The Wooton desk is one of the most recognizable Indiana-made products and continues to fascinate with its elaborate carvings and many compartments. It represents the evolution of the office and business practices, as its design attempted to solve all office organizing and administrative needs in one piece of furniture. The desk is also an example of the late-19th century proliferation of “patent furniture” that provided novel solutions to the problems of contemporary life. This one-of-a-kind desk was the pinnacle of the Wooton desk design and as such was used in the company’s catalogs to demonstrate the remarkable craftsmanship and artistry they achieved. William S. Wooton founded the Wooton Desk Company in Indianapolis in 1874, moving to Richmond, IN, in 1885. With its extensive hardwood forests and skilled artisans, Indiana was a center for furniture design and production. Wooton’s patented desks are high style objects that were owned by businessmen, industrialists and the elite of the 19th century. Joseph Pulitzer, Jay Gould, John D. Rockefeller, the Smithsonian Institution, Ulysses Grant, and James A. Garfield all owned Wooton desks. The desks came in several models and four grades, of which this grade, the Superior is the rarest and most elaborate. Superior grade desks were highly customized and the few known examples have very different design motifs. This, the Winged Griffin desk, was used to illustrate the Superior Grade.