Noyes Dictionary Holder

Object NameDictionary stand

Manufacturer LaVerne W. Noyes (Chicago)

Datec. 1880

MediumMetal, wood

Dimensions37 × 23 × 13 1/2 in. (94 × 58.4 × 34.3 cm)

ClassificationsFurniture

Credit LineGift of Louise Haug. In the Farm House Museum Collection, Farm House Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object number75.3.1

Status

On view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: LaVerne W. Noyes (1849−1919) entered Iowa Agricultural College (IAC, now Iowa State University) when it ﬁrst opened in 1868 and graduated with the ﬁrst class in 1872. While a student, he met Ida Elizabeth Smith, who had entered IAC in 1870. A year after graduation and marriage, the Noyes’s moved to Batavia, Illinois where LaVerne obtained patents on improved farm machinery which he sold to various manufacturers. In 1879, the Noyes’s moved to Chicago. Around this time, LaVerne invented what became known as the Noyes Dictionary Holder for Ida, who struggled to hold her large copy of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. After several weeks of watching his wife struggle, LaVerne used a series of wires to construct a cradle to hold the heavy book. He began to manufacture the adjustable Noyes Dictionary Holder, and this example can be seen in the Farm House Museum’s permanent collection. LaVerne Noyes became a wealthy man and made philanthropic contributions to his alma mater in 1914 by employing O.C. Simonds, a landscape designer from Chicago, to study the possibility of enhancing the south end of campus. Simonds recommended that a lake should be built by constructing a dam on College Creek. Noyes donated $10,000 for the construction of Lake LaVerne.

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