Stories from 10 Years of Scavenging Attics, Porches, and Parlors

For example, the 2012 team worked entirely in historic homes with no air conditioning. They adjusted their working hours to start early in the morning to finish before the afternoon heat. Lea Lane, a 2015 fellow, fondly remembers the day her team settled on pink camouflage duct tape to reattach a broken side mirror to their Chevy Tahoe. Every DAGS team gets a reputation for being “those people who climb under furniture” as they study every aspect of an object.

Perhaps the most challenging summer was in 2019, when HNOC Decorative Arts Curator Lydia Blackmore and I were both “gestating while curating” before the birth of our sons. Since I had a higher-risk twin pregnancy, my doctor forbade me to travel beyond Baton Rouge.

Lydia accompanied the fellows to Natchez, where she only briefly got stuck examining the underside of a tester bed. The team made it back to New Orleans just before Hurricane Barry hit Louisiana! 

Once the rains stopped, I took the fellows to St. Francisville, Louisiana. The park rangers at Oakley Plantation in the Audubon State Historic Site were very accommodating of my enormous state and drove me around the wooded paths in a John Deere Gator ATV. The fellows gladly handled all the furniture moving and equipment hauling. Fortunately, my baby boys stayed put until the Monday after our return. I will always fondly remember our last adventure together before their public debut.

When examining antique furniture that is still in daily use, we expect the unexpected. Rolls of Christmas wrapping paper might tumble out of an armoire, or a piano might be covered in family photos and knick-knacks we must remove for photos and replace just as they were. In one house museum, we discovered a long-forgotten sack lunch and pair of sweatpants a docent had stashed in a cabinet!  

I’ll never forget how startled I was to open a bedroom drawer at the Demopolis, Alabama, house museum GaineswoodOpens in new tab and find these spare mannequin hands! 

Each summer I make a mental note of fascinating items from the late 19th or early 20th centuries I like to call “too modern to catalog.” From ice crushing bags to a stash of 1940s magazines to mid-century appliances, the material culture of the Gulf South doesn’t stop at the Civil War.  

Animals are a beloved part of southern culture, especially in rural areas. Meeting pets at a fieldwork site is always a highlight for DAGS teams. Over the years I have encountered more than I can count, including a cat who loved to sit on research materials, a curious pug who photobombed our furniture shots, and a bird-hunting dog named Ziggy Stardust Jenkins. At Oakley PlantationOpens in new tab in St. Francisville, the cries of a proud peacock named Indigo echoed around the park.  

At a working family farm in Wilcox County, Alabama, we learned firsthand about livestock management. A curious herd of cows surrounded our vehicle, preventing us from unloading our equipment. The homeowners ushered us around back over a grate the cattle could not cross.  

Some wildlife is harmful, like the wild hogs that rooted a trench in the front yard of our St. Francisville bed and breakfast. Lydia remembers how digging armadillos were the summer nemesis of DAGS founder Paul Haygood: “A night owl, I often got my turn on the single internet transmitter at nighttime, researching silver marks and retailers’ histories while the world around me was the pitch black of night in the country, periodically interrupted by the boom of Paul’s shotgun as he pursued the armadillo.” 

Like Blanche DuBois in the Tennessee Williams classic A Streetcar Named Desire, DAGS has always relied “on the kindness of strangers,” and Gulf South generosity has never disappointed. Not only do field work hosts let us turn their chairs upside down and examine their dresser drawers, but they also often provide free lodging. Past teams have slept in antique beds and eaten sack lunches on the very tables they just cataloged. Offers of local produce and cold drinks are plentiful; I quickly learned that refusing a 5 p.m. cocktail would be downright rude!

One of my favorite fieldwork souvenirs is from former Natchez mayor Larry “Butch” Brown. He had recently retired when we visited his house in 2016, and the front hall was full of mayoral memorabilia. Eager to clear out the space, his wife sent us all home with mementos. I declined the shovel from a local ground-breaking, but the wine glasses etched with the town logo were a welcome gift. A large magnet made to label official vehicles still adorns my refrigerator, and I smile every time I see it.