rare, and it seems safe to assume that the market for 

 secondhand or used Turkey carpets existed because 

 few new Orientals were availalile. 



Since the supply was limited, the use of Turkey 

 carpets in colonial houses was also limited. For 

 example, a survey of inventories recorded in 1 758 from 

 the Boston area, that is to say Suffolk County, Massa- 

 chusetts, reveals the presence of floor coverings in only 

 3 out of some 75 listings of household furnishings 

 registered that year. Of the three inventories which 

 listed floor coverings, that of Mr. Edward Jackson 

 of Boston was alone in including Orientals. In the 

 "Front Room" of the Jackson house were "2 Turk & 2 

 homspn. Carpets 61/4."*° Among the Suffolk County 

 inventories recorded in the two preceding years, 1757 

 and 1 756, a single entry for Turkey carpets was found. 

 This was for "1 large Turkey Carpet 40/ [and] 1 small 

 Do. 24," listed in the inventory of Edward Tyng, 

 Esq., of Boston, dated May 28, 1756, but taken the 

 preceding September." Some 20 years later, owner- 

 ship of Orientals was still limited. Nine inventories 

 with entries for underfoot furnishings of various kinds 

 were found among the Suffolk County, Massachu- 

 setts, inventories recorded in 1777, but only one, that 

 of Samuel Sewell, "late of Boston, an Absentee," listed 

 "1 large Turkey Carpet." '- The following year 4 

 out of about 115 inventories listed floor coverings. 

 Turkey carpets, however, appeared in only one inven- 

 tory, that of Joshua Winslow, Esq., of Boston, recorded 

 November 6, 1778. Located in the "Front Clhamber" 

 downstairs of Winslow's house was "a Turkey Carpet 

 £9" and upstairs a "Turkey Carpet 42/" — aside from 

 the other kinds of floor coverings elsewhere in the 

 house. '^ From the inventories studied, it appears that 

 few households were graced with Turkey carpets. 

 Also, it is significant that the above inventories with 

 entries for Turkey carpets were among those with high 

 total monetary valuations for the years in which they 

 were recorded. Clearly, ownership of an Oriental 

 was dependent upon one's wealth as well as upon the 

 number of Turkey carpets available. 



No doubt fashion and prestige also played a part 



•" Inventory of Edward Jackson. Feb. 10, 17,'>8. In Suffolk 

 Probate Books, vol. 53, pp. 123-141. 



" Inventory of Edvifard Tyng, September 17r)5 (sworn to 

 May 28, 1756). Ibid., vol. 51, pp. 384-390. 



'inventory of Samuel .Sewell, Aug. 29, 1777. Ibid., vol. 



76, pp. 312-313. 



'■' Inventory of Joshua Winslow, Nov. 6, 1778. Ibid., vol. 



77, pp. 600-604. 



in the purchase of a Turkey carpet. Then as now 

 Oriental carpets provided a harmonious background 

 for the numerous chairs and tables of mahogany or 

 walnut, the objects of glass, ceramic, and silver, the 

 rich and colorful fabrics, and the paintings and prints 

 that constituted the furnishings of the principal rooms 

 in the houses of well-to-do colonists. It may have 

 been just such a setting Charles Carroll, barrister, 

 had in mind when, in 1760, he wrote to Mr. William 

 Anderson, merchant, in London. Among the various 

 household furnishings ordered by this Maryland 

 gentleman were "One Turkey Carpet suitable for a 

 Room 25 feet Long and twenty Broad at about Ten 

 Guineas one Ditto for a Room Twenty feet Long and 

 Eighteen Broad at about six Guineas." '* Oriental 

 carpets also were the choice of other colonists. In a 

 letter of 1 765 addressed to her husband in London, 

 Mrs. Benjamin Franklin ga\'e the following description 

 of the underfoot furnishings in their Philadelphia 

 house and requested the addition of a Turkey carpet: 



The little south room . . . [has] on the floor, a carpet 

 I bought cheap for the goodness; it is not quite new. 

 The large carpet is in the blue room. ... In the parlour 

 there is a Scotch carpet which was found much fault 

 found [sic] with. ... As to curtains, I leave it to you 

 to do as you like yourself; or if, as we talked before 

 you went away, if you could meet with a Turkey carpet 

 I should like it. . . . In the north room . . . [is] a small 

 Scotch carpet on the floor. '^ 



Happily, Mrs. Franklin's wish was granted. Ben- 

 jamin Franklin, still in London in April of the follow- 

 ing year, wrote to his wife that he was sending "A 

 Large true Turkey Carpet cost 10 Guineas, for the 

 Dining Parlour." "^ The desire of the Franklins for a 

 Turkey carpet in addition to the other floor coverings 

 already in the house is indicative of the value placed 

 on this particular type of carpet in the 18th century. 

 It further implies that Orientals were considered a 

 good investment. And the decision that Franklin 



" Invoice of goods enclosed in a letter from Charles Carroll, 

 barrister, Annapolis, to Mr. William Anderson, London, 

 September 1760. In "Letters of Charles Carroll, Barrister," 

 Maryland Historical Magazine (December 1937), vol. 32, p. 367. 



" Letter to Benjamin Franklin. London, from Mrs. Deborah 

 Franklin, Philadelphia, fall of 1765. In Edward Riley, 

 "Franklin's Home," Transactions of the American Philosophical 

 Society (1953), new ser., vol. 43, part 1. p. 153. 



"■■ Letter from Benjamin Franklin, London, to Mrs. Deborah 

 Franklin, Philadelphia, April 1766. In The Writings oj Benjamin 

 Franklin, edit. .Mbcrt Henry Smyth (New York: The Mac- 

 millan Co., 1905-1907), vol. 4, p. 450. 



PAPER 59: FLOOR COVERINGS IN 18TH-CENTURY AMERICA 



