Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Furniture Exchange Extends Hours

BRAND NEW TO ANTIQUE
Furniture Exchange Extends Hours
The MIT Student Furniture Exchange, which raises money for 
scholarships by selling household and office furniture and other 
items essential to life on a college campus, has announced special 
"back-to-school" hours through September 11.
The Furniture Exchange, located in N52, the MIT Museum Building, is 
open regularly from 10am-2pm Tuesdays and Thursdays all year long. 
It will be open as well from noon-6pm on August 28, September 4 
and September 11 and from 10am-1pm on September 7.
Last year, the Women's League donated $10,000 to the scholarship 
fund from proceeds of the Furniture Exchange.
"Our record amount of gross sales last year," the League said in its 
annual report, "may be due to the large number and high quality of 
donated items we have received. We are truly grateful for these 
donations and encourage people to think of us religiously and 
automatically when `spring cleaning' or moving." In some cases, the 
Furniture Exchange can arrange help in packing and transporting 
donated items.
The Exchange, operated by the MIT Women's League as a service to 
the MIT Community, was started more than 30 years ago by Carolyn 
Brooks, wife of Edward Pennell Brooks, the first dean of the Sloan 
School. It has been operating continuously since then and research by 
the Women's League over the last year has not revealed any similar 
service at any campus in the United States.
The current co-chairs, Dotty Mark and Suze Campbell, took note in 
the Women's League's 1990-91 annual report of the fact the name of 
the organization doesn't accurately describe its activities.
"The MIT Student Furniture Exchange began as a service exclusively 
to help students at MIT furnish their rooms or apartments thriftily. 
It was opened up some time ago, however, to the MIT community, and 
now many people on campus make a habit of browsing regularly for 
the odd or amusing or `just what I needed' treasure. . . . 
"The MIT Student Furniture Exchange sells more now than just 
furniture. One can find almost anything there: dishes, pots and pans, 
china and glassware, gadgets, appliances, books, linens, old records, 
lamps, some assorted clothing, TVs and radios, and in general, all 
manner of household items, in addition to office furniture and 
furnishings. Everything from the practical to the whimsical, from 
brand new to respectably antique (what we call `vintage') can appear 
on our shelves or in the aisles.  
"The MIT Student Furniture Exchange is not really an Exchange in the 
sense that one can bring in one item and exchange it for another. 
Students are encouraged to keep their receipts so that they may `sell 
back' their purchases for two thirds of the original purchase price. 
The Furniture Exchange is like a Stock Exchange-one can buy goods 
there and one can sell them there as well.