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Abstract

During the early twentieth century, a plethora of design pamphlets, magazines, organizations, exhibits, lectures, and more were established to fill a perceived demand for guidance on interior home design. Home decoration emerged as an important method to create an American taste that reflected democratization, emphasizing thrift, hard work, and intelligence in design across the class spectrum; the nation’s unique interaction with its own history and the history of the world; and the growing capabilities and responsibilities of a professional design community. Primarily through discussions of furniture, color schemes, and wall and floor decoration, popular magazines and guidebooks from the early twentieth century reflected a desire to establish an American taste characterized by harmony and cooperation. While this process was accompanied by many formal efforts, the dedication to presenting “taste” to the public at large reveals the way in which design was intertwined with issues of morality, identity, and the economy.

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