Furnishings Analysis and Recommendations
Introductory Narrative
The Old Kentucky Home served as an active boarding house and home to Julia Westall Wolfe from 1906 until her death in 1945, and afterwards as home to Fred Wolfe until 1949. In that same year, the house was turned over to the newly formed Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association with the view of turning it into a public shrine to the writer. With this end in view, the Association aimed to recreate it “as nearly as possible as it was when Wolfe was a boy…” (Aingley Report, 65). Evidence suggests that despite this goal, the furnishing plan ended up subject to other needs, such as the display of particular family objects, maintaining as many original Wolfe family pieces as possible, and interpreting the larger history of Thomas Wolfe’s career.
With the opening of the Visitor’s Center, the Memorial no longer needed to use the OKH to display objects associated with Wolfe’s career outside of Asheville. This allowed for the return of some of the rooms to their boarding house era appearance. However, the overall furnishing plan stands in need of a general revision in order to reconcile family memory (not always reliable) with documentary evidence and knowledge of common social practices of the early twentieth century. In some cases, minor changes in furnishing arrangements could open up new areas of interpretation, and in other cases, a reconsideration of the documentary and oral history evidence as it relates to household arrangements could do the same.
Inventory analysis and comparison
The Thomas Wolfe Memorial is fortunate to have three sets of household inventories that mark different periods of the OKH’s history. The earliest of these is also the most mysterious. It consists of lists made in two small brown notebooks, only one of which is extant today. The surviving notebook gives little evidence of the reason for the inventory having been made, and there is ambiguity regarding its date. It is titled “Invoice of the Old Kentucky Home, October 1st/1919” in ink, but a “25” is penciled in over the “19.” The inventory may have been revised in 1925. It seems unlikely that the 1919 date was off by that many years, particularly since the list on the first page directly beneath the title is also written in ink. The specific breakdown of furnishings, however, is written in pencil and in Julia Wolfe’s handwriting. Whatever the case, this inventory appears to reflect the furnishings as they were in the period closest to that of Tom’s habitation of the house. I must note, however, that the inventory does not include the sun parlor, and the dining room has two conflicting furniture lists. The inventory also does not contain anything but basic furniture. I think, therefore, that it was probably made either when Julia was considering selling the house, or as collateral for a loan.
Mabel Wolfe Wheaton made a second inventory in 1949 prior to the OKH being turned over to the Memorial Association. A comparison of the 1919/25 inventory with the 1949 inventory reveals changes that occurred during the later years of Julia Wolfe’s residency, and in preparation for the opening of the Memorial. Radio interviews with Mabel in 1957 shed light on some of these changes. The third, and most detailed, inventory was made in 1974 when the OKH became state-owned. This inventory illustrates changes made to accommodate the need to tell Wolfe’s full story, and the “shrine” expectations that visitors during that period brought to the home.
Parlor:
The 1919/25 inventory of the parlor lists a five piece suite of upholstered furniture, a book case, folding bed with mattress and springs, one long Axminster rug (art square), 3 small rugs, 1 easel, 1 table with lamp, 9 family pictures, 2 large pictures, and 5 small pictures. This arrangement fits what would be expected of a formal parlor in the Victorian fashion, most especially the bookcase to display the family’s interest in knowledge and in the wider world, and the easel to indicate an appreciation of art (see Katherine Grier, “The Decline of the Memory Palace: the Parlor after 1890” in Jessica Foy and Thomas Schlereth eds. American Home Life, 1880-1930: a Social History of Spaces and Services). There is ample documentary evidence that the parlor also contained a piano, but as a personal possession it would not have been included on a list made for business purposes.
The 1949 inventory does list the piano, as well as several additional items that seem to have been placed in the parlor after 1925. Most significantly, the five piece parlor suite had been replaced by a three piece set of Karpen Brothers furniture. This is the set that currently occupies the room, but it was not there before 1925. No three piece upholstered set appears anywhere on the earlier inventory. In the 1957 interview Mabel remarked, “There have been about seven sets of living room furniture since Mama bought the place, but…she would never throw anything away…so we have the seven suits here in the house.” By 1949 the parlor also contained a “half round end table,” a “’Victorian’ flower stand,” a leather reclining chair, and the seven piece cane-bottom Mission set (this latter in an unspecified location in 1919/25). The bookcase and easel had been removed. The easel does not appear on any inventory after the first one, but the bookcase had probably been moved to the front room across from the parlor.
These changes make sense if the Wolfe family wanted to “modernize” the parlor. By the 1920s, the Victorian emphasis on the display of knowledge and accomplishment had given way to a focus on relaxation and simpler furniture lines like the Mission pieces. During Tom’s early years, however, the parlor seems still to have fit the Victorian model, and may explain his discomfort with its old-fashioned and stuffy aesthetic. It is also worth noting that according to Fred Wolfe, the parlor was his father’s favorite room (lst oral history interview with Fred Wolfe, June 1, 1975, transcription, p.1). Mabel remembers her father being very particular about meals being served on fine dishes kept in prime condition (see Leggett Blythe, Mabel Wheaton, Thomas Wolfe and his Family). This may reflect a general sympathy with Victorian display and formality that would fit with a Victorian parlor.[1]
The most notable additions to the parlor that appear in the 1974 inventory are the crystal lamp that was Mabel’s wedding gift from her parents, and the Estey organ that belonged to Julia. The organ may have been in the parlor prior to 1949 and simply, like the piano, not have been included in that inventory, but if it was there it had been removed by 1949. Mabel’s lamp replaced one that was previously in the parlor and it is possible that the Art Nouveau lamp currently in the sun parlor originally stood in the formal parlor. The Mission set had been removed, and is currently scattered through the house. Other furniture had been shifted between 1949 and 1974. The fern or flower stand and the umbrella stand had changed places with the flower stand now in the hallway and the umbrella stand in the parlor. Several decorative items are listed in 1974 in addition to the two mantle statuettes and flowers under glass specified by Mabel. These include a green ash tray, a dog ash tray, 4 white vases with gold trim, a Civil War sword, a coconut, a ceramic hand vase, and a white marble card holder made by W.O. The latter is among the ornaments included in Mabel’s description of the parlor at 92 Woodfin, and may reflect the combination of those furnishings with the ones originally in the OKH parlor.
As of 2007, the parlor no longer contains the dog ash tray, the white vases, the CW sword, or the marble card holder. I was unable to determine the current disposition of these items. Additionally, the room now houses a leather barrel chair and a rocking chair.
Hallway:
The 1919/25 hallway inventory lists one long Axminster rug, a hat rack, a hall mirror (probably a standing mirror), 3 tables (probably included the 2 marble top “Victorian” hall tables), a stand, a what-not, a desk and large bookcase, 2 “fancy” pictures, 6 “small” pictures and 3 diplomas. By 1949 the bookcase and desk had been removed. The desk had been moved into the adjoining bedroom, and the bookcase was probably placed in the front room along with the bookcase from the parlor. Several pieces had been added, including a rocking chair, 2 mahogany half-round tables, a leather swivel chair, a hanging oak bookshelf (listed more accurately as a “hanging whatnot” in 1974), a marble top bureau, a walnut buffet base, a leather love seat, a cloth love seat, and an umbrella stand. The leather pieces may either be part of one of the seven sets of parlor furniture, or they may be from W.O. Wolfe’s office. The only leather furniture mentioned on the earlier inventory consists of a “large” chair and a couch in unspecified locations.
The hallway also under went alteration between 1949 and 1974. As mentioned above, the umbrella stand was moved into the parlor and the flower stand brought out into the hall. The leather pieces and cloth love seat were replaced by two of the Mission pieces, a bench and armchair. The rocking chair that appeared in the 1949 inventory was not listed in 1974 (this may be the one currently in the parlor), nor was the marble top bureau. On the opposite note, the desk, if not the bookcase, had been returned to the hall where it stood in 1919/25.
Sun Parlor:
The sun parlor was not inventoried in 1919/25 (although it is listed among the rooms), so the 1949 inventory is the first record we have of the furnishings. As of that year this room contained a Mission center table, an oak piano, a five piece cherry suite with leatherette upholstery (probably the original parlor set, possibly reupholstered), a high-backed chair, the leather sofa from W.O.’s office, a tufted leather sofa, designated as being “from Old Kentucky Home,” a leather rocking chair, an oak bookcase, a round pedestal table, a leather swivel chair, and an art square rug. It makes sense that the family would have moved the older parlor furniture into the informal parlor when they purchased a new set.
Furniture in the sun parlor was also switched out between 1949 and 1974. By the latter date the Association was using the upstairs sleeping porch to interpret W.O.’s professional life. In 1974 only one leather sofa was listed in the sun parlor, and it seems likely that the leather sofa listed in the inventory of the sleeping porch in 1974 is the office sofa that was in the sun parlor in 1949. According to Fred, the sofa in the sleeping porch was one that W.O. slept on, and still bore the imprint of his body (1st interview, transcription, p.2). There is, however, also a leather sofa listed on the inventory for W.O.’s bedroom and that may be the office sofa. Whatever the case, it was no longer in the sun parlor. The oak book case was also no longer here and I think it is fairly certain that it had been placed with its fellow in the room across from the formal parlor. The leather rocker and swivel chair were also missing from the sun parlor by 1974. I could not locate any leather rocker in the collection, and it seems probable that the rocker currently upholstered in maroon velvet was leather-covered at one time.
The missing furniture had been replaced by 2 love seats, one “tapestry” and one “red,” one parlor straight chair, a fern stand, and a small square table.
Dining Room:
Evidence for the dining room furnishings proves the most problematic. As indicated above, the 1919/25 inventory conflicts internally regarding the setup in this room. On one page the inventory lists under the heading “dining room” one side board and five tables. On the next page, after other room listings, it includes under “dining room” 22 chairs, 2 tables, 2 side boards, 2 scarves, 5 window shades, 5 rods, 1 clock, 4 ornaments, 1 picture, 3 lights, and 3 shades. Family memories also conflict. In his 1975 interview Fred Wolfe observed that the dining room originally had “one long table, that housed about thirty people…flanked with these smaller tables that we now have in here” (1st interview, transcription, p.1). It would have to be a long table indeed to seat thirty people, and it seems likely that Fred’s memory was a bit fuzzy about this. In her 1957 radio interview, however, Mabel claimed that the dining room held four large tables, with the first table reserved for the family’s use (Mabel Wolfe NBC Radio interview, Sept. 14, 1957, transcript, p.3). It is possible that the second list on the 1919/25 inventory was made in 1925 and reflects changes that occurred after 1919. If Mrs. Wolfe stopped serving meals in the early 1920s, then she may well have removed some of the tables, but this is purely speculation.
Mabel’s 1949 inventory of the dining room matches her observations in 1957. It specifies 3 “extension” tables and one “square mahogany” table for a total of four tables. However she also lists a “serving table” that may account for the fifth table cited in the first list of the 1919/25 inventory. At this time the dining room also contained W.O. Wolfe’s oak desk.
By 1974 W.O.’s desk, currently in the exhibit area, had been moved from the dining room to the sleeping porch, in line with the designation of the porch as the place to showcase W.O.’s profession. Again, the number and type of tables had shifted. It now boasted 4 “serving tables,” 2 square tables, and 1 round table, for a total of 7 tables. From this list it is difficult to determine which might have been the “one long table” described by Fred Wolfe in 1975 (see above). The placement of seven tables may have been a reading of the two lists in the 1919/25 inventory as representing two parts of the whole (see above). However, this would mean that in addition to 7 tables, the dining room contained 3 side boards rather than the 2 listed in 1949. The 1974 inventory also lists a china cabinet and a wall whatnot, neither of which appear in any other inventory. In addition, this is the first inventory to include all of the dishes and silverware. Because this is the only listing of these items, I have not included a discussion of it here. The only exception to this would be the 6 piece silver service anniversary gift from W.O. to Julia that Fred placed in the OKH dining room “for the people to see.”
Kitchen:
The 1919/25 inventory does not include the pantry, and has a very basic list under “kitchen.” This consists of one long table, one sink table, one gas stove and heater, and one range. The interviews with Fred and Mabel Wolfe, however, give some intriguing insights into life in the kitchen. Fred, for example, claimed that his mother brought the coal stove from Mitchell County. It seems unlikely that the owners of the OKH would have taken the original stove with them when they sold the remaining furniture along with the house. In addition, the stove bears the imprint “improved 1898” so Julia would have had no “history” with its use that might have made her want to keep it.
In her tour of the kitchen made during the first NBC radio interview, Mabel commented that although they tried, the family could never get Julia to use an electric iron. She made this observation after telling about a visiting female artist from New York who, on seeing the kitchen, wept “that Tom Wolfe’s mother had to use a kitchen like this” (NBC interview, transcription, p.4). Mabel may have been trying to excuse the general lack of modern technology rather than reflecting an actual disdain on Julia’s part for improvements. Whatever the case, the kitchen was never wired with the outlets that would have allowed for the easy use of electric appliances. Mabel also spoke at some length about the Toledo Cooker that took its heat from the coal stove top and was used to roast meat. This would have freed up the baking section of the coal stove for use in baking bread, cakes, etc. and may explain why the gas stove does not seem to have been set up for anything other than stovetop use.
In 1949 Mabel inventoried what she called “the breakfast room” (aka pantry) and kitchen together. Her list was more specific than her mother’s and included a “large Georgia marble topped kitchen table,” on which, according to her radio interview, her mother used to knead bread (NBC interview, transcription, p.4). She also lists a pantry cupboard, an ice box, a “long metal covered kitchen work table,” a wood box, an “old-fashioned” pie safe, and an “old original kitchen range, ovens, etc.” Her use of the term “original” to describe the range suggests that she remembered it having come with the house and not being carted in from Mitchell County. Of course, she may simply have intended to distinguish it from the more “modern” gas range, although she doesn’t list that range at all. Most oddly, the inventory indicates that the “original 6 piece parlor suite of the house” had been moved into the pantry/kitchen area along with the bronze clock that Julia listed in the dining room inventory.
The 1974 kitchen inventory includes small articles and utensils not listed in any prior inventory. Therefore, as with the dining room dishes, I have not included these in my analysis. Outside of these articles the 1974 inventory indicates 2 small tables, 4 chairs, a stool, and a “music cabinet” (the phonograph?) had been added to the kitchen/pantry area since 1949. The gas stove also reappeared on this inventory. The parlor suite, however, had been moved out, and the clock had been returned to the dining room.
Bedrooms:
Determining the history of the bedroom furnishings, as in the case of the dining room, is problematic, but for a different reason. Each of the three inventories has a unique method of distinguishing between the various bedrooms in the OKH, so it can be difficult to match them up from inventory to inventory. The 1919/25 inventory assigns a number to each upstairs room (with the exception of the sleeping porch which is designated as such) that go from 1 to 11, with 1-6 associated with the original rooms, and 7-11 designating those added in 1916. The 1949 inventory uses directional descriptions, as in right, left, front, back, and center, but does not clarify the point of reference. The 1974 inventory uses geographical directions. By piecing the three systems together using rooms that can be identified on all three, such as “Ben’s room,” we can get a general picture of some of the major changes over the years.
Perhaps more than any other area of the OKH, the upstairs has been subject to enshrinement. As a result, the 1919/25 inventory yields the most insight into what Tom would have known as a boy and youth. Basically the furnishing of every bedroom consisted of the following: bed(s), mattress and springs, pillow, dresser, table and/or washstand, chair, rocker, rug, bowl, pitcher, soap dish or slab, slop jar (usually covered), window shade(s) and a light. The variations from this pattern are easily identified. The sleeping porch contained a desk and chair set, the small porch off of the room where Ben first became ill held only two cots with mattresses and pillows, “Ben’s room” (#3) contained 2 double beds, and the center bedroom of those added in 1916 (#10, in back hallway across from Ben’s room) contained a desk and chair set.
The only wardrobe mentioned in the 1919/25 inventory was in the large downstairs bedroom, also specified as containing a “tall dresser.” In 1949 the wardrobe was described as “walnut mirrored. “ As of 2007 this room does not contain a wardrobe, while there is a small walnut mirrored one in room #1 (see attached for room identification), and a large oak one in Ben’s room. The room currently designated as “W. O’s” was furnished with a brass and a wooden bed, as well as two vases, a clock, and an iron safe, perhaps from W.O.’s office. This distinction between a brass and wooden bed is the only specification of where one of the two wooden beds listed on this initial inventory was placed.
Not surprisingly, the 1949 inventory reveals the first moves toward enshrining pieces of the Wolfe family history within the OKH. Mabel designated the small room off of “Ben’s room” as “Special” and specified that it held “Mama’s bed room furniture from Woodfin Street house whereon all children were born.” The placement of the “birthing bed” in one of the original guest rooms for public view indicates a conscious attempt to move beyond showing the house as it appeared during Tom’s lifetime, and to incorporate items that physically connected the author with his family. It also mirrored the fascination of the period with beds in which famous people slept or were born. This inventory also designates the brass double bed in “Ben’s room” as “Papa’s old bed.”
In his 1975 interview Fred maintained that the wooden bed in “Tom’s room” was W.O.’s bed “at 92 Woodfin Street” and claimed that “Tom used to love to sleep in that bed” (1st interview, transcription, p.5). This suggests that “Papa’s old bed” was one he used in the OKH, unless Fred was mistaken. The fact that two beds had strong family associations with W.O. underlines the fluidity of life between OKH and Woodfin. Fred also pointed out that the furniture from Tom’s New York apartment had been put on display in the bedroom to the right of the stairs, while W.O.’s tools and office furniture had been put in the sleeping porch.
Some sense of enshrinement also seems to have motivated moving the Woodfin bedroom furniture out of the room beside “Ben’s room” where Mabel had originally placed it. In the 1974 inventory this small room was identified as the “room in which Ben became ill” and was once again furnished as it had been in 1919/25. The Woodfin bedroom suite had been moved to the bedroom in between the two side hallways. The main upstairs hall had a sort of mini museum with a number of glass cases holding various pieces of Tom’s clothing and a few objects from the Woodfin house. This display, in addition to the “tool room” and “New York apartment room” were developed to showcase objects that were deemed important to visitors and could not be shown elsewhere because the site had no visitor’s center.
For this same reason the front room across from the parlor, which had been a bedroom in 1919/25, housed the family’s books, 2 bookcases, and Tom’s high chair as of 1949. By 1974 several additional small objects were displayed there, along with 2 love seats (noted as needing repair) a Mission chair and rocker (probably part of the large set noted in 1919/25), and another book case.
Although none of the inventories listed bookcases among the furnishings of the bedrooms, two of them are currently in bedrooms. A large one stands in the large downstairs bedroom, and a smaller one is in room #7.
Suggestions for Revision to Current Furnishing Plan and Interpretation
In general I think that the interpretation of the OKH has suffered a bit from a perception that there was a clear line between it and the Woodfin house. Ample evidence exists to indicate that the Wolfe family used the two houses somewhat interchangeably, and after 1917 family life, as well as business life, centered in the OKH. The publication of LHA in 1929 essentially layered a literary identity onto the everyday identity of the OKH. This is similar to the situation faced by Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts. In the case of that house, the staff and board over the years have shifted the interpretation to reflect the actual use of the house rather than its role as a literary character (see Tami Christopher, “The House of Seven Gables: a House Museum’s Adaptation to Changing Social Expectations Since 1910” in Amy Levin, ed. Defining Memory: Local Museums and the Construction of History in America’s Changing Communities. Altamira P., 2007).
I would propose that the OKH can, and should, be interpreted both as an early 20th century boarding house/family house, and as an inspiration for one of the great American novels. Restoring some furnishings to represent more accurately its earlier incarnation would actually reflect the environment that Wolfe experienced as a boy, and that he re-envisioned in LHA. In addition, because the line between business and home was quite fuzzy, the OKH can help visitors learn about everyday life, society, and technology in the early 20th century. Indeed, some of what we know of life in the Woodfin Street house can be discussed in the context of the OKH if done carefully.
Parlor:
It is difficult to identify seven distinctive sets of living room furniture in the collection, but there is one set of four matching pieces, with a fifth piece that is very similar. Currently they are located in the sun parlor and in Ben’s room. These pieces should probably be returned to the parlor if the goal is to reflect the house as it looked c.1916. At the least, visitors should be aware that the current parlor set was probably purchased in the 1930s.
In general, the parlor of Wolfe’s youth seems to have been closer in feel to the typical “Victorian” parlor than to the “living room” of the 20s and 30s. Restoring an easel to its furnishings would help illustrate this, as would restoring one of the bookcases to its original place in the parlor. Putting a bookcase back in the parlor would also bring home the importance of books, both to Tom and to his father, and give a central place to display that aspect of the collection. I would also put silk ferns etc. both here and in the sun parlor, since plants also played a role in showing the late Victorian appreciation of nature.
Hallway:
The most important recommendation I would make for the hallway is to locate a good approximation of an Axminster rug, and a runner for the stairs. We know both areas were carpeted, and restoring this would improve the ability of the house to evoke the period. As far as the furniture is concerned, after 1919/25 the hallway seems to have been used somewhat as a catch all storage area for various pieces of furniture. The placement of the mission set was not documented in that earliest inventory, so it is possible that it was in the hallway, where it appeared on the 1974 inventory. The same, however, could also be said for some of the leather pieces. Therefore it is probably not worth making any changes here. I would put one of the bookcases in the vicinity of the desk because it does appear on the 1919/25 inventory and once again underlines the public importance of books.
Sun Parlor:
There seems to be no reason for any significant changes here, although either some of the leather pieces or some of the rush-bottom mission pieces could be put in to replace the original parlor pieces if those are moved. Again, one of the bookcases could be put back in here as it was in 1949.
Dining Room:
The issue here is interpretive. It seems impossible to pin down exactly how the dining room was furnished, aside from the fact that it could and did serve a large number of people, including the Wolfe family. Due to the fire in 1998, the articles in this room represent what was there at the time of the fire, but are no longer the actual Wolfe artifacts. This frees the room up for more “physical” use than the rest of the house. It also can allow the room to represent the value Mr. Wolfe placed on the material culture of dining. In other words, although the china, crystal, etc. currently on display in the dining room, may be fancier than utensils that would have been used in the OKH, it can serve to illustrate dining at the Woodfin house, and the use of the dining room as a public showcase.
Kitchen:
As with the hallway, the kitchen/pantry appears to have served as a storage area for excess furniture over the years after 1919/25. It would be interesting, at least in part, to use Mabel’s memories of the kitchen, as expressed in her radio interview, to interpret this space to drop-in visitors.
Bedrooms:
The primary change that I would recommend for the bedrooms concerns “Ben’s room.” It seems clear from the 1919/25 inventory that when Ben died, this room was furnished just as all the other boarding bedrooms were furnished (i.e. beds, table, dresser, straight chair, rocking chair, washstand, pitcher etc.). In addition, it contained two double beds. In 1949 Mabel designated one of these as W.O.’s old brass bed. The 1919/25 inventory, however, lists a brass bed among the furnishings of the back bedroom downstairs. It seems unlikely, therefore, that the second bed in “Ben’s room” was originally “papa’s old bed.”
I would definitely recommend removing the parlor pieces from “Ben’s room.” At the time that he became ill, the family did not know that he was on his deathbed and simply put him in the large boarder’s room recommended by his nurse. It is highly unlikely that they would have hauled the parlor furniture up the stairs in order to use it for a deathwatch. Although the presence of the parlor furniture is impressive, it is actually more poignant to consider that Ben died in the relatively impersonal atmosphere of a rented room. It would also be a more accurate representation of the room at the time to put a second bed in it. If this cannot be done, staff members should let visitors know that it, like other large bedrooms in the house, originally held two beds. Other rooms with two beds included both of the downstairs bedrooms, the room to the right at the head of the stairs, and the room that now houses the “birthing bed,” although that room and the sleeping porch were inventoried together (so each room held one of the two beds and furniture sets listed).
As a general rule, I would use the 1919/25 inventory of the bedrooms as the furnishing model (see appendix for room by room inventory). This would mean adding beds to some of the rooms, and replacing one of the washstands in the sleeping porch with a desk. Clearly this could only be done on a limited basis because the back hallway rooms cannot be opened to the public, and there is no alternative space for exhibiting the birthing bed. It would also mean removing the bookcases from the two bedrooms currently housing them, but that would happen anyway as a consequence of revamping the parlor and sun parlor. I would also suggest using the various bedrooms to highlight the types of guests who stayed in the OKH—travelling salesmen, vacationers from the Deep South, teachers, entertainers, etc. This could be done by placing appropriate props in particular rooms. This could even be made into a hands-on opportunity for guests if these objects were clearly marked with a hands-on sign or symbol.
Conclusion
The Thomas Wolfe Memorial has a lot of stories to tell, and generally tells them well. There is, however, some room for improvement in terms of clarifying some of the interpretive and physical layers that have accumulated in the OKH over the course of several decades as a public space. An analysis of the various inventories of the house, in addition to other documents, reveals ways in which objects have been moved and used to accommodate differing emphases in interpretation of the house, Wolfe, and the Wolfe family.
Staff members who give tours of the OKH should help visitors understand some of this layering that occurred. If the focus of the interpretation is to be on the house as Wolfe experienced it in his younger years (c.1916-1923) interpretation would benefit by both some physical recreation and a thorough understanding of the house as it looked in those years. For this, the 1919/25 inventory is invaluable, even though it does not include the small moveables. If the interpretive focus is on a less precise set of years, then the full spread of changes currently on display needs to be conveyed to visitors in order to avoid conveying the impression that they are seeing the OKH as it looked during Wolfe’s youth.
If staff members make the decision to maintain the current furnishing arrangements, then by default the interpretive focus should encompass the entire span of Wolfe’s life, and that of the OKH. This approach is certainly valid as long as the visitors clearly understand, to the degree that we can determine or speculate, how and why things shifted over the course of those years. This could then become the embodiment of Wolfe’s observation that “You Can’t Go Home Again.”
Inventory of Upstairs Bedrooms in the OKH 1919/25
Sleeping Porch (on landing)
1 double bed
1 cot
1 dresser
1 table
1 walnut desk
1 desk chair
1 straight chair
2 rockers
1 spring
1 mattress
3 pillows
1 wash stand
Same old shades and curtains
1 light
Room #1 (bedroom to right when coming upstairs into hall)
2 beds
1 dresser
1 table
1 wash stand
1 straight chair
2 rockers4 pillows
1 bowl
1 large pitcher
1 small pitcher
1 soap dish
1 slop jar
1 light with shade
2 window shades
Room #2 (small room where Ben became ill)
1 single bed
1 dresser
1 table
1 wash stand
1 chair
1 springs
1 mattress
1 large pillow
1 light
1 slop jar
Little porch off room #2
2 cots
2 mattresses
2 pillows
One curtain over door
Room #3 (Ben’s room)
2 double beds
1 dresser
1 wash stand
2 straight chairs
2 rockers
4 pillows
1 light with shade
1 bowl
1 large pitcher
1 small pitcher
1 soap dish
1 slop jar with cover
4 shades
Room #4 and Sleeping Porch (“birthing bed” room and porch)
2 beds
1 tall dresser
2 tables
2 wash stands
4 chairs
1 “old” rug
2 springs
2 mattresses
4 pillows
2 bowls
2 slop jars
Room #5 (middle room to left of stairway, between the two side halls)
1 bed
1 bed spring and mattress
1 walnut dresser
1 table
1 walnut wash stand
1 straight chair
2 rockers
2 rugs
2 pillows
1 light with shade
1 bowl
1pitcher
1 soap dish
1 slop jar
2 window shades
Room #6 (“Tom’s room”)
1 bed
1 dresser
1 table
1 wash stand
1 Olsen rug
1 springs
1 mattress
2 pillows
1 bowl
1 small pitcher
1 slop jar with lid
Room #7 (room connected to Tom’s room)
1 bed
1 table
1 dresser
1 wash stand
1 straight chair
1 rocker
1 Olsen rug
1 springs
1 mattress
1 light
1 bowl
1 pitcher
1 soap dish
2 shades
Room #8 (corner bedroom)
1 double bed
1 dresser
1 wash stand
1 straight chair
1 rocker
1 “old” rug
1 picture
1 springs
1 mattress
2 pillows
1 bowl
1 large pitcher
1 small pitcher
1 soap slab
1 slop jar
1 light
2 shades
Note: rooms 9, 10, and 11 are in the back hallway that cannot be opened to the public. They are included here for comparison purposes.
Room #9
1 bed
1 dresser
1 table
1 straight chair
1 rocker
1 rug
1 springs
1 mattress
2 pillows
1 light
1 soap slab
Room #10
1 single bed
1 dresser
1 desk
1 desk chair
1 small rug
1 pillow
1 light
1 shade
Room #11
1 double bed
1 tall dresser
1 table
1 wash stand
1 springs
1 mattress
2 pillows
1 Olsen rug
1 light
1 bowl
1 pitcher
1 soap dish
1 slop jar
2 window shades
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[1] Mabel’s description of the parlor at 92 Woodfin certainly fits the “Victorian” model. She said it “was furnished with plush upholstered furniture,” had a whatnot “filled with marble carved pieces” and “numerous other curios, including a conch shell” and travel souvenirs, a mantle clock, a “glass enclosure of fruits…and delicate flowers,” a marble-topped center table “the embodiment of elegance” and a Brussels carpet. Leggett Blythe and Mabel Wheaton, Thomas Wolfe and His Family. Doubleday and Co., Garden City: N.Y., 1962, pp.15-16.
The Museum Doctor 