Americana refers to artifacts of the culture of the United States, the history and folklore resultant from its westward expansion. Examples of this culture include baseball, apple pie, Superman, the Diner, barbed wire, wagon trains, and NASCAR; jazz, the music of Stephen Foster, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, the music of Aaron Copland (notably his Fanfare for the Common Man), and rockabilly; and American art, such as that of Frederic Remington, Grant Wood, and Norman Rockwell, all based on American folk art.
So in my former life I was a US History teacher....I live for Americana. I love the symbols of the development of the country. This definition does so much to extol the virtues of Americana. I used to surround myself with it when I decorated my classroom...but I have never really decorated the house that way. I think the term "Americana" has a very "country" stigma when you think about home decor...but when you think about the above description, it is not necessarily so....on to my picture.
This was my grandmother's, my dad's mom, Mama Newton. I don't remember it from her home, but somewhere along the way, it ended up at my parent's house. I was always drawn to it...the utilitarian simplicity of it. As my parents began to downsize a bit, they delivered it to us one visit. I just have it tucked behind a chair in the living room...a little too close to the playroom actually. It regularly catches the stray matchbox car or little people farm animal. But it feels at home...
