I am the director at a small historic home in Ohio that was built in the 1820s. Built into the walls of the two bedrooms upstairs are drawers, not very deep (maybe 4-6 inches?), and about 8 inches tall and 12 inches wide. I was told by one of our volunteers when I started working here that they are called mustache boxes and were used for storing glasses and other things that you would place on a nightstand overnight.

I have never seen drawers like this before in a historic home and my research has been rather unfruitful. (Googling "mustache box" just turns up lots of pictures of boxes with mustache painted on them! And "drawers built into walls, 1800s" just turns up restoration blogs.)

Has anyone seen things like this before or have heard of drawers being built into walls? The family who built the house was originally from New England (New Bedford/Nantucket, MA and Newport, RI) and had been raised as Quakers. I'm not sure if it's something regional or really anything about this.

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated! I can provide photos of the drawers if interested.

Thank you!

Sammy Kay

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