Journey of the Chinese Table

Apr 17, 2018

1 min read

This feat deserved its very own blog post, so here we go!

By far the oldest and most historic work of art in our exhibition is the Chinese table - an object that is normally on display in the library administration office on the third floor of the Memorial Library.

This table once belonged to Mankato Normal School (MNSU) alumna Dr. Sara Janson. She graduated in 1892! She was an amazing, adventurous, and generous woman, and the first woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Medical School!

Anyway, around 1962 Dr. Janson donated a collection of historic objects to MSU, including really old books, a clock, fossils, and this amazing table. There even used to be a room named after her in Old Main, when MSU was still located in the valley.

The MNSU archives generously allowed us to borrow this table and today we embarked on a great adventure to simply move the table from the top floor of the library to Nelson Hall. It was a lot harder than you'd think!

Because of the size and shape of the table, we were not able to bring it out the front or back doors of the library, let alone the narrow detectors. But we got around this - by way of the MNSU tunnel!

So the table traveled from the library, through the tunnel, to the Bull Pen, up the stairs to the CSU, out the door, across the courtyard and finally safely to the first floor of Nelson Hall. We documented this historic venture!