Pictures of pretty, pretty Sears Homes in Atlanta (Monroe: neighborhood, live)

[roxyrn]

Love these houses- thanks for sharing.

[SW30303]

Back in the late 1990s, I rented part of a house in Ohio that was a Sears kit. It was a 1920s 3-bedroom bungalow with an upstairs room because a doctor originally had it built. I guess his patients would sometimes stay upstairs in that lonely room, but they had to climb many stairs. This same house also had a full unfinished basement. I bet the total living area was no more than 1500 square feet, but was divided a duplex (excluding the full basement). The owner told me about that fact (Sears home). I thought it was a pretty cool historical note. The Sears house I stayed in looked similar to the one you posted here in the picture.

[cwlawrence]

Really, I appreciate the work you claim to have undertaken, but have to take issue with your reproach of the institutions you contacted. Historic societies and historic preservation departments almost always welcome academic donations from concerned citizens. In fact, the whole history of historic preservation is built upon volunteerism. I find it hard to believe that you, and your massive collection, were dismissed. That is, unless you have simply amassed a collection without properly cataloging or analyzing what you have - it is extremely difficult for any organization to take in these kinds of collections without an associated fund dedicated to properly sorting and ultimately using the data.

That said, why not put your photos up on a website (organized and searchable of course) so that you can better make your case. Try Google's Picassa, you can post your photos and locate each one on a map - very useful for what you have.

[RosemaryT]

Originally Posted by cwlawrence

Really, I appreciate the work you claim to have undertaken, but have to take issue with your reproach of the institutions you contacted. Historic societies and historic preservation departments almost always welcome academic donations from concerned citizens. In fact, the whole history of historic preservation is built upon volunteerism. I find it hard to believe that you, and your massive collection, were dismissed. That is, unless you have simply amassed a collection without properly cataloging or analyzing what you have - it is extremely difficult for any organization to take in these kinds of collections without an associated fund dedicated to properly sorting and ultimately using the data.

That said, why not put your photos up on a website (organized and searchable of course) so that you can better make your case. Try Google's Picassa, you can post your photos and locate each one on a map - very useful for what you have.

1) I have a professionally developed website that has more than 150 blogs, featuring several hundred photos from the countless cities I have visited. I've been doing this work for 11 years now. Google my name and Sears Homes. You'll find me fast.

2) Believe it about the historical societies. Some are *wonderful* to deal with; some are not. Some are "academia nuts" who believe that if information does not originate from an institution of higher learning, it has no value. The historical society I contacted in Atlanta brushed me off casually with an explanation of, "We've already conducted a thorough architectural survey of our kit homes." In other words, been there, done that. As I said, my real-life experience is that local historians typically find about 10-15% of the existing kit homes. It's impossible to find a fraction of a city's kit homes unless you have a comprehensive collection on early 1900s mail-order catalogs from the six national companies. I do. It's taken years to amass and organize this information, but that's what I do (and have done).

3) I'm the expert in this field. My work and I have appeared on PBS History Detectives, A&E's Biography, CBS Sunday Morning News and many more. I've also been in every major newspaper in the country. I've written eight books, six on the topic of kit homes.

4) I've conducted architectural surveys for many communities and I've given 200 lectures and traveled to 25 states. I've lectured in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City, St. Louis, Baton Rouge and more.

In conclusion, this is my life's work and my raison d'être. It's my passion and my hobby and for many years, my sole source of income. It's what I love to do, and I liken it to finding hidden treasure. I'd like to think that it's a blessing for these communities, to rediscover a piece of their history that's nearly been lost to the decades.

That's a little about me.

The point is, it's **incredibly** frustrating when I fly into a city (like Atlanta), spend three days documenting kit homes and then offer to share what I've learned only to hear, "Been there, done that."

BTW, this is not the norm. Most often, local historians are *thrilled* to learn more on this topic.

It's possible I just hit a real dullard of a historian in Atlanta. It happens. But my reason for posting here was to share what I've learned with a larger audience.

If you wish, please forward this link to one of the Atlanta historical societies that you think will be interested in learning more.

Rosemary Thornton

PS. Here's a pretty picture which should serve as a nice palate cleanse so I can stop thinking about academia nuts.

[plessthanpointohfive]

*applause*

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by RosemaryT

1) I have a professionally developed website that has more than 150 blogs, featuring several hundred photos from the countless cities I have visited. I've been doing this work for 11 years now. Google my name and Sears Homes. You'll find me fast.

Wonderful work, Rosemary. I've spent many hours perusing your website over the years.

Did you talk to the folks at the Atlanta History Center? I know some of the folks there and most of them are hungry for any tidbits about our town's past. If you think it's worth another stab, PM me and I may be able to put you in contact with someone.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by plessthanpointohfive

*applause*

Indeed!

Thanks for sharing such an obvious treasure, Rosemary. Please take arjay57 up on his offer.

[Alley01]

Thanks for sharing that. I honestly had no idea that there were Sears Home Kits but it is neat to see that those houses still exist and that people actually used to build their homes themselves.

[RainyRainyDay]

Fascinating stuff, Rosemary, and great pictures.

Edit: First version of this post asked if you knew if these houses were popular in Canada as well, as they looked like some in BC to me. I've now answered my own question: http://civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitio....shtml#1222127

What a fascinating topic! Thanks for sharing.

[jsimms3]

Thank you very much Rosemary for taking the time! I enjoyed a CNBC special a month ago on Richard Sears and Alva Roebuck, and about 10-12 minutes of the program highlighted the kit homes. It was very interesting indeed and I'm glad Atlanta has its own collection.