COTTAGE OR PROVINCIAL TYPES 93

AMERICAN PROVINCIAL FURNISHINGS

The provincial or cottage furniture of the United States is
worthy of study and of reproduction. The -country types are
especially significant because they express the forthright character,
the strength, and the usefulness of the lives of the country people
themselves. In rural sections which had some contact with large
cities, furniture makers often followed city fashions but simplified
their products. However, in sections far from cities, furniture
makers developed styles unrelated to those in general use; some-
times they were based on much earlier styles. These divergent
developments result from various causes, such as the limitations
of materials and tools, or the lack of skill of amateur craftsmen
who also had to make their farm equipment and do their own
blacksmithing. Wintertime, when there were no crops to care
for, was devoted to crafts work. Women did their spinning, weav-
ing, knitting, and sewing while the men did their furniture making.

Religious scruples against luxury or display affected some sec-
tions, resulting in severely simple, uncomfortable, unpadded,
straight-line furniture. The chief reason for the development of
dissimilar furniture styles, however, was the same as that which
produced variety in houses—national tastes. English, Scotch,
Dutch, German, Scandinavian, French, Spanish, and Mexican im-
migrants all made furniture with native characteristics, which has
greatly enriched the complete picture of American provincial types
of furnishings.

Unfortunately much of the original home-furnishing material of
rural America has not been preserved, although some efforts have
been made in this direction. The United States Government's
"Works Progress Administration was responsible for the Federal
Art Project's Index of American Design which explored and re-
corded native American designs in home furnishings and other
fields in twenty-eight states* Whereas some of the original articles
are ip museums and in protected old historical houses, many of the
privately owned articles will be permanently lost unless they are
put in museums or at least are photographed or copied.

The most important of the American provincial styles are de-
scribed here. It is to be expected that designers and manufacturers
may later promote different types which are now obscure.