Ozark Vernacular Houses

Jean Sizemore (1934-2024) was a professor of history and art history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

"Jean Sizemore begins her study on the traditional dwellings of Arkansas Ozarks with the painful observation that 'time is running out for the ordinary and unpretentious houses' of the region. With the loss of buildings comes the loss of an irreplaceable body of historical evidence, with the potential for providing unparalleled insight into the society and culture of a distinctive American landscape. Thus, Sizemore's exploration of Ozark architecture provides both a survey of vernacular houses and an attempt to interpret the significance of those buildings within a larger landscape context. Based on extensive fieldwork and oral history interviews, Sizemore's contribution increases our sense of the building traditions of a still little understood area of the upland South." -Bernard Herman, American Historical Review