An early example of multi-functional furniture associated with Thomas Jefferson, this desk could be utilized for reading, writing, or drawing, depending on how its components were arranged. He commissioned it from one of the Williamsburg-based cabinetmakers noted in his Memorandum Book of expenditures. He probably drafted the “Summary View of the Rights of British America,” a seminal precursor to the Declaration of Independence, while working at this desk at his home, Monticello, near Charlottesville, VA.