Drawing Table/Desk Identify when made and type of wood

I am a newbie so this is perhaps considered a repeat post due to my nescience of the forum. I should have posted it to furniture originally. My research has provided the following data: Per former president of the successor company to E.H Sheldon this is an Engineering/Architectural Drawing Table. His reference catalog is not dated. He believes this could have been modified for a specific end user or a later (earlier) model to his catalog 24 A. The unit has six locked drawers which would indicate that it was for six classes per day. Tables during 1920-1950s were generally crafted from oak, birch or maple. Measurements are 41" H x 38" W x 24 1/2" D (approximate).

The six slots? (for lack of better term) were added post manufacture. This is easy to determine as the craftsmanship is extremely poor and the wood is different. In the back it is more evident to see that these were attached later.

I hope to find the time period of manufacture. Are there any hints to ID the time period if someone doesn’t have reference material? Also, would like to know how to determine which wood it was made from. Thank you in advance.

 

oak

 

I'm thinking this might be the top of yours. I'm not great with woods but I'm thinking maple.

 

Definitely not oak. Maple and birch are hard to distinguish from each other when stained, as this is. I would lean to this being birch since it stains easier than maple and maple is often preferred natural for the blond look. Hard to say age. I imagine these were made like this for decades unchanged. Can we see the locks? Might help date it.

 

Drawing boards that were NOT bound with metal strips on the sides were usually made of maple to minimize warping. A hard smooth surface was more important than the finish or look.

 

Dovetails are machine cut. That type of lock was common roughly 30s-50s.