Inside Texas: Culture, Identity and Houses, 1878–1920

2. Ranchers and Lawyers, Photographers and Artists: Occupation

_______________2_______________ Ranchers and Lawyers, Photographers and Artists OCCUPATION 11rtEXANS were carpenters, clerks, domestics, Lfarmers, lawyers, merchants, musicians, railroad workers, ranchers, and teachers. But no matter what their occupations, they often chose to signify their work in household decoration. Ranchers and lawyers, for example , outfitted their domestic environments with tools of their trade not only as a matter of practicality but also as an expression of who they were. Of course objects associated with some occupations were easier than others to incorporate into home decoration and to recognize as work related. Photographers who displayed a tasteful group of pictures in a public room could readily announce their profession; musicians and music teachers could display instruments to proclaim theirs. But merchants who dealt with both local and nonlocal markets might have to choose carefully a selection of goods showing the reach of their activities to communicate occupation. Many families subtly conveyed the occupation of the head of the household in their decorations, but some women chose to decorate the parlor in a fashion that demonstrated their belief that the care and decoration of the home was a woman's business. Thus, some of the occupations announced by interior decoration were avocations, amateur pursuits, or hobbies, like the paintings Gf Vallie Fletcher, seen later in this chapter. But professional or not, many Texans identified with their activities or occupations enough to want to incorporate items representing them into the interior of their homes. Three views document the Jim Ned Ranch, north of Coleman in Coleman County, circa 1888 (figs. 2. I, 2.2, 2.3). Ranch owners William and Frank Anson, standing and sitting respectively at the right in figure 2. I were the sons of the Second Earl of Lichfield and, like many Englishmen , came to the Central Plains of Texas to pioneer in the state's cattle industry. Billy Anson lived in different areas of the state for three years before deciding that Cole- I5 16 2.2. Sitting room, Jim Ned Ranch, ca. 1888 (Courtesy Mrs. Ford M. Boulware). man County, with its abundance of surface water and the best grazing country south of the Indian Territory, was the right location for his enterprise. His landholdings included a 20,000-acre grazing tract on which he bred cattle, including Herefords, and raised trotting horses, "high-class horseflesh. ,,1 The men incorporated images of their work in their house decoration, favoring nineteenth-century genre scenes featuring horses: one hangs prominently over the fireplace, while another faces the camera on the table. Among the animate indicators of their profession are three valued sheep dogs who clearly received preferential treatment in the home. Jack stares at the photographer from his place in the arms of friend Johnny Eaton, who is reading the Denton Mercury; Punch naps in Frank's lap, and a puppy lies on the hearth rug near where Billy stands. At the other end of the room (fig. 2.2), between the corner shelf and the window, a photograph of the patriarch Viscount Anson presides over the sitting room. According to family history, these English emigrants viewed their modest four-room dwelling with amusement; the home they left in England had twenty-five bedrooms. These photographs may have been taken to assure relatives in England that life in Texas was civilized and endurable. 2 2.3. Frank's bedroom, Jim Ned Ranch, ca. 1888 (Courtesy Mrs. Ford M. Boulware). There is nothing aristocratic about the four rattan and wicker rockers, several side chairs, center and side tables, two bookcases, piano, desk, overhead kerosene lamp, two kerosene table lamps, and two desk candles. House decoration does not appear paramount in these ranchers' minds, as indicated by the wall shown just above the Viscount Anson portrait; someone miscalculated the length needed to border the low walls with a wallpaper frieze. Nevertheless, the Ansons have created an air of congenial domesticity in this all-male household. They have conformed to certain conventions in their arrangement of photographs of friends and family, primarily those of women, on various display surfaces - the mantel , draped bookcase, and side table. Presuming that the brothers purchased and draped their own curtains, they implemented what may have been a convention in England in the 1880s, anticipating by several years Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman's 1897 suggestion in The Decoration of Houses to hang the curtains high on the wall to conceal poor interior finishes. Wharton and Codman...