Wade Center Wheaton College

[Stormrider]

Desi and I went to visit our friend, Laura, who we met at the Tolkien Conference at Marquette University a few years ago. She was lucky enough to land a job at the Wade Center at Wheaton College as their Archivist. She is loving her job, too!

Laura gave us a tour of the Wade Center www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter/ which has a museum dedicated to seven authors: Owen Barfield, G. K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams.

The desk that J.R.R. Tolkien sat at while writing The Hobbit and The Return of the King was there. C.S. Lewis' desk was there, too, and the wardrobe that he and his older brother played in as children and which inspired his Narnia tale.

Laura took us through the reading room and the archive rooms and we saw all the different volumes of all the books that all these authors published along with many other books about the authors and their works. It was wonderful to see our friend again and the museum.

Stormrider on the left and Desi on the right behind Tolkien's Desk:




Here we are behind C S Lewis' Desk:




Here we are in front of the Wardrobe:

[Andorinha]

Stormrider and Desi:

Wow! Youse guys are sooo lucky, you even got to touch the desks! I'll bet they soon have to rope them off from the general public, a few hundred thousand sweaty-palmed fans might eventually wear the desks to splinters. Thanks for the photos. Interesting that JRRT and CSL both had such small desks! But, I guess they needed nothing larger, no computer space required, lol.

[Stormrider]

The desks did have a glass piece on top of them to protect them. We were allowed to open the drawers as well. CSL's desk was larger than JRRT's! There was no chair to go with JRRT's desk but CSL's desk had the chair.

There was a typed letter from JRRT on top of the desk (we were not allowed to take a close up picture of it) explaining that he had donated the desk to help the elderly. His desk was auctioned off and I don't know how much it sold for. The Wade Center was not the buyer--they received it from the second owner after the auction winner won it.

We also saw the professor gown that CS Lewis wore on campus when he taught. It was stored in the lower archives and was being prepared for display upstairs in the museum.

[Stormrider]

All of the authors that are displayed at the Wade Center knew each other and were part of what became the Inklings except for Dorothy Sayers (women were not allowed in the Inklings!). However, they all knew her and she them.

The Wardrobe was very heavy and deeply carved. It is a very nice piece of furniture. I just purchased two new wardrobes for my husband and myself and they are no where near the quality of this wardrobe (but they are nice in their own way--no carving but the wood is placed in a nice design to give them a cool look)

I was surprised at how small JRRT's desk was. Laura mentioned that JRRT did most of his LOTR writing and re-writing at Oxford but wrote The Hobbit and a lot of the re-writing of The Return of the King at this little desk.

[Desi Baggins]

It was a very nice display at the Wade Center! It was neat to get a personal tour and go in the locked areas! I really enjoyed seeing the desks and wardrobe!

[Andorinha]

I'll have to check the 1988 video version to be sure, but I think the wardrobe used in the BBC television production has the same carving-pattern found on the original Lewis wardrobe.

Hmm, I might be tempted to pop inside the one in the Wade Center, just to see what happens...

[Androga Erindalant]

Wow! That's very very very nice! It must be so wonderful to be near such important pieces. To know that your favourite author was working there once, to create that world at which we all lost our hearts to. The wardrobe looks beautiful indeed. Thank both of you for the pictures!

Hey, who needs a big desk anyway? It's the mind sitting at it which counts.