room when the table is set and be taken up when the 

 table is removed, merely to secure a very handsome floor 

 from grease and the scouring which that necessitates. 

 The straw would turn up with the grease itself and would 

 also wear with such repeated rolling and unrolling, but 

 I thank you much for your information of the cost of 

 English painted cloth. .At 3 dollars a square yard the 

 floor cloth would cost me 100 D, which is far beyond the 

 worth of the object.'^' 



Nevertheless, as pointed out earlier, a floorclotli 

 eventually was obtained for use in the south dining 

 room of the White House. 



Further proof that the straw carpets and matting 

 available in this country were often products of the 

 Far East are the "Canton mats for floors," India and 

 East India fioormats, and East India straw carpeting 

 advertised for sale in the Federal Gazette and Baltimore 

 Dai'v Advertiser on June 6 and September 7, 1803, 

 and May 12 and June 20, 1808. At '■Richmond 

 Hill," according to the 1797 inventory, Aaron Burr 

 was using ''India Matts" in the "Hall up .Stairs," the 

 "Garret Bed Room," and the "Garret Hall." Spain 

 may ha\e been another source of supply of straw floor 

 coverings. In 1797, one Baltimore merchant adver- 

 tised in the City Gazette and Dai/v Telegrap/i ol March 1 7 

 that he had received from Rotterdam a general as- 

 sortment of goods including "15 bales Spanish Matts 

 for Carpeting." Although the name implies that the 

 mats were of Spanish origin, it is possible that they 

 were Spanish only because of transshipment through 

 that country from the Far East and therefore were not 

 a product of Spain. Or, what seems the more likely 

 explanation is that the name was derived from the 

 material used in their manufacture, Spanish rusli. 

 In the 1767 edition of Bailey's Dietionary, "mat-weed" 

 is defined as "an herb or plant called also feather grass, 

 and Spanish rush of which mats . . . are made." 



Jefferson's reasons for rejecting the matting and the 

 criticism voiced by Israel Acrelius at an earlier date 

 suggest that straw floor coverings probably had 

 limited use. The "large Matt for entry" mentioned 

 before, as well as those in use at "Richmond Hill," 

 point to the use of straw matting in both entrances and 

 passages or hallways. In 1766, Charles Carroll or- 

 dered " 1 piece of Matting for Passages" among other 



goods from his London merchant.^'"* The inx'entory 

 entries cited previously reveal that underfoot furnish- 

 ings of straw were also used in chambers or bedrooms. 

 In addition, straw matting may have been used under 

 carpets as padding, or on top as a protective coating, 

 or else as either a temporary or summertime floor 

 covering. It is interesting to note that the use of 

 matting in these ways seems to have been common in 

 the 19th century. According to Thomas Webster's 

 An Encyelopaedia of Domestic Economy, published in New 

 York in 1845: "Matting is used in some cases instead 

 of carpets. The best are India mats, which are used 

 to lay o\er carpets, particularly in summer, from their 

 being cool. They are durable." 



Baize also was used in this way at an earlier date but 

 for a dififerent reason according to Thomas Sheraton's 

 The Cabinet Dictionary, published in London in 1803. 

 Described as "a sort of open woollen stufT, having a 

 long nap, sometimes frized, and sometimes not," 

 baize was stated to be used by upholsterers ''to cover 

 o\er carpets, and made to fit round the room, to save 

 them." This would seem to have been the practice at 

 "Richmond Hill,'' Aaron Burr's residence in New 

 York City. In the "Blue or drawing Room" was "1 

 Elegant Turkey carpet" and "a Carpet of Blue Bays 

 to cover the turkey ditto." Also listed among the 

 contents of this room in the 1797 inventory was "the 

 green Margin to the Carpet (of cloth)." Both the 

 choice of blue as the color of the baize to suit the 

 color of the room and the addition of a border suggest 

 a stylish scheme of decor. A baize carpet cover was 

 used in the dining room, too. The inventory listed 

 "1 Brussels Carpet" and ''1 Green bays Carpet."' 



This custom of using carpet covers also was followed 

 by Mrs. Abigail Adams during her brief stay in the 

 White House. The inventory taken in 1801 lists 

 among the contents of the dining room, " 1 Brussels 

 Carpet with Green Baize Cover." It is possible that 

 this also was the intent of Mrs. Adams in laying a 

 floorcloth during the summer season at her house in 

 Massachusetts. Or perhaps it was simply her custom 

 to change the underfoot furnishings in the spring, 

 putting the winter carpets away until fall. According 

 to early 19th-century practice as reported in Web- 

 ster's Encyclopaedia, carpets were taken up in the spring. 



'^' Letter from Thomas JefTerson, Washington, to Thomas 

 Claxton, Philadelphia, June 18, 1802. (MS, Massachusetts 

 Historical Society.') Reprinted in Kimball, Ioc. cit. (footnote 

 61). 



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

 barrister, Maryland, to Mr. William ."Anderson, London, 

 Oct. 29, 1766. In "Letters of Charles Carroll, Barrister," 

 op. cit. (footnote 14) (September 1941), vol. 36, p. 340. 



28 



BULLETIM 250: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY -AND TECHNOLOGY 



