This "people were smaller" myth is a really hard one to break,
because it's complicated and there's a grain of truth. When I
worked at Boston's Paul Revere House we had to argue this one
all the time (low ceilings in the house). As I recall, two
things largely determine stature: heredity and diet.
Populations vary in height due to genetic differences, and the
mix of groups in a given area at a given time determines the
average (a population with many Japanese will be shorter than
one with Swedes). Diet, especially in childhood, is the other
factor: the second generation of Americans of Eastern European
descent were notably taller than their parents, who had nearly
starved as children.
 
So, you have to ask who, when, and where, to address stature
issues. In America, the relatively well-fed northern Europeans
who settled here up through the 18th century were not very much
shorter than modern Europeans. Height would then vary with the
arrrival of other groups who were either poor or genetically
shorter.
 
Clothing survival is not representative of stature (adolescent
clothing disproportionately saved), nor is furniture size
(custom-made and influenced by style), nor is ceiling height
(chosen either to retain or disperse heat depending on
location, and wealth).
 
Whew.
 
Carol Ely
Virginia Discovery Museum