Amy McGarry
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Comparative Analysis: 1930 - 1940 Greenbelt Closets vs 1930 College Park and 1970 Woodbridge, Virginia Closets

Consider yourself in a home without closets. Could you imagine how cluttered your house would be? Where would you hang your clothes or coats? Where would you place all your shoes, toys, tools, bed linens, towels, bathroom accessories, and other household needs? In addition to organizing a home, closets contain a great deal of information about the owner. By examining someone's closet, a person's likes, dislikes, age, and even class can be determined. This is the case at the Greenbelt Museum in Greenbelt, Maryland. There are seven closets in the townhouse, two of which are bedroom closets; this compares to the five closets in my College Park home, four of which are bedroom closets. Additionally, my parent's home in Virginia has nine closets, four of which are bedroom closets, and my boyfriend's house has eight closets, four of which are in bedrooms. I did not expect the townhouse to have so many closets because of the time period it was built and the fact that it was built by the government under economic constraints. However, the closets in the Greenbelt Museum are in many ways similar to the closets in my College Park, my parent's, and boyfriend's homes.

The Greenbelt community was built by the government in 1936 for family dwelling at a lower cost than regular homes in the area (1). In order to move into this community families were required to apply and meet conditions set forth by the government. The government required the wife to stay at home with the children, the family to be white, and have some religious affiliation, preferably Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish (2). Wes Alexander explains the greenbelt community very thoroughly with his easy-to-follow web page. Wes begins with excellent background on the community and continues with the planning of the community and community interaction. He then explains the rules and social structures within the community. Finally, Wes concludes his paper in favor of the community and yet points out some problems. Overall, I believe the government wanted to create an ideal, peaceful, and clean environment for raising children. Pictures of the Greenbelt homes are evidence of the clean environments families lived in. Virtual Greenbelt displays many pictures of the clean home interior. By providing the Greenbelt homes with plenty of closets, the government encouraged cleanliness and even suggested that families purchase new household items because of the extra storage space.

As for my College Park house, built in 1931, there was only one closet in the master bedroom and one kitchen closet (1). Charles Swift, my landlord, added two bedrooms to the house with closets and added a third closet in an extra room. After speaking with Mr. Swift, I was told that the homes in my community were built with very few closets. The reason for few closets to accommodate storage may have been the spacious basements. Additionally, the homes in my neighborhood were built for middle to lower class Americans who did not have many possessions (1). The McGarrys' home in Virginia was built in 1970 and the Murdocks' home was built in 1973, both with plenty of closets. More closets are available in the McGarrys' and Murdocks' homes because they were built for middle to upper class Americans. Mrs. McGarry claims closets are a blessing in disguise (2). She and Mrs. Murdock are able to keep their houses organized and clean because of the closet space available. Between all four homes, the closets are filled with many different items in order to keep the home organized and clean. Overall there are seven closets I will identify and compare:

Front Door Closets
 Back Door Closets
 Linen Closets
Master Bedroom Closets
A Child's Bedroom Closets
Kitchen Closets
Outside Storage Closets
Conclusion
Works Cited

My other American Studies projects: