‘What Shall We Do With Our Walls?’ Transatlantic Wallpaper Trends of the 18 th and 19 th Centuries Wallpaper occupies an interesting place in the world of material culture. Ephemeral and fragile; it is often overlooked in favour of more striking pieces of cabinetry or portraiture or ceramics; expressions of taste and craftsmanship with a greater tangible presence in their solid compositions. Part of this relative transparency of wallpaper lies in its weak structure and easy replacement over time, and these features imply an insignificance of this medium. But really, the decorative art of wallpaper is highly illustrative and significant in its disposability; wallpaper is an effective reflection of the subtleties of shifting contemporary fashions. This is particularly true of pieces from the 18 th century, which saw the popular explosion of wallpaper as it moved from the exclusive circles of the aristocracy into the upper-middle class homes of Europe. Furthermore, the translation of the market over to North America in a context of political tension, and the eventual autonomy of the colonies, gives an interesting insight on the emulation of European style and transatlantic trade links. In this way wallpaper is arguably among the most expressive mediums of material culture in reflecting the trade, decorum and politics that shaped the dynamic across the Atlantic societally. This essay will present a flavour of the development of the wallpaper trade in Europe as it spilt into the colonies on these shores, as well as technological changes that shaped wallpaper physically. The effects of developments in paper manufacturing will then be translated into an analysis of some wallpaper fragments from the William Paca house. The history of wallpaper, and its growth in popularity and accessibility, highlights both social and economic movements within 18 th and 19 th century society. But before the advent of paper wall
Transcript
‘What Shall We Do With Our Walls?’ Transatlantic Wallpaper Trends of the 18 th and 19 th Centuries
Wallpaper occupies an interesting place in the world of material culture. Ephemeral and fragile; it is
often overlooked in favour of more striking pieces of cabinetry or portraiture or ceramics;
expressions of taste and craftsmanship with a greater tangible presence in their solid compositions.
Part of this relative transparency of wallpaper lies in its weak structure and easy replacement over
time, and these features imply an insignificance of this medium. But really, the decorative art of
wallpaper is highly illustrative and significant in its disposability; wallpaper is an effective reflection
of the subtleties of shifting contemporary fashions. This is particularly true of pieces from the 18 th
century, which saw the popular explosion of wallpaper as it moved from the exclusive circles of the
aristocracy into the upper-middle class homes of Europe. Furthermore, the translation of the market
over to North America in a context of political tension, and the eventual autonomy of the colonies,
gives an interesting insight on the emulation of European style and transatlantic trade links. In this
way wallpaper is arguably among the most expressive mediums of material culture in reflecting the
trade, decorum and politics that shaped the dynamic across the Atlantic societally. This essay will
present a flavour of the development of the wallpaper trade in Europe as it spilt into the colonies on
these shores, as well as technological changes that shaped wallpaper physically. The effects of
developments in paper manufacturing will then be translated into an analysis of some wallpaper
fragments from the William Paca house.
The history of wallpaper, and its growth in popularity and accessibility, highlights both social and
economic movements within 18th and 19th century society. But before the advent of paper wall
coverings, Europeans sought to furnish their homes with other available décor. As well as the leather
hangings1, tapestries were a main source of wall decoration and very popular among those that
could afford them. Indeed the expense of this kind of home embellishment and insulation dictated
that only nobility could afford tapestries for their dwellings. Scholars like Treve Rosoman have
estimated that approximately 5% of the English population filled this class bracket with the
appropriate means and materials to acquire that kind of décor in the 17 th century2. From the 16th
century, however, a new form of wall covering was emerging that would eventually become
accessible to all through its relatively cheap and easy production: wallpaper. There has been some
debate surrounding who was the first to produce paper wall coverings, as the courts of Louis XI and
XII recorded wallpaper commissions in 1481 and 1509 respectively3. However, the earliest physical
1 See Figure 12 Lynn, Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War 1 ( 1980) W.W. Norton & Co, Inc., New York 3 Ackerman, Wallpaper, its history, design, and use (1923) Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York. Pg 1/2
examples of paper marked and placed on walls as decoration come from Cambridge, England4. A
piece of patterned wallpaper marked with a floral embellishment was discovered in 1911 in the
Master’s Lodge at Christ’s College, and was dated to originate from about 1509, made by a York
book printer by the name of Hugh Goes5. From this 16th century origin, wallpaper grew in popularity
into the 17th century among those who could afford this slightly cheaper and lighter form of interior
decoration. It was particularly popular for filling the walls of dressing rooms, closets, and further
feminine, domestic spaces6. As it became more accessible through changing manufacture methods,
which will be touched on below, wallpaper grew and grew in popularity, spreading beyond England
and France to wider Western Europe into the 18th century7.
From this supposedly English origin, wallpaper, like many other European inventions, structures,
tastes, etc., translated over to the early society of the American colonies. The adoption of such
fashions were particularly prominent among the elite like William Paca, who asserted their position
through their possessions and homes as in Europe, but here in America this display was facilitated by
the income of profit crops or new offices of religious or political prominence. The earliest reference
to wall coverings in the colonies comes from a letter from William Fitzhugh of Stafford County,
Virginia to an English friend in 1682. He asks the contact to “Please procure me a Suit of Tapestry
hangings for a Room twenty foot long, sixteen foot wide, and nine foot high and half a dozen chairs
suitable”. Not only does this document illustrate the contemporary popularity of wall decoration as
in Europe, it also shows that such goods at this time had to be procured from England rather than
being manufactured in North America. Thus gentlemen like Paca would have required acquaintances
or agents in London, for example, to order their material goods from and ensure they were shipped
over appropriately to keep up with contemporary fashions. It similarly, and interestingly, confirms
the convention of matching furniture and hangings to wall decorations, just as it was known to be in
England at that time8 and is partially reproduced in the matching hangings and furniture coverings in
Paca bedchamber9. And, just as the colonies shared the European taste for tapestries, their interest
similarly soon turned to paper wall coverings. Contemporary stock inventories from the beginning of
the 18th century illustrate the increasing accessibility of wallpaper as it began to be imported on
mass across the Atlantic. Bostonian book seller Michael Perry included on his inventory ‘7 quires [25
sheets each] of painted paper and three reams [500 sheets each] of painted paper’ in 1700, ‘painted
4 See Figure 25 Lynn (1980) 6 Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England (2009) Yale University Press, New Haven7 Lynn (1980) Pg 188 Ibid.Pg 199 See Figure 3 for matching bed hangings and linen, which also match the slip coverings of the chairs in this room
paper’ meaning wallpaper as derived from the French description of it as ‘papier peint’10. Thus by the
early 18th century wallpaper was available in North America from a local agent rather than
consumers having to ask English contacts to buy and send it across the Atlantic11. An advertisement
in the Maryland Gazette from the 24th of September 1760 confirms this, as it lists ‘printed Paper for
Rooms of Different Colours’ in a recent shipment from London by one Robert Couden12.
Furthermore, records from the National Archives in London on the ‘Ledgers of imports and exports
to America’ from 1769-70 show 3 reams of 500 sheets of ‘painted paper’ came into Philadelphia and
4081 yards of ‘stained paper’ were imported into ports on the Patuxent river in that year13, forming
part of a great consumer chain that linked Annapolitan gentlemen like Paca to merchants, agents
and manufacturers across the Atlantic.
From this beginning of American-based sales of wallpaper, the market developed in the mid 18 th
century to include the local manufacture of paper coverings rather than just their importation from
England, France and East Asia14. Textile dyer John Hickey, a recent immigrant from Dublin, was one
of the first to advertise American-made wallpaper, claiming in the New York Mercury on December
the 13th 1756 that he “stamps and prints paper in the English manner and hangs it so as to harbour
no worms”15. Further south, a Philadelphia stationer by the name of William Poyntell had imported
papers from 1781 until he began to manufacture them himself in 1790. He then advertised in the
Pennsylvania Packet on December the 4th 1797 for print cutters and similar help for this venture,
indicating the growth of colony-based production16. Similar local manufacturers may have worked
with Paca and his peers in Maryland, but research to identify individuals in this area has
unfortunately been unfruitful thus far. Further to this small business development, the growth of the
wider market and production in industrial centres New York City and Boston was illustrated by
population of paper stainers, apparently great enough in both these cities to parade in 1788 in
honour of the new Constitution and for Washington’s Boston visit in 178917. The extent of this
growth is ultimately represented in the decision to tax imported wallpaper in the first American tariff
law of 1789 following on from earlier taxing mandates. A duty of 7 ½ % tax was imposed in this
legislation, which was relatively high, but still 1% lower than the average percentage of the total
taxed on other imported goods. One might take from this information that wallpaper was viewed as 10 Lynn (1980) Pg 2211 Ibid. Pg 2212 Dr Jean Russo’s research in Maryland Gazette. These may be found in part at http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/html/mdgazette.html13 See Figure 414 Lynn (1980) Pg 2415 Ibid Pg 10716 Hotchkiss Jr, ‘Wallpaper from the Shop of William Poyntell’, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 4 (1968)
17 Lynn (1980) Pg 109
a valuable product in colonial America, but not seen as so totally essential or necessary to
discourage all foreign imports18. Having said this, the tax percentage on imported wallpaper was
raised to 10% by 1792 and 12 ½% by 180419, perhaps indicating a growth in the domestic market and
a desire to protect this. Thus by the end of the 18th century, wallpaper production in North America
had grown incredibly from initial reliance on European production and imports to a growing national
industry of local, competitive manufacturing.
Within this context of trade and production, the social implications of this growing industry should
be touched on, and scholars like Amanda Vickery have highlighted interesting subtleties of taste
among the consumers buying this wallpaper in the 18th century. In what she perceives to be a period
of great social mobility, British historian Vickery highlights the problem that some faced in
expressing their newfound wealth with sensitivity to societal conventions, or social decorum. This
concern is outlined in the observations of a Presbyterian Scot, Tobias Smollett, in 1771: ‘Clerks and
factors[…] planters, negro drivers, and hucksters, from our American plantations, […] agents,
commissaries and contractors, who have fattened in two successive wars, on the blood of the
nation[…]men of low birth and no breeding, have suddenly translated into a state of affluence,
unknown to former ages; and no wonder that their brains should be intoxicated with pride, vanity
and presumption. Knowing no other criterion of greatness, but the ostentation of wealth, they
discharge their affluence without taste or conduct, through every channel of the most absurd
extravagance’20. This range of people wanting to access and express wealth through material means
is interestingly opened up by the letter books of contemporary wallpaper manufacturers containing
the orders and correspondence of their clients. As previously mentioned, the upper classes made up
a significant proportion of wallpaper purchasers, as they had the means to buy, and space to hang,
such products. The letter book of Trollope & Sons that Vickery uses as her primary source is
indicative of an increasing range of clients; these London-based manufacturers served provincial
gentility in southern England, civil servants from the General Post Office, Doctor’s Commons, and
Customs House, as well as landladies across London and various well-to-do parsons across the Home
Counties21. While a similar breadth of classes may not have been wallpaper customers at the same
time in America, we can be sure that people of Paca’s wealth and standing would have had the
means to purchase these kinds of decorative material arts. This also implies that a similar concern to
appropriately and tastefully express one’s wealth was felt in America too.
18 Ibid. Pg 10919 Ibid. Pg 11020 Ed. Styles and Vickery, Gender, Taste, Material Culture in Britain and North America: 1700-1830 (2006) The Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven. Pg 20221 Vickery (2006) Pg 204
The changing fashions of wall coverings are expressed here in the colours and styles customers
requested. There was a particular fashion for matching colours in textiles and wallpaper, as the
London manufacturer James Wheeley22 promised in an 1754 advertisement that ‘All kind of
Furniture are exactly Match’d’23. Some even started to send paint samples in their orders around the
turn of the 19th century and request the inclusion of subtleties with complimentary colours as well24.
Such was the trend that one Lady Lumm of Cheltenham sent a furious letter to Trollope & Sons
stating ‘You must have made a great Mistake in having put up the Crimson and white border in the
back room which was only intended to match the curtains and furniture in the front Room…I am
quite vexed at this mistake as it will make the back room frightful’25.
This letter indicates something of the wider conventions of colour and pattern that dictated which
papers and where clients of a certain class may put their new purchases, uncovering a subtle code of
social expectations. Generally, entrance spaces were set in neutral colours to create an effective
juxtaposition with the extravagant papers in public rooms like the parlour or drawing room. These
spaces were done well as they would hold the most ‘social traffic’, unlike the private bedrooms and
dressing chambers that would have contained simple, delicate patterns to reflect their domestic
purpose26. Lady Lumm of Cheltenham illustrates this convention in her letters to Trollope & Sons as
she has crimson and yellow papers for grand rooms, but ‘I hope you will put the very cheapest paper
in the room joining the hall, and in the Little Room over the Kitchen’27. Within these wider
expectations there was a hierarchy of colours, in which red was the highest ranked and most noble.
It was apparently seen as too ostentatious for the majority of wallpaper consumers, and thus was
rarely bought, also unpopular due to it absorption of light which, on a practical note, required more
candlepower to display effectively. Green was associated with love and pleasure, thus was a
common choice for public spaces like parlours, dining and drawing rooms, supporting the choice of
green for the recently restored Paca dining room. Yellow was initially seen as a negative hue, linked
to cowardice and treachery, until the chinoiserie craze and the commonality of yellow in Imperial
China encouraged the use of it in drawing rooms with darker hues and bedrooms and dressing
rooms with lighter hues around 1790s28. Finally, blue was rarely used in public rooms, rather in
smaller spaces like hallways and closet interiors, perhaps due to the oppressive nature of dark blues
like the 1704-discovered Prussian Blue29. Again, Vickery’s research outlines the conventions of
22 See Wheeley’s trade card in Figure 523 Vickery (2006) Pg 20824 Vickery (2009) pg 17325 Vickery (2006) pg 20926 See Figures 6-8 for painted examples of interiors with wallpaper27 Vickery (2006) Pg 21128 Ibid. Pg 21029 Gettens and Stout, Painting Materials: A Short Encyclopaedia (1966) Dover Publications, New York
English society, but we can be confident of colonial American efforts to closely adhere to the fashion
of their transatlantic counterparts; thus this pattern and colour etiquette would most likely have
been upheld in 18th century Maryland as far as correspondence or shipping delays caused by
distance would allow.
Coming back to the industrial side of wallpaper markets, the changing manufacturing process of the
18th and 19th centuries can be informative of its increased accessibility over the period and can also
be helpful to date paper fragments which have no distinguishing marks on them such as stamps. The
first major shift in manufacturing to address is the change from handmade to machine made paper.
Known as ‘hanging paper’, unprinted paper was originally constructed by mixing pulped rags of
cotton and linen in vats of water and refining chemicals which were then scooped up into a ‘deckle’,
a wooden frame with a wire base30. The mix was then drained, pressed and dried, leaving distinctive
speckles31 which may be used by historians to determine the handmade origin of a paper piece in its
mix of colours and fibers32. These small pieces then had to be carefully joined together to create
enough material to cover a wall. This practice has produced a tell-tale sign of a fragment’s age
predating machine made paper if it contains such paper joins. The turn of the 19 th century saw the
mechanisation of paper production removing these seams, as the Frenchman Louis Robert invented
a belt method to create continuous lengths of paper in 1799. This machine model was then
replicated and enlarged by the Fourdrinier brothers33 in around 1804 and brought to England,
contributing to greater efficiency in production34. This technology became more common in the
1830s and was part of a mechanisation movement that standardised paper rolls to 12 yards long,
matching their desired length as laid out by English excise officials in the 1780s35. This ‘English
Length’, and a lack of paper joins, is thus an effective marker for dating large fragments to the 1830s
or later36. Similarly, a sample may be dated to this period or later by the clusters of fibres in the
paper created from spreading the pulp out on a machine belt37.
Further changes in the quality and media of the printing can indicate the economic and social shifts
of the growing wallpaper industry in this period. Like fiber content, lines and colours can also
communicate something of the origin of a fragment to help date it. In the initial move to
30 See Figure 931 Lynn (1980)32 Clapp, ‘The Examination of Winterthur Wallpapers’, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Vol. 20, No. 2, Conservation of Historic Wallpaper (Spring, 1981) Maney Publishing, pg 7133 See Figure 1034 Hamilton, An Introduction to Wallpaper (1983) Owing Mills, Maryland. Pg 2435 Lynn, ‘Colours and Other Materials of Historic Wallpaper’, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Vol. 20, No. 2, Conservation of Historic Wallpaper (Spring, 1981) Maney Publishing, pg 5936 Lynn (1980) Pg 2837 Clapp. Op cit.
manufacture wallpaper in North America, printers were the ones who painted this ‘hanging paper’
as they possessed the equipment and skill to mark the paper repeatedly, often replicating patterns
over several sheets to create a grand effect on these larger pieces of paper. But as print patterns
started to expand beyond simple monochrome English replications that book printers could
produce, a new line of block-printers and textile makers took over production as methods
developed38. Initially colour was applied by hand using brushes, as workers marked out patterns on
the paper using leather stencils and filled them in with paint39. Inspired by contemporary textiles
designs, these pieces became increasingly elaborate in their incorporation of classical motifs,
architectural features and landscape illusions. Technology helped to embellish these themes as it
next developed to include the complete use of woodblocks in printing. Used in England since the 17 th
century40, printing on wallpaper using primarily woodblocks allowed the application of greater detail
as patterns were carved into wood pieces onto which paint was rolled, precisely pressed onto the
paper, and dried before applying further coats. This often created a clear indicator of woodblock use
in the pooling of paint at the edges of pattern marks due to the pressure of application and the
viscosity of the pigment. The woodblock technique taken from the English was used in the American
colonial production of wallpaper, but with mixed success. While prints from England were renowned
for their definition and detail, American papers of the 1780s and 90s can be conspicuous in their
thick lines and occasionally smudged patterns41. This is partly attributed to a lack of technological
means, but also to the speed with which American entrepreneurs sought to cheaply imitate
imported European papers on mass for profit. These thick lines can thus create a potential marker of
origin from the late 18th century American manufacturers.
In light of these physical markers of origin through changing manufacturing methods, one might be
able to apply this history to attempting to date fragments from the William Paca house. Following
the purchase of the property by Historic Annapolis and its subsequent restoration from 1967,
wallpaper fragments were found throughout the house during archaeology work and architectural
surveys. Comprising 23 separate fragments with 16 different patterns, this collection holds a lot of
potential in reflecting the tastes of the house’s owners, as well as wider contemporary fashions and
material culture practices. But the impact of these artefacts rests on the accurate dating of the
pieces to determine when and where they were produced. While no qualified paint or paper
analysts have looked at the pieces, some things can be inferred from their individual states to
determine their origins. It’s believed that some of the earliest pieces may be those discovered in the
West Wing42, as the floral print was discovered resting directly on the original shell-clay plaster
work43. But looking at it stylistically, it’s possible the piece comes from the early 19 th century, as it
uses similar floral motifs and dotting marks to fragments in the Historic New England collection.
These pieces from first three decades of the 19th century are both American and the hibiscus flowers
in the Paca sample imply a similar origin44. An even earlier piece in the Historic New England
collection, dated from 1770-90, holds a striking resemblance in floral depiction and line definition;
this potentially opens the origin of fragment up even wider periodically45. If, as according to the
contents of the dependency listed in the Jennings inventory, the West Wing was employed as law
offices by Paca and Jennings, the papering of this space seems appropriate and fits within the time
period of 1763-1797 that these lawyers lived here46. However, the use of the wing as a rented unit
furnished by Richard Swann in the 1876 or the renovations to the wing by Alexander Hagner from
1877 appear to provide too late a date for this piece in terms of its style and adhesion to the original
plaster. The lack of clarity on the use of the house between these periods, but the presumption that
it was generally neglected and without refurbishment, means the piece may be very roughly
estimated to date from the late 18th century and early 19th century. ‘Rough’ here is the key word and
further research into the interim period should be pursued.
Several fragments taken in the early renovation work are recorded to have been pulled from rooms
on the third floor. One piece which supposedly comes from the landing is fabric-backed47, a practice
common to French papers from the late 18th century to create better adhesion to the wall48. This
fragment also has stylistic similarities to a piece taken from a home in Maine dated to the 1840s with
the same essential composition basis of multiple abstract lines to create a floral form49.
Unfortunately this disparity in potential dates of origin presents another frustrating estimation
rather than a secure guess. The renovation of the third floor into further rooms for Mrs Kennedy’s
boarding house in the late 19th century raises interesting potential origins for several other samples
found here. In one place three layers of paper sit on top of each other and the bleeding and imprints
of paint onto the respective backs of some of these pieces50, as well as remaining glued paper
fragments, gives a clear indication of the order in which the papers were produced and pasted there.
42 See Figure 1143 Wright, A Report on the Preservation and Restoration of the William Paca House (1999) Historic Annapolis Foundation, Annapolis44 See Figure 1245 See Figure 1346 Wright. Op cit47 See Figure 1448 Lynn (1980)49 This piece in scanned into the Winterthur Collection from a scrapbook of fragment previously in the Standish, ME home of the Buzzels 50 See Figure 15
The middle layer has a similar fabric-backing to the fragment from the landing just mentioned51,
giving a possible turn of the 19th century origin, and the finer definition of its lines may further imply
French influences. The bright juxtaposing vermilion orange and blue of the piece that sits
underneath it on the wall also implies French origins or imitation52; this kind of hue contrast was
apparently characteristic of French papers of the late 18th century in reaction to the duller English
palette53. The joins in this paper would suggest that this slightly more exotic print was made pre-
1830s and the changes to mass paper manufacture. The paint and plaster remnants, as well as the
darker stripes of glue on the back of this fragment also confirm that it was the earliest of the three
to be hung, potentially in the first few decades after the house was constructed due to the
consistency of the glue colour with other possibly early pieces found close to the plaster. And the
pattern draws parallels in its foliage, particularly the illustrated leaves, to the potentially 18 th century
fragments from the Paca West wing. Thus the fragment could originate from as early as the 1780s.
The top layer of paper in this stack, with its simple dotted pattern54, was clearly made with
woodblocks through the pooling of paint at the edges as the block was removed according to the
pressure of its application and viscosity of the paint, dating it initially to at least the mid-18 th century.
But we can be quite certain of a later date on this, bringing the estimation forward in time, as it
stylistically matches similarly petite, repeated floral patterns of the mid 19th century, thus matching
pieces in the Historic New England collection of the same era55. A fragment with even more closely
applied dots from the similar period of 1840 was also discovered at Winterthur, supporting this mid-
century dating. The plain nature of the pattern would also correspond to the convention of putting
such papers in private spaces like bedchambers, thus fitting with the use of this room as a chamber
for a lodger under the landlady Kennedy. Again though, as with the West Wing sample, the lack of
paint analysis and broad range of stylistic similarities does little to help narrow down the true origin
of this piece. After all this, questions also arise regarding the installation of paper in this space so
early on, as the third floor was unlikely to have been used socially, thus the elaborate early pattern
choice seems slightly inappropriate.
Another sample believed to date from the late 18th century was found on the stairs of the East Wing
by the archaeologists working under Stanley South in 1965-656. The joins in this piece of floral
printed paper, which are also present in its dark border, indicate an origin pre-1830s as they clearly
didn’t come from a machine-made, standardised roll, but individual sheets placed together. The
51 See Figure 1652 See Figure 1753 Lynn (1980)54 See Figure 1855 See Figure 1956 See Figure 20
thicker lines and lack of definition could imply an American origin for this paper, but has a dark
palette typical of the many English papers that may have inspired it. If it is American in origin, it must
not have been made earlier than the mid 18th century to predate the start of wallpaper
manufacturing on these shores. Stylistically, the fragment has similar floral designs and a dotting
effect for depth to pieces in the Historic New England collection dating from 1840 down through the
1760s. One piece of particular similarity is also held in the Downe Collection at Winterthur in
Delaware dating from the 1840s57. This huge range of similar patterns is promising for the earliest
potential date of this piece, but, as its distinguishable colours would all have been available
commercially as early as 1765, there’s little more to help estimate it precisely other than chemical
paint and paper analysis. A greater question arises from this lack of dating definition however. If this
piece is from the 18th century, the fragment may have been set in the garret staircase during the
time that the East Wing was used as a kitchen and scullery, as determined by the archaeological
work of South. If this is the case, the space on the second floor of the wing may potentially have
served as lodgings for the servants, and, while there are some reports of papering servants’ halls and
passages in the 19th century58, it seems highly unlikely that such extravagant paper or borders would
have been installed in such a space. What implications does this have for the interpretation of the
space then? Is it possible that Paca denied convention and spent money on such decorated papers
for the servants’ quarters? Or perhaps the Jennings or Stiers converted the space to house a
gardener or cook, providing nicer quarters for this more qualified individual? Perhaps only precise,
professional dating will shed light on this matter, which is made even more interesting by the double
layer of wallpaper present in the stairway. Indeed, a fragment of deep red, oak-leaf patterned paper
has left remnants on the piece below when it appears to have been ripped off the former59.
Stylistically, its dotted bordered leaves fit into similar patterns from the mid-19th century and no joins
appear in the small sample, which may suggest it was machine-manufactured. Big questions still
remain regarding the placement of paper in this space though, regardless of a pattern’s dating or
origin.
So while one may estimate the dating above through the paint use, line thickness, style, and paper
composition, questions remain surrounding the implications of the location of the fragments. The
third floor and the two service wings seem unusual spaces to wallpaper, particularly the latter. This
can have at least three possible implications; the first is that these fragments survive because the
more usual spaces to paper, the spaces with the greatest traffic, were more extensively decorated
and thus fully stripped of paper over time, particularly for Carvel Hall, if they ever contained it in the
57 See Figure 2158 Vickery (2009) Pg 17659 See Figure 22
first place. Secondly is perhaps that the prints that have multiple surviving fragments were actually
taken from different spaces in the house, wrongly labelled or incorrectly presumed to have come
from the same place. This would mean that the papering of the stair twice is actually a reflection of
changes from elsewhere in the house, if the same pattern was used in places other than the
staircase where it is explicitly listed to have been placed. The third, and perhaps most confusing
option, is that these humble spaces were held as important to those that occupied the house. Paper
dated in the 19th century perhaps makes sense to occupy the attic in the context of Mrs Kennedy’s
boarding house renovations of 1885, for example. The paper found in the West Wing may also
correlate with the law offices that Paca or Jennings are supposed to have set up in this area of the
house. The papering of these spaces in between these more logical usages is still left open for
necessary investigative research.
But in light of all this uncertainty, the presence of fragments in the Paca house offers an exciting
insight into the participation of its owners throughout the house’s life in the interesting consumer
world of wallpaper. The pieces presented here may represent the wealth and contemporary fashions
of Paca’s era, through the Jennings and Stiers, all the way to the 19th century Dr Kennedy and his
landlady spouse. The disparity in their potential origins, whilst difficult to work with, does illustrate
something of the beauty of wallpaper as it reflects contemporary markets, means, manufacturing,
and manners in its ephemeral nature and frequent replacement. The hope is also that the research
already completed and yet to be fully concluded will aid the future interpretation of the Paca house
interiors. Despite the lack of certainty in the estimates on the Paca samples, however, it is clear that
wallpaper had a major impact on the ongoing appearances of English and Annapolitan homes in this
period; for the latter particularly, producing impressively bright and busy rooms that subtly reflect
the vibrant culture and eventual political autonomy of this upcoming young nation.
Bibliography
Ackerman, Wallpaper, its history, design, and use (1923) Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York
Bradshaw, ‘The Manufacture of Paints’, The Decorator and Furnisher, Vol. 16, No. 1 (April 1890)
Clapp, ‘The Examination of Winterthur Wallpapers’, Journal of the American Institute for
