Back Door Closets
Greenbelt Townhouse
The back door closet is located on the "garden side" of the house
and
contains recreation products, coats, and other miscellaneous items.
The closet has an approximate volume of 150 cubic feet. The
following items were found in the closet.
| Sears catalog |
sewing kit |
tobacco tin |
| cigar box |
painting |
picture frames |
| tennis rackets |
Mah Jongg |
cards |
| dominoes in a basket |
Monopoly |
barbells |
| coats |
electric timer |
small dresser |
Additional items that may have been found
in this closet are summer and
winter rugs, chairs, a card table, and possibly boots. The small dresser
contained three drawers
and was used to store more items in the closet. This closet contained the
family entertainment and the coats that hung on hooks rather than rods,
allowing for more closet space. The Greenbelt Museum tour guides
explained that the coats may have been hung in this closet because the
children would normally leave the house to play on this side. Also, the
father was able to grab his coat on the way downstairs before leaving in
the morning to go to work. Additionally, the mother would leave the house
to go
to town, which was within walking distance on pathways running through the
garden side (5). The number of recreational items located in this closet
led me to believe that the family spent their quality time together
playing games and talking to each other, rather than watching television
like today. The tour guides told me of the many times they played games
in the front room because there were no
televisions. This closet could also be considered a storage closet
because of the many miscellaneous items that were housed there.
McGarry's House
The back door is located in our washer and dryer room, which we
call the utility room. This closet was full of games, so many games.
The closet has an approximate volume of 48 cubic feet. The
following items were found in the closet.
| games |
barbells |
weights |
| Christmas tree |
beach towels |
beach mats |
| old blanket |
The games I can remember are Monopoly,
Life, Checkers, Chess, Uno,
Operation, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Rummi-K, Scrabble, Othello, and
Parcheesi. The old blanket was used on the fourth of July when we used to
sit outside and watch the fireworks as a family. The beach towels and
beach mats were used on the many family vacations at the beaches. The
Christmas tree always brought a happy smile to everyone's face during the
Christmas season. All of these items brought the family together in fun
times. Now the closet contains boxes of holiday decorations and only two
or three games. As all of the kids grew older, we gave the games away to
charity to brighten some other child's life.
Comparison
Both closets contain family recreational items that enabled the
family to spend more time together. However, the Greenbelt house uses the
closet for other purposes that suit the family's needs. In many ways
this closet allowed me to truly relate to the Greenbelt family life
because I was able to connect it to my younger years in Virginia. This
closet was an important part of family life back in the 1940s and even in
the 1980s and 1990s. The tour guides informed me that many residents
keep their washer and dryer in this closet. The closet that once housed
family fun now houses family necessities. The linen closet is another
closet that stores household needs.
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Linen Closets