rods of iron or brass over the carpeting, presumably 

 at the back of each tread. Apparently this method 

 was or had been used in the White House because 

 Jefferson's inventory of 1809 listed among the contents 

 of the "Store Room in the Garret ... 32 Brass 

 Carpet rods." When properly in place on top of 

 the stair carpeting, the rods would be secured to the 

 stair with some type of fastener. "Holdfasts'" were 

 used for this purpose in 1777 in Baltimore, while 

 "brass and iron rods and staples for stairs" were 

 available for the same use in Philadelphia according 

 to the Federal Gazette of November 16, 1799. This 

 was the same method used at Aaron Burr's residence 

 in New York City. According to the 1 797 inventory, 

 the staircase had "Stair carpetling Brass Rods and 

 Staples." 



Entries and passages were on occasion carpeted in 

 the 18th century, too, as a number of references have 

 already indicated. Newspaper advertisements reveal 

 that in New York and Baltimore houses, passages 

 could have been cov-ered with, respectively, "Hair 

 Cloth" in 1763, "painted Oil Cloths . . . of various 

 Sizes and Patterns" in 1764, or "Fancy Pattern- 

 Cloths" in 1792. Evidence that some Philadelphia 

 houses also had carpeted passages as well as stairways 

 is provided by Brissot de Warville, whose opinions on 

 the use of underfoot furnishings in this country already 

 have been noted. This Frenchman further showed 

 where his sympathies lay on this subject and at the 

 same time provided another glimpse of 18th-century 

 floor-covering customs in America when he observed 

 in 1788: 



The Quakers have likewise carpets; but the rigorous ones 

 blame this practice. They mentioned to me an instance 

 of a Quaker from Carolina, who, going to dine with one 

 of the most opulent at Philadelphia, was offended at 

 finding the passage from the door to the staircase covered 

 with a carpet, and would not enter the house; he said he 

 never dined in a house where there was luxury; and that 

 it was better to clothe the poor, than to clothe the 

 earth.'2o 



The residence of John Penn, Senior, was another 

 household in Philadelphia where the passage was 

 carpeted. -'Entry carpeting" was included with other 

 furnishings from the house that were to be sold at auc- 

 tion in 1788. In the late 18th century "striped 

 Brussels carpeting," or "Patent Oil Floor Cloths," 

 which were sold specifically for entries, might have 



been the choice of New York shoppers. Earlier in 

 the century floorcloths had been used in the same way 

 by New Yorkers. The Schuyler's house, the "Fiats,' 

 had an oilcloth in the lobby. Whether called a 

 lobby, passage, or entry, the area adjacent to the 

 front door in some 18th-century American households 

 was covered with one type or another of floor covering. 

 Bedsides in some households were another place 

 where carpets or strips of carpeting were used. 

 For example, the Sewell inventory of 1777, listed "1 

 large Turkey Carpet, & Strip for Bedside." An idea 

 as to how such bedside strips may have been used is 

 provided by Mrs. Delany, an English gentlewoman 

 whose correspondence abounds with details of do- 

 mestic life and manners. In a letter of 1752, she 

 explains that her "candlelight work, is finishing a 

 carpet in doui)le-cross-stitch, on very coarse canvass, 

 to go round my bed." '-' By creating a frame around 

 the bed, carpeting strips used in this way would have 

 been decorative as well as functional. This same 

 arrangement apparently was used at Lansdowne, 

 Governor John Penn's coiuitry house outside of 

 Philadelphia, because in the south chamber there 

 was "A Carpet round the bed," according to an in- 

 ventory taken after Penn's death in 1 795. In addition, 

 the north chamber at Lansdowne contained "2 

 bedside Carpets" and the southwest chamber one.'-^ 

 Penn also had bedside carpets at his townhouse. 

 Two new bedside carpets were part of his furnishings 

 that were "exposed to sale" at the Chestnut Street 

 residence in 1 788. Whether such lutidentified items 

 of underfoot furnishings as the "Chamber Carpet 

 in 3 pieces 40/" listed in the Dorrington inventory 

 of 1776, or the "3 Small Pieces of Carpeting" 

 in another Boston inventory, tliat of Mrs. Mary 

 Morehead recorded in 1777, served as bedside or 

 "round the bed" carpets is not known. '^^ Presumably 

 the "Small Carpet" listed in the Dr. Pemberton 

 inventory of 1777 was used by the side of the "Field 

 Bedstead" which appeared as the inventory entry 



' Brissot de Warville, loc. cit. (footnote 65). 



'-' Letter from Mrs. Delany, Del\ille, Ireland, to Mrs. 

 Dewes, England, Nov. 25, 1752. In The Aulobiographv and 

 Correspondi-nce of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, edit. Lady 

 Llanover (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), vol. 3, p. 176. 



'-- Marie G. Kimball, "The Furnishings of Lansdowne, 

 Governor Penn's Country Estate," Antiques (June 1931), 

 vol. 19, p. 455. 



'^'Inventory of Mrs. Mary Morehead, Jan. 18, 1777. In 

 Suffolk Probate Books, vol. 75, pp. 391-93. 



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BULLETIN 2 50 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .^ND TECHNOLOGY 



