The typical closet of the nineteenth century can be described as "a shallow receptacle with a shelf at the top, hooks under it and a door in front which conceals the confusion."1 By the end of the century, domestic experts and architects proposed to improve such storage spaces by creating compartments or by inserting one of the new manufactured closet products that began to appear in popular magazines after 1890. These fittings increased the accessibility of most closets' contents, making them more visible and easier to reach.
1 Louis H. Gibbon, "Serviceable Closets," Ladies' Home Journal 7:5(April, 1890): 7.
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