with Turkey carpets. Besides the Turkey carpets 

 in both the downstairs and upstairs front chambers 

 and a "Scotch carpet 8 " in the upstairs back chamber, 

 there were two floorcloths recorded in the inventory. 

 In the back parlor was '"1 Canvas floor Cloth," 

 probably valued at 14 shillings, and in the "Entry 

 and Stair Case" a "painted floor Cloth 12/" along 

 with an unidentified carpet. Approximately the 

 same relationship of floorcloths to other types of 

 coverings for floors appears again in the inventories 

 for 1777, when 9 out of about 75 inventories had 

 entries for underfoot furnishings of which 4 included 

 floorcloths. These inventories also indicate, as do 

 those already cited, that floorcloths might be but one 

 type in a variety of movable floor coverings used in a 

 household. 



Of the four Boston inventories of 1777 in which 

 floorcloths were mentioned, that of Samuel Emmes 

 listed a "Floor Cloth 12 " and "3 painted floor 

 Cloths 9," as well as "2 small Carpets 4'." " The 

 other three inventories also showed at least one other 

 type of floor covering besides canvas carpets. "2 

 Carpetts 30," and "1 floor Cloth 4/" were listed in the 

 inventory of Captain Benjamin Homer.''- "Two 

 Wilton Carpets £80" and "two painted Carpets £14 

 one Do. £6 two ditto £4.10/" were listed in the in- 

 ventory of Dr. Joseph Warren.*' The in\entories 

 reveal that in the case of Mr. Robert Gould, a Boston 

 merchant, nearly every room in his residence had 

 some type of floor covering. There were Scotch, 

 Wilton, and unnamed carpets as well as floorcloths. 

 In the back sitting room was "1 painted Floor Cloth 

 old 4." And a few rooms even had two kinds of 

 floor coverings. In the parlor were " 1 Scotts Carpet 

 16," alongside "1 painted Floor-Cloth 30'." This 

 combination appeared again in the "chamber Entry" 

 where there were "1 Floor Cloth 3" and "1 Scotch 

 Carpet 12/" as well as "2 Strips Carpet 4/ [and] 1 

 Stair Carpet 18/." ** Floorcloths were the sole type 

 of underfoot furnishings in some households, while in 

 others they were but one of two or more kinds of floor 

 coverings in use. The 1776 inventory of a Boston 



" Inventory of Samuel Emrnes, Nov. 7, 1777. Ibid., vol. 

 76, pp. 504-506. 



*- Inventory of Benjamin Homer, Jan. 24, 1777. Ibid., 

 vol. 75, pp. 393-96. 



" Inventory of Joseph Warren, Dec. 9, 1777. Ibid., vol. 7G, 

 pp. 645-49. 



" Inventory of Robert Gould, Mar. 14, 1777. Ibid., vol. 76, 

 pp. 209-22. 



merchant, Mr. William Whitwell, provides an exam- 

 ple of a household in which the movable floor cover- 

 ings were limited to floorcloths, namely "1 Canvas 

 floor Cloth 6/." " The inventory of a Cohasset 

 merchant, Mr. Thomas Stevenson, listed both a 

 "Canvas Carpet 15/" and a "Woolen Carpet 16/8." *" 

 The inventory of William Burch, "an Absentee," 

 recorded January 29, 1779, listed a single item of 

 underfoot furnishing, "1 Canvas Carpet £4." '" 



Although some idea of prices can be derived from 

 inventories, it is difficult to say whether floorcloths 

 were less or more expensive than other types of floor 

 coverings — or if they were on the whole comparable 

 in value to Scotch carpets, for instance. Indeed, it is 

 almost impossible to make such evaluations because 

 age, size, and decoration — factors that influenced the 

 price of floor coverings and that are necessary for 

 comparisons — are seldom recorded. Nevertheless, 

 floorcloths probably were available in a w'ider range 

 of prices than most other types of floor coverings, since 

 they were simply painted canvas which easily could 

 be adjusted in quality and design to fit the consumer's 

 purse. 



Inventories, pictures, and writings of the period 

 re\eal, however, that floorcloths were used through- 

 out the house. Floors in the major rooms as well 

 as those in passages, entries, and stairways were 

 covered with this type of underfoot furnishing. For 

 example, the inventory of Mr. Joseph Blake, "late of 

 Boston," taken in 1745 but not recorded until 1746, 

 listed "a Painted Floor Cloth" worth £3 in the 

 "Closett" of the front room.** James Pemberton's 

 inventory, taken 2 years later, had entries for "1 

 painted floor Cloth 80/" in the parlor and "1 floor 

 Cloth 200/" in tJie "Great Room." « In the Cun- 

 ningham inventory of 1748, there was "1 Canvas 

 Floor Cloth £4" in the "Great Chamber first floor." 

 Suffolk County, Massachusetts, inventories of 1 757 

 and 1 758 show little variance with those of a decade 

 earlier in the placement of floorcloths. In one house- 



*' Inventory of William Whitwell, July 8, 1776. Ibid., 

 vol. 75, pp. 539-40. 



<* Inventory of Thomas Stevenson, Dec. 2, 1776. Ibid., 

 vol. 76, pp. 188-91. 



<" Inventory of William Burch, Jan. 29, 1779. Ibid., vol. 78, 

 pp. 125-26. 



" Inventory of Jo.seph Blake. Jan. 7, 1745 (sworn to Sept. 18, 

 1746). Ibid., vol. 39, pp. 1H4-86. 



<» Inventory of James Pemberton, Mar. 31. 1747. Ibid., 

 vol. 39, pp. 497-505. 



PAPER 5 9 : FLOOR COVERINGS IN 1 8TH-CENTURY AMERICA 



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