom he first lodged on his arrival in that city in May 1776. and is the identical one on which he wrote the Declaration of Independance, Politics, as well as Religion, has it’s superstitions. these, gaining strength with time, may, one day, give imaginary value to this relic, for it’s association with the birth of the Great charter of our Independance. Monticello. Nov. 18. 1825

One of the first things Jefferson had written on the desk was the Delaration of Independence and one of the last was the note he attached to the precious gift to Joseph and Ellen.

Along with the desk Jefferson sent a letter to Coolidge part of which reads:

Mr. Coolidge must do me the favor of accepting this [gift]. Its imaginary value will increase with years, and if he lives to my age, or another half-century, he may see it carried in the procession of our nation's birthday, as the relics of the Saints are in those of the Church.

The Coolidges held on to the precious desk for over fifty years and although Ellen died in the April of 1876, Joseph did indeed see the relic of the American Revolution "carried in the procession of our nation's birthday" in Boston during the nation's centennial celebrations.

Joseph followed Ellen in death in 1879 and the next year their heirs donated the priceless desk associated "with the birth of the Great charter of our Independance"

In April of 1880 amid great fanfare the object was accepted by the nation. It was displayed at the State Department for 40 years before being transferred to the Smithsonian. The desk now is on display in a central place of pride and honor at the Smithsonians Museum of American History.

During the summer of 1880 a number very convincing "fac-similes" were made under mysterious circumstances at the Department of Treasury workshops and distributed to various statesmen, political figures and their familiy members.

These replicas have gone on to cause confusion and excitement when they surface over time occasionally calling into question the authenticity of the original desk.

In 2013 my brother acquired at auction one these daughter desks, causing the same confusion and excitement previous discovers of these items. It took us a few years and considerable research to put our replica desk in historical context.

In the process other replicas were found in museums in Massachusettes, Ohio and Virginia a few in private hands and rumors of others.

This brief overview is a introduction to the Declaration Desk and it's daughters made in 1880.

In subsequent posts we will delve deeper into the history of the original and as well as the history of the various replicas made beginning in 1880 and being made until this very day.