The do-it-yourself letterbox [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3287856
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Groves, Derham
- Description:
- 232 p.
- Summary:
-
In The Do-It-Yourself Letterbox I describe several types of do-it-yourselfers--ranging from owner-builders to hopeless handymen. I discuss several reasons why Do-it-yourself activities were so popular in Australia and America following World War II. I also examine some of the functional and cultural roles of the home workshop during the 1950's--including work place, toolbox, male sanctum, and playhouse. I discuss one "hero" of the Do-it-Yourself movement, the American filmmaker Walt Disney. I look at some connections between Walt Disney's Do-It-Yourself hobby--backyard railroading--and the creation of Disneyland. Ever since Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955, it has been a major source of inspiration for many do-it-yourselfers, both in Australia and the United States. I also argue that Disneyland is really a sophisticated form of folk art, arising from the human need to invent, create and express.
I describe the iconography of the Australian handmade letterbox. I discuss the important role of the letterbox as a vehicle of personal creativity and self-expression, and I reflect on how this might change if the design of letterboxes are standardized in Australia at some time in the future. I talk about the letterbox as a symbol of home, and making a letterbox as a surrogate form of house construction. To illustrate the vulnerability of the boundary between the house and the street, I describe several cases where the letterbox has been a target of vandalism and other crimes. By the same token, I also discuss the letterbox as the guardian of the gate. I describe some similarities between roadside popular architecture and handmade letterboxes, especially those which reflect their owners' occupations and hobbies. I suggest that designers can learn from handmade letterboxes in the same way they have done from roadside popular architecture.
Finally, I describe several seminars and exhibitions that I have organised, which looked at various aspects of the design and construction of letterboxes.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI9632378
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-06, Section: A, page: 2237.
- Adviser: Karal Ann Marling.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Minnesota, 1996.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- University of Minnesota
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1996
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