Independent Arts News Reporting Oscar Hammerstein's Original Standing Desk Returns Home to Museum in Doylestown at Highland Farm
Reported Wednesday, August 13, 2025.
Pictured Above: Oscar Hammerstein’s Desk brought back through its original doors. Photo Credit: Contributed.
NEWSROOM POST: DOYLESTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Hammerstein composed the lyrics to Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and more at his iconic standing desk, now on view at the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center
Doylestown, PA – Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin,’” it will be on Saturday, August 23, 2025, when Oscar Hammerstein II’s writing desk goes on view at the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center. The iconic desk is where Hammerstein composed lyrics to the timeless Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals of stage and screen including Oklahoma!, State Fair, Carousel, South Pacific, Cinderella, and more. This is the first time the desk has ever been put on view for the public.
The standing desk’s historic unveiling will be marked by a press conference and celebratory reception for the museum’s donors, Hammerstein family members, and local officials at noon on August 23. The invitation-only program will be followed by special first viewing tours open to the public with advance admission. These tours will highlight the desk and additional Hammerstein family treasures from the museum collections. These special tours will be led by Hammerstein Museum Board Vice President and Collections Committee Chair, Mike Adams
Pictured Above: OHII at desk; The American Home Magazine, Oct 1955. Photo Credit: Contributed.
In Hollywood, in 1937, Hammerstein was writing the book and lyrics for the movie musical High, Wide, and Handsome, when he complained to his then-writing partner Jerome Kern that he found working at a standard desk uncomfortable and confining. Kern gifted him a Victorian traveling desk. Oscar’s wife, noted interior decorator Dorothy Hammerstein, had the desk mounted on legs tall enough for Oscar, who stood 6-feet, 2 inches tall, to work while standing. Oscar used the desk for the rest of his life, including his collaborations with Richard Rodgers, beginning in 1942, until Hammerstein’s passing on August 23, 1960. Numerous publicity photographs from the 1940s and 50s show Hammerstein working at the desk in the study of this Doylestown home that is now the core of the museum.
The desk was gifted to the museum from the Estate of Alice Hammerstein Mathias, Oscar’s daughter who passed away in 2015. Alice’s daughter (Oscar’s granddaughter) Melinda Mathias Walsh, a member of Museum’s Honorary Advisory Board, made the announcement of the gift at the museum’s 2024 gala in a letter read by Board President Gregory Roth: Hammerstein Museum – Oscar’s Writing Desk Comes Home, Congratulations on the purchase of Highland Farm. Now that the farm is secure, my brother Peter [Mathias]and I would like to present Highland Farm with a housewarming gift. My mother, Alice Hammerstein Mathias, inherited her father’s desk and it resided in her home until her death in 2015. The standing desk is part of the history of musical theatre, where our grandfather wrote his lyrics and librettos. In her Will she instructed that the desk be donated to a cultural and/or educational institution. Over the years we have explored possible placements, none of which panned out to our satisfaction. We kept Highland Farm in the back of our minds, but its future was not guaranteed so we hesitated to proceed with the notion of donating the desk to the farm. Peter and I think it’s now time for the desk to return home.
Pictured Above: Melinda Mathias Walsh and husband Bill Walsh. Photo Credit: Contributed.
Mathias Walsh’s letter continued: “Years ago, Loretta Ables Sayre, Bloody Mary from Lincoln Center’s revival of South Pacific, came to our home for dinner and she asked to see the desk. When she ran her hand over it, she wept, taking in that Oscar had written his songs on that surface. I hope that it has that effect on visitors to [Hammerstein Museum].”
Ted Chapin, former President and Chief Creative Officer of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization and a Hammerstein Museum Honorary Advisory Board Member, has written: American Musicals. Many pianos played by composers have existed and have changed hands… But there is one – and only one – item as iconic to the history of musical theater as the standing desk at which Oscar Hammerstein II created all his great, now classic works…
The standing desk will go on display as part of museum tours following the press conference and celebration. On August 23, special first-viewing Family Treasures Tours will be held at 1:30 and 3:30 PM, led by Hammerstein Museum Vice President and Collections Committee Chair Mike Adams. Tour participants that day will be among the first to see Hammerstein’s iconic writing desk along with other historic items not typically on display and receive a Hammerstein Museum gift.
Regular tours, which will include the writing desk, resume the next day. The forty-five-minute tours include riveting stories about Hammerstein’s musical family, how his groundbreaking musicals forever changed the modern-day book-musical, and additional insight into his contributions to society through his many humanitarian acts. Advance tickets are required for all tours. Tickets and information are available at https://www.hammersteinmuseum.org/tourinfo.
Pictured Above: Oscar Hammerstein II in his study, Doylestown, PA. Photo Credit: Contributed.
ABOUT THE OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN MUSEUM AND THEATRE EDUCATION CENTER:
The Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center is a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of Oscar Hammerstein II’s Doylestown home and telling the story of his legacy as a librettist, lyricist, humanitarian, and mentor. The Hammerstein family resided at Highland Farm from 1940-1960. Hammerstein composed the lyrics to his best-loved musicals while in residence at the farm, including “The Sound of Music,” “Oklahoma!” “South Pacific” (inspired by Doylestown’s James Michener’s novel Tales of the South Pacific), and others. A friendly neighbor, Hammerstein was known to fly a flag when local children could come to use his swimming pool or play tennis. He also met and mentored a young Stephen Sondheim while living at Highland Farm. Hammerstein’s role as a mentor and humanitarian will play a large role in the planned theatre education center at Hammerstein Museum.
The nonprofit is currently raising funds for the restoration and preservation of Highland Farm, and to
build the theatre education center on the site of the historic barn on the property. Individuals and entities interested in helping to Create Hammerstein Museum can contribute online at https://www.hammersteinmuseum.org/donate. Contributions of any amount can also be made by check, credit card or appreciated securities. Naming opportunities are available for rooms and spaces in the house and barn. Persons or institutions who have an object to donate for consideration in the museum’s collection may visit https://www.hammersteinmuseum.org/contact-us for instructions. For more information email hammersteinmuseum@gmail.com.
