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Anna Safley Houston

Houston Museum of Decorative Arts

“Always paddle your own canoe.”

– Anna Safley Houston

estled in a thriving art district in did not have an idea of their value. And,
Chattanooga, Tennessee, the she was known for some questionable
NHouston Museum of Decorative business practices, like purchasing items
Arts holds an internationally recognized COD during buying trips and then A young Anna Safley Houston
collection of Victorian art glass and haggling with the freight office over price
antiques. The museum is in a stately when the items arrived in Chattanooga.
Victorian home holding more than Though she married and divorced many times, her husbands were
12,000 items from 12 different countries. not a source of funds. Several of them, however, did provide stability
There are at least 50 collections within and services related to her businesses. Her favorite and longest-lasting
The Houston Museum of Decorative the overall collection, each representing marriage to plumber James W. Houston provided plumbing services
Arts, Chattanooga, TN an aspect of Victorian life. From fine- for her rental properties, and he had a truck to transport items she
blown and cut-glass water pitchers and purchased for the collection. One husband worked for the railroad, so
decorative items—including works by Steuben, Tiffany, Durand, Loetz, she was able to travel cheaply by rail. And as a woman, she needed a
and Fenton—to one-of-a-kind Tennessee-made furniture from the early husband to conduct business transactions!
1800s, these objects teach visitors about history, beauty, manufacturing, During the Great Depression, Anna lost her businesses and
function, and most importantly, they evoke nostalgia and curiosity. properties. Over time she neglected her health to devote everything to
This impressive collection is a testament to the skill and the preservation and expansion of the collection. At the age of 60, with
determination of one woman, Anna Safley Houston (1876–1951). That the help of one teenager, she built a large, barn-like warehouse with a
a woman of her time, a woman of modest means and little education, tarpaper roof outside of town to house the collection, herself, and her
could amass such a significant collection and gift it to the people of beloved dog Sonny.
Chattanooga establishes Anna as a one-of-a-kind patroness of the arts. The barn had no heat or running
Anna was the first of 11 children born to an Evening Shade, water. Anna refused to spare money
Arkansas family. She left school after sixth grade to care for her siblings for food and healthcare, relying on
after the death of their mother in childbirth. She left home at 15, taking friends for sustenance and occasionally
odd jobs including one as a hair model at medicine shows, and allowing patrons into the barn to view
eventually, she landed work as a buyer of ladies’ clothing for Marshall and purchase from the collection.
Field in Chicago and Macy’s in New York. In 1897, she came south to Mary Jean Giles Roberts, the daughter
Missouri and at 21 married her first of nine husbands, Otto C. of one friend, described the interior of
Ashbaugh. They had two children, girls, who both died in infancy. the barn as a jungle of antiques:
Ashbaugh, however, was not there for the birth of the second child – he “Furniture stacked on cartons and
departed while Anna was pregnant. After the passing of her second crates stacked on furniture lined the
child, Anna made a life for herself as an independent woman. walls and ran down the center of the
Anna came to Chattanooga in 1904 by way of California, after having room. Glassware, china, and small
married her third husband, E.R. Crisman. Using her money, Crisman items were arranged on every surface.
invested in a furniture store, making her part owner. That husband The ceiling and upper walls were
soon moved on, but Anna stayed in Chattanooga for the rest of her life. Anna Safley Houston and her festooned with hundreds of pitchers
There, Anna was known as a “pioneering female entrepreneur.” She dog, Sonny, in her barn in and cups of all description.”
East Ridge in the 1940s
owned a thriving ladies’ clothing store and milliner shop advertising Additions to the barn are evidence
“Fancy Scarves, Neck Wear, Drawn Work, and Holiday Goods.” She that Anna continued to collect priceless art glass and antiques even as
invested in real estate, purchasing rental property around town. she continued to neglect her own well-being.
In 1920, Anna opened the Red Brick Dixie Antique Shop. Her Of Anna’s focus on establishing a museum, Mary Jean Rogers noted
interest in decorative arts, which began early in childhood when she that “Mrs. Houston was a woman of single-minded purpose. Time
would collect broken bits of glass and paste them on jars, came to after time, she talked of the museum which would one day exist for her
fruition in the 1920s. She was a self-taught authority on the treasures. She would, and did, sacrifice everything for it.”
decorative arts; collectors, dealers, and publishers consulted her about Anna Safley Houston died in 1951, having
art glass and antiques. organized a nonprofit with a vision of sharing
During the 1920s Anna developed a single- the collection and its history with future
minded focus on collecting museum-worthy items, Chattanoogans. Before her death, she hired
most of which she did not sell in her shop but kept attorney Blaine Buchanan to establish the museum,
in order to maintain the integrity of her growing with an astonishing 102 Trustees named in its
collection. During her lifetime, she traveled to every charter. The museum opened in the Bluff View
state in the U.S. and extensively in Canada and Art District in 1961 and moved into its
Mexico, where she once dodged bullets exchanged permanent home in 1968.
between Pancho Villa and the U.S. Cavalry. Today the Houston Museum of Decorative
One of the unsolved mysteries about Anna’s life Arts flourishes not just because of Anna Safely
revolves around how she paid for her valuable collec- Houston’s astute, informed ability to collect
Early Louis Comfort tion. She made money from her successful businesses, museum-quality items, but also because of her
Tiffany glass from Anna and records show that she refinanced her property Tennessee-made oversized
Safley Houston’s collection single-minded focus on a vision of an arts teacher desk from Anna Safley
on a mantle inside the holdings regularly. There is some evidence that she education and enrichment space for the people of Houston’s collection, with
Houston Museum purchased items at very low prices from people who her adopted community. Early American Pattern Glass

Visit the Houston Museum at www.thehoustonmuseum.org for information
February 2024 19
about Houston Museum exhibits, events, and community activities, including
our 50th Anniversary Antiques Show and Sale in February 2024.