According a friend who is assistant director of a historical home and an
owner of at least one odd-sized antique bed: bed lengths were not
standardized up to at least the early 19th century and people did have them
made to suit length of sleeper, but were generally shorter.  They also
varied in width, as well.  The measurements usually were only a few inches
off our standard (either plus or minus), but could vary radically for such
things as sleeping propped up due to personal beliefs.  The beds in the
Victorian home where she works are only 4-6 inches shorter than today's
standard size, which isn't much but she says" most" people comment on the
"shortness" of the beds.  Their official explanation is that people were
shorter, though not by much, and certainly, as today, there were great
variances in height.
Lori Allen
Graduate Student, History and Museum Studies
University of Missouri - St. Louis

"Well behaved women rarely make history."
                                  - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Historian

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