Artist: Andrew Peters (unconfirmed).

Year: 2012

Dedicated to the late Toff the cat.

This statue in the Gould Library memorializes the late Toff, a cat known for roaming Carleton’s campus freely until his death on March 6, 2011 at 14 years old. While he officially belonged to two Carleton professors, Roger and Martha Paas, Toff was considered by many to be adopted by the entire school. Toff was and is loved by students and faculty alike and has become one of Carleton’s many unofficial mascots, and the beloved animal was even featured in a 2023 Star Tribune article, “Which is Minnesota’s most famous animal?”. 

The bronze statue was officially unveiled and dedicated in a ceremony on March 1, 2012 that featured Toff-themed decorations and cookies resembling cats. According to a comment on one of Toff’s many Facebook posts, the sculpture was created and donated by Andrew Peters.