You know you blog too much when you can’t remember if you’ve already written about something or not. Â Luckily, I’m so in love with this topic that I don’t care if I’ve blogged about it before. Â You all deserve to hear it again. Â Its just that good.
I got quite a few comments the other day on the posting about Mother’s Day on the piece of furniture in my living room. Â Most people got it right – it is a piece of furniture from a library. Â And some people actually nailed it right on – it is a card catalog. Â But the history of this piece of furniture is hard to guess and will make you love it even more.
This is one of the original card catalogs from the Yale University library. Â How awesome is that? Â And want to love it even MORE? Â I only paid $50 for it!
A few years ago when Chris was still a grad student at Yale, he got a mass email from the University announcing that they would be selling their original card catalogs from the library for $50 on a first-come, first-served basis. Â You had to be at the library by 8:00 the next morning and you had to be able to move the furniture yourself. Â Now, these sound like small things, but they are actually really important for you to know when you are on the hunt for your own Yale University card catalog.
First of all, all 50 of the catalogs were gone by 8:30 AM. Â Secondly, they weigh a freaking ton! Â The original piece is about eight feet tall and breaks down into three different sections. Â You had to buy all of this, so we have all the pieces. Â But we chose to break it down into a side table by only using the bottom third of the catalog. Â But even those three individual pieces take about three full grown men to lift. Â It was quite a feat to move that sucker from campus to a truck and into our tiny apartment at the time. Â And when we were thinking about buying a house, I think Chris seriously considered moving the card catalog to be the deal breaker.
But he managed to move it from campus into our tiny apartment way back when, and he moved it again this past summer when we moved into our new house. Â And I’m so glad because it is the single most awesome piece of furniture we own. Â And thanks to all those who commented on it yesterday! Â Cause what’s fun about having a cool piece of furniture if no one is there to tell you how cool it is?
1) Nelia: That is crazy cool. (05.17.2009 09:52am)
2) List: It is sooooo cool in fact that even on the Big Bang Theory, they have one as a set prop in their apartment. Your furniture is on TV! I noticed it the other day for the first time after seeing yours. What an awesome piece of furniture to have! (05.17.2009 10:01am)
3) Alyssa: This is awesome! I'm always on the look out for these and old pharmacy chests. This kind of furniture really adds character to a room. (05.17.2009 11:46am)
4) Lori: I had a feeling it was a Yale piece of history! I have an FSU filing cabinet, but it isn't nearly as cool. (05.17.2009 11:51am)
5) Heather: SWEET find!! Can I ask what you store in the drawers?? It'll be a great place to put little things for the Bean when he gets a bit bigger... Little 'treasures' for him to find in the bottom row of drawers, he'll be entertained for HOURS... XOXOX & Smiles Heather (05.17.2009 12:11pm)
6) Liesel: That is an awesome piece of furniture. Good find! (05.17.2009 05:56pm)
7) Ashley: I LOVE IT!! It was well worth the effort! (05.17.2009 07:04pm)
8) Betty: That is so neat! And it looks so awesome in your house! (05.17.2009 07:17pm)
9) Jenn: Awesome! And what do you keep in this cool card catalog?! (05.18.2009 08:53am)
10) Era: Excellent find! (05.18.2009 09:58am)
11) jen: i absolutely love it!!! when i first started reading your blog there was a pic of it in one of your posts or somewhere on here. and i noticed it right off. i knew it was a card catalog and wondered where you got it from. now i know. just awesome. (05.18.2009 10:46am)
12) Donna: That is a cool story, I would have never thought it would be so heavy. You are also lucky, b/c my husband would have never told me about the email... (05.18.2009 12:04pm)
13) Niki: I like it. And I too would like to know what you put in the drawers. :-) (05.18.2009 04:47pm)
14) Amy: I. AM. SO. JEALOUS. -LIBRARIAN (05.19.2009 12:16am)