Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 4, Number 2, Fall, 1992 Page: 36
40 p. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Cynthia A. Brandimarte, Inside Texas: Culture,
Identity, and Houses, 1878 - 1920 (Fort Worth:
Texas Christian University Press, 1991, 460 pp.,
$60)
With Inside Texas: Culture, Identity, and
Houses, 1878 - 1920, Cynthia Brandimarte gives a
new dimension to the old adage, "A picture is worth
a thousand words." Her award-winning volume
provides scores of photographs of Texas home interiors
and an interpretation of those photographs
which allows the reader to understand much more
about the rooms than meets the eye. She has included
a brief but helpful history of the wide variety
of decorating styles used by Texans, including one
of the most coherent explanations ever offered to the
question, "Why did Victorians have all that stuff?"
The author has chosen to group the photos by
themes, instead of a traditional chronological treatment.
This organization allows her to offer chapters
examining occupation, family, ethnicity, social
group, region, refinement, class, and style as reflected
in the homes of individuals all over the state.
For example, we have views of the sitting room of a
ranch near Coleman, Texas, in about 1888; the
parlor of the LS Ranch near Tascosa in 1897; lawyer
Samuel Bell Maxey's library in Paris c. 1895; and
the reception room of photographer Joseph M.
Maurer in Galveston c. 1903. They illustrate how
the occupations of the residents were reflected in
their home furnishings.
Similarly, differences in socioeconomic levels
can be seen in the photos in the chapter on class.
The dining room of an unidentified house in Kaufman
County c. 1900 can be compared with the dining
room of the Van Alstyne-Dickson home in Houston
in the same time period. A unique chapter on advice
literature, "Interior Decorators Were Not Yet With
Us," describes and illustrates the sources for decorating
information available to Texans. Photos of
the Peg Bonney paint and paper store in San Angelo
c. 1900 and of the interior of Taliaferro Furniture
Company in Sherman in 1908 offer views of two
such sources.
Brandimarte illustrates what was important
to the home owners and what meaning was attached
to the objects they valued. She shows the reader the
fallacy in the notions that have been ascribed to late
nineteenth century homes, such as specific uses for
36specific rooms. Finally, she demonstrates how the
furnishings reflected the personalities of the people
who purchased them.
Students of interior design will find the appendices
of great value. They include the locations
of the homes still standing; a chronological listing of
each home, its location, and specific rooms illustrated
in the texts; and a glossary of decorative terms.
Detailed footnotes, a select bibliography, and a full
index complete the volume. One final note: in her
introduction, the author describes a request by author-screenwriter
Horton Foote to help convince the
art department of the film company making the
movie 1918 that their idea of an appropriate interior
was all wrong. They wanted to perpetuate the
Hollywood stereotype of Texans as "singular and
anachronistic, unaware of fashion and styles."
Brandimarte's volume should go a long way toward
giving that stereotype a deserved burial.
-Jackie McElhaney
Maxine Holmes and Gerald D. Saxon, editors, The
WPA Dallas Guide and History, American Guide
Series, 1940 (Dallas Public Library, Texas Center
for the Book, University of North Texas Press, 1992,
451 pp., $35)
Here at last, after a delay of half a century, is
the long-awaited publication of the Work Project
Administration's guide and history of Dallas. Now
revealed is the secret for much of the work of local
historians. For years they have gleaned multi
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Dallas Historical Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 4, Number 2, Fall, 1992, periodical, 1992; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35117/m1/38/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.