New Acquisitions for March 2013

Farm Homes In-Doors and Out-Doors (1882) by E. H. Leland. UTSA Libraries Special Collections.

Manuscript Collections:

New:

• MS 409 Petri (Lucie) papers, .5 linear feet of scrapbooks containing photographs, WOSL materials, and newsclippings
• MS 408 Rogers (Charles) photograph collection, 4 inches of photographic prints and slides
• MS 407 Duggan (Margaret) papers, 1 box of WOSL materials, photographs, and newsclippings

Additions:

• MS 108 National Coalition of 100 Black Women San Antonio Chapter records, 1 box of Reports, programs and administrative records; 4.38 GB (65 files) electronic records
• MS 022 Women’s Overseas Service League records, 1 envelope of             materials from the Omaha Unit
• MS 127 HemisFair Memorabilia and Memories Collection, 3 inches of photographs, newspaper clippings and ephemera from HemisFair ’68 donated by Ann Nelson

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University Archives:

Additions:

• UA 07.  UTSA. College of Business Records, 1 box of minutes and agendas of the University Assembly; Council on Graduate Education Minutes; 1991 graduation list.

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Rare Books: 11 titles [March Title List]

Highlights

UTSA Special Collections holds several dozen books of houseplans documenting home design from about 1880 to 1945, with the bulk of materials from 1900-1930. Many of these later materials are actual catalogs, from which readers could order blueprints and even ready-packaged building materials, but as illustrated by two of this month’s acquisitions, architect-authors in the 1880s still placed a great deal of emphasis on personally consulting and architect to make specific plans to fit clients’ needs.

• Cottages : or hints on economical building, containing twenty-four plates of medium and low cost houses, contributed by different New York architects  (1884), compiled and edited by Arnold William Brunner.
• Farm homes : in-doors and out-doors (1882) by E.H. Leland.

Arnold Brunner draws a medical comparison in the first chapter of Cottages, writing, “It is by no means claimed that the drawings here given are sufficient for constructing the houses…Sensible people, when they are ill, consult a physician and not an apothecary; and when they wish to plan a house, they take the advice of an architect and not a builder”(8)  Although he emphasizes economy, Brunner is clearly writing for a wealthy class of Americans who can afford “country houses,” and desire libraries, billiard rooms, and indoor plumbing.  Despite saying that it is for homeowners “to say what they want; and how it is to be done, is the architect’s province”(9) Brunner provides a quite of bit of information in a small space on both large decisions such as selecting a site and building material, and small considerations such as the proper way to hang a door and the proper dimensions of certain pipes necessary for indoor toilets. The many pages of advertisements  for books on architecture, drainage, and interior design, which might suggest that Cottages‘ target audience might have included provincial architects as well as their clients.

Writing two years earlier, E.H. Leland doesn’t even include drawings of house layouts or exterior prospects. Farm Homes, in fact, is less a book about designing farm houses than about establishing an ideally arranged and managed farm household, with chapters on interior furnishings, the butter and cheese making, flower and vegetable gardens, and even one on the “Rearing and Training of Children.”  Like Brunner, Leland clearly expects his readers to consult an architect, or at least a carpenter, but he also strongly encourages householders, and especially women, to involve themselves in the design, saying that women, “they, who live so constantly within doors, should have a controlling voice in all interior arrangements” because “they will be naturally more thoughtful…of all details pertaining to comfort, and the easier carrying on of household routine…the one best place for the pantry-window, or the extra door that saves so many steps for tired feet”(12).