Joseph L. Ross Primary School Desk

This desk designed by Joseph L. Ross, was called the Primary Portable School Desk, and was sold to the public school system in Boston and elsewhere through much of the 19th Century. This pedestal style desk features a simple desktop with single shelf open on to the student and supported by two decorative cast iron side support/ legs. These were sold in various heights, with this size designed for the youngest student. By the 1860’s the legs on the desk could be special ordered less decorative and more functionally adjustable in length. These were later marketed for their flexibility of use as both a standing desk (which is healthy) or for use while sitting. The style of desk the company pioneered continues to be in use today though the cast iron leg supports are usually a simple style of steel, and the desk-box is often either steel, aluminum, or a synthetic like plastic. This desk was made between 1860-1890 in New England, probably Massachusetts. .

The manufacturer was Joseph L. Ross and Company. Joseph L. Ross (1798-1879) was born in Ipswich, Ma, the son of Joseph Lakeman Ross (1766-1850), a blacksmith and his wife Mary Wilcomb Ross. He was a carpenter who lived in Boston and founded a furniture business in 1838. By 1847, he was designing and specializing in school and church furniture, capitalizing on the growth of the common school movement. His company was known as Ross’ American Excelsior School Furniture Works, later Ross American School Furniture and Ross School and Church Furniture. His company was one of the earliest American furniture companies to specialize in the school market, and several sales catalogs and marketing brochures and broadsides still exist. A sucessful businessman, Ross was a primaray partner with the incorporation of the Ipswich Savings Bank in 1869, and also known for his philanthropy such as providing in 1873, a $600 set of school furniture to Central School in Ipswich. The company appears to have lasted into the 1920's, out surviving the founder by decades. The company's later catalogs included suggested classroom floor plans, as well as a variety of other school supplies and furnishings.

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