Greenbelt Townhouse

The linen closet is located upstairs, adjacent to the bathroom and contains mostly linens, medicine, and bathroom supplies. This closet contains six shelves and room on the floor for other storage. The closet has an approximate volume of 63 cubic feet. The following items were found in the closet.

I was very familiar with most of the items in the closet. The cod liver oil and flowers of sulfur were used as medicines and the autostrop was used to sharpen razor blades. I am sure that many other bathroom products were placed in this closet such as shampoo, hairspray, brushes, washcloths, and toilet paper. I was shocked to see fabric in this closet. I guess I would expect that to be in the mother's closet, for she was normally the seamstress in the family. This made me wonder if fabric had really been stored in this closet or was it just a closet "stuffer" for the museum. The baby blanket was handmade and very beautiful along with the doilies, which I assumed were crocheted by either the family or a friend. Additionally, I noticed the dresser scarves were colorful and nice. The doilies and dresser scarves lead me to believe that the family used these items to decorate their home and to keep it clean. The baby blanket and the doilies expressed the importance of sewing talent in the home. The tour guide stressed to me that many of the mothers in the community sewed in order to save money on clothes and house décor like curtains, blankets, dresser scarves, and doilies (5). From looking at the items in this closet I believe the mother and daughter were the main users of this closet. Not many items pertained to the men, except for the medicine and towels, which the mother probably gave to them when needed.

Additionally, I would like to draw your attention to an excellent definition of the Greenbelt bathroom given by Kay Mattutat. Kay compares the Greenbelt bathroom, luxurious at the time, to that of her mother's grand bathroom with a jacuzzi. Kay provides much support for this statement and includes other interesting facts and pictures.

McGarry's House

The linen closet is located upstairs near the bathroom and contains, like the Greenbelt closet, linens, medicine, and bathroom supplies. The closet contains four shelves and room on the floor for other storage. The closet has an approximate volume of 144 cubic feet. It contains many different items that could be listed for pages; therefore I decided to list a few.

Many items are similar to that of the Greenbelt house. I also realized the sheets and towels were of the same material and many of the products were packaged similarly. The curling iron was also very similar to that of the Greenbelt home. The bathroom supplies are normally the extra bottles my father bought because they were on sale at the grocery store. With all the items in this closet one could definitely infer that a huge family uses this closet. I must also state that when my sister places all of her hair and bath and body products in the closet, one might think my family is obsessed with cleanliness and appearance.

Comparison

The big difference I noted was that the mother and daughter probably used the closet more in the Greenbelt house compared to the whole family using the closet in the McGarry house. It is for this reason that I questioned the items shown in this closet display. Many of the items were similar and many were actually the same name brand. This last fact made me realize that products have not changed all that much since the 1940s.

Back to Main Page

Master Bedroom Closets