Josiah's Attic

The surplus furniture program serves as an important function to help us conserve University resources, support sustainability efforts and dispose of items that are no longer in use.

Josiah’s Attic is designed for departments to post furniture items and office supplies that are no longer needed within their area, but are still re-usable. This site allows Brown Community members to search for available items before purchasing new items, reducing unnecessary landfill waste. Access to this site has been provided to individuals identified as Surplus Coordinators within each department, typically the person handling inventory. Questions regarding the use of this site should be directed to [email protected].

The university surplus program is managed through the Controller’s Office in conjunction with Brown’s Office of Community Engagement, Environmental Health & Safety, Facilities Management, and the Office of Sponsored Projects. Questions regarding the surplus process should be directed to [email protected].

Good condition furniture and office supplies that are no longer needed can be listed here by the Surplus Coordinator within your department. Broken, outdated or unusable items, or items with a Brown University asset tag, will need to be disposed of properly following surplus policy instructions as directed.

If a department requires the use of Facilities Management to move a piece of furniture that is being requested by another department, Facilities typically charges a fee between $350 and $500 for the move.

Please note: Plan ahead when surplussing items that will be replaced. Furniture will remain on this website (if unclaimed) for 60 days and departments are responsible for holding the furniture until it is picked up. When planning to order new furniture, also plan to upload your surplus furniture on this website ahead of time.

Members of the Brown Community and pre-approved charitable organizations may submit requests for acquiring surplus items.

Brown Members

Items are made available to just the Brown Community for the first 10 days of being listed before being opened to our partners.

Charitable Partners

If your organization is not yet approved and you wish to be considered please contact [email protected] for more information.