hold, in fact, two were still in the same place. James 

 Pemberton's widow Hannah, according to her inven- 

 tory of 1758, had left the "painted floor Cloth" in the 

 parlor and "a floor Cloth" still covered the floor of the 

 great room.. Whether called great room,, parlor, great 

 chamber, or front room — the latter was the location 

 of "1 Small floor Cloth 60/" mentioned in the 1757 

 inventory of Reverend Charles Brockwell — it is clear 

 that the rooms in which floorcloths were used were 

 among the important ones in a house.™ 



The presence of japanned and mahogany tea 

 tables with china tea sets, family pictures, candle 

 sconces with arms, and a spinet as well as a couch and 

 chairs in a room where the underfoot furnishing was 

 a floorcloth, as was the case in the Pemberton's 

 "Great Room," is an indication that painted-canvas 

 cloths were held in much higher regard in the mid- 

 18th century than is realized today. Floorcloths were 

 hardly less esteemed in the 1770s than they had been 

 20 years earlier. A "Canvas Carpet 15," in the 

 "Next front Chamber" is listed in the .Stevenson 

 inventory of 1776. The floors in the "Back Sitting 

 Room" in Robert Gould's house and the "back 

 parlor" of Joshua Winslow's house were each covered 

 with floorcloths, the one with a "painted Floor Cloth 

 old" and the other with "1 Canvas floor Cloth." 

 According to the inventories of these two Bostonians 

 recorded in 1777 and 1778, respectively, floorcloths 

 also were used in the entries at both residences along 

 with other types of floor and stair carpeting. The 

 plain and patterned floorcloths, both new and used, 

 painted by Daniel Rea and Son for the homemakers 

 and householders of Boston also were used in rooms — 

 middle rooms, front rooms, parlors, back parlors, 

 and dining parlors — as well as entries. 



Floorcloths for entries and hallways may have been 

 of hardier construction than those used in rooms, 

 since a dififerentiation was made in their use, as the 

 newspaper advertisements already cited indicate. 

 For example, "painted Oil Cloths" were made for 

 passages as well as rooms, as were "Fancy Pattern- 

 Cloths." And the "Patent Oil Floor Cloths" avail- 

 able for rooms also were manufactured in "1-2 yd. 3-4 

 and 4-4 do." sizes for entries. According to the 1797 

 inventory of furniture at "Richmond Hill," both the 

 "Hall below Stairs" and the "Hall entry below 

 Stairs" were covered with a "Patent Oil Cloth" and 



^"Inventory of Charles Brockwell, May 13, 1757. Ibid, 

 vol. 52, pp. 327-.'57. 



in the staircase there was "1 Oil Cloth (stair foot)." 

 Stairs, too, were sometimes covered with painted 

 canvas. The "painted Oil Cloths" just mentioned 

 were made for stairs, and a sale of furnishings from a 

 Baltimore residence that was announced in the 

 Maryland Journal and Baltimore Daily Advertiser of 

 June 24, 1777, included "a staircloth, with iron rods 

 and holdfasts." 



When used in the principal rooms of a house, 

 floorcloths might cover the entire floor from wall to 

 wall, as shown in the portraits of the Ellsworths and 

 of Mr. Phillips (figs. 1 and 11), or a good part of the 

 floor, as in the Hawley family portrait (fig. 13). Pre- 

 sumably Governor Burnet's "large painted canvas 

 square as the room" was of similar proportions. 

 Floorcloths also seem to have been made in all sizes 

 because the Brockwell inventory of 1757 listed a 

 "Small floor cloth" in the front room. The size of 

 a "Small floor cloth" is not known, though obviously 

 it would have to cover less floor than the large carpet 

 depicted in the painting of the Hawley family. 

 The placement and use of small floorcloths are, 

 unfortunately, not known either. Another puzzle 

 in the location and use of floorcloths is presented by 

 the Gould inventory of 1777 which listed as part of 

 the parlor furnishings "1 Scotts Carpet" and "1 

 painted Floor-Cloth." Perhaps one floor covering 

 was laid on top of the other or placed in the center 

 of the room, and the other one used by the fireplace 

 or just inside the doorway to the parlor. Another 

 possibility, and one for which there is evidence, is 

 that the floorcloth was placed under a table at meal- 

 time. The "two old checquered canvases to lay 

 under a table" owned by Governor Burnet and Robert 

 "King"' Carter's "large oyle cloth to lay under a 

 Table" are proof that floorcloths had been used in 

 this way in the colonies since the early part of the 

 18th century. 



This use of floorcloths also may explain why the oil- 

 cloth carpet in Carter's inventory was listed among 

 the contents of the dining-room closet which included 

 such things as a teapot, cups, saucers, plates, glasses, 

 decanter, knives, backgammon table, and candle- 

 sticks; and why the painted floorcloth in Blake's in- 

 ventory of 1 745 was located in the closet of the front 

 room along with such china items as plates, bowls, 

 cups, and saucers. Perhaps the floorcloths, like the 

 china and related paraphernalia with which they were 

 stored, were u.sed only at tea or mealtime. 



The practice of placing a carpet under the table was 

 still followed in the early 19th century when Thomas 



24 



BULLETIN >50 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



