As a kid, I slept in an early 19th-century French alcove bed, and it was
definitely short.  My mother always told me it was because people used to be
shorter than they are now.  Now, I'm not holding her up as an authority, but
I still think her explanation was partly right, combined with someone else's
point that furniture wasn't standardized.  A quick search just now yielded a
Scientific American article by Michael J. Dougherty (assistant director and
senior staff biologist at Biological Sciences Curriculum Study in Colorado
Springs) who states that average heights of people in industrialized nations
have increased over the past 150 years by around 4 inches.  I don't know
whether that's enough to account for the short beds, but if I were only
5'4", staying in what is now my mom's guest room would be a lot more
comfortable!

Amanda

        ----------
        From:  Candace Perry [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:  Tuesday, May 07, 2002 1:05 PM
        To:  [log in to unmask]
        Subject:  Re: Bed length

        I agree...we have a late 18th - early 19th century German bed in our
        collection that is very short; I'm 5'8" and couldn't sleep in
it...can a
        furniture expert help with this? I agree that it always sounded
"made up" to
        me but couldn't account for its size. Help?!



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