JT23 • a : Wi5^

Wallpapers in

Historic Preservation

Office ofArcheology and Historic Preservation

National Park Service

U. S. Department of the Interior

MENTS

ITEM

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Catherine Lynn Frangiamore

Wallpapers in Historic Preservation

Technical Preservation Services Division

Office ofArcheology and Historic Preservation

National Park Service

U. S. Department of the Interior

Washington, D. C.

1977
As the Nation's principal conservation agency,

the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural

resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and

wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and

providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor

recreation. The Department assesses our energy and

mineral resources and works to assure that their development is in the best interest of all our people.

The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S.

administration.

National Park Service Publication Number 185.
CONTENTS

1 Introduction

3 Historic Wallpaper Technology

HANDMADE PAPER 3 MACHINE-MADE PAPER 6

PAINTED PAPERS 6

STENCILED AND PRINTED PAPERS 6

Stenciling 6

Block Printing 6

Machine Printing 7

Silk Screening 12

FLOCKING AND METALLIC COLORS 13 HANGING TECHNIQUES 13

18 History of Wallpaper Styles and Their Use

GENERAL HISTORY 18

BORDERS, FRIEZES, AND DADOS 36

CEILINGS 39

40 Wallpaper Within a Restoration Project

PLANNING FOR WALL TREATMENTS 40

RESEARCH 40

UNCOVERING AND REMOVING SAMPLES

OF OLD WALLPAPER 42

IDENTIFYING SAMPLES 42

ALTERNATIVES FOR WALLPAPER RESTORATION 44

Preservation of a Paper in Place 44

Removal and Rehanging of Large Areas of Wallpaper 45

Custom-made Reproduction of Original Wallpapers 50

Purchase of Appropriate Wallpaper Patterns 5

1

52 Conclusion

53 Bibliography

54 Illustration Credits

55 Appendixes

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author acknowledges with gratitude the generous help of Antoinette King, Senior Paper

Conservator, the Museum of Modern Art, who contributed to the section on paper restora- tion and preservation and who read and corrected the manuscript. A Research Grant from

the National Endowment for the Humanities with a matching grant from the Wallcoverings

Council, Inc. supported, through a grant to the Smithsonian Institution, research which was

basic to this article. Their generosity is greatly appreciated. With this report, as in past studies,

the author's primary debt is to the staff, past and present, of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum,

Smithsonian Institution, and to the remarkable Misses Hewitt who began the collections.

IV
FOREWORD

Under Executive Order 1 1593, signed May 13, 1971, the Secretary of the Interior was given

the responsibility for developing and disseminating "to Federal agencies and State and local

governments information concerning professional methods and techniques for preserving,

improving, restoring and maintaining historic properties." To meet the Secretary's responsibilities, the Technical Preservation Services Division, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, National Park Service, is preparing a series of publications on the technical aspects

of historic preservation for use by administrators, architects, and others at the Federal, State,

and local levels involved with the preservation and maintenance of cultural resources.

This preliminary report, "Wallpapers in Historic Preservation," was written by Catherine

Lynn Frangiamore, Curator of The Atlanta Historical Society, Georgia, formerly Assistant

Curator of the Decorative Arts Department at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, New York.

Two staff members made substantial contributions toward the publication of this report as part of the Preservation Handbook series: Carole L. Perrault, Architectural Historian, who

assisted in developing the initial subject outline and editing of the first draft; and Sarah M.

Sweetser, Architectural Technician, who worked with Mrs. Frangiamore in the development

of the manuscript into its published form. The final manuscript was copy edited by Betty J. Berry, Writer/Editor, National Register Division.

Comments and suggestions regarding additions or changes prior to final publication are en- couraged and should be sent to Lee H. Nelson, Preservation Handbook Editor, Technical

Preservation Services Division, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, National

Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240.

W. Brown Morton III Departmental Consultant for Historic Architecture

Chief, Technical Preservation Services Division

Introduction

The papered and bordered wall was an important

feature of American interiors during the 18th,

19th, and early 20th centuries. Paper hangings,

both imported and of domestic manufacture, were more widely used than many of our restored

buildings might lead us to believe. In the late 17th

and early 18th centuries, not only were American

walls whitewashed, painted, and "wainscoted,"

but they were also hung with a variety of materials. An English visitor of 1750, James Birket,

commented on the number of rooms in Newport,

Rhode Island, that were hung with printed canvas and paper.

1 There is also documentation in the

18th century for the use of leather and textile wall hangings in this country.

As early as 1700, wallpapers were recorded

among the stock of a Boston merchant, and by

the late 18th century, paper hangings were available to the middle class as well as to the rich. American advertisers claimed that "the low

prices at which they will be sold will make papering cheaper than whitewashing." Easily trans- ported, papers were available at surprisingly early

dates not only in the seaboard urban centers, but

also in the back country.

During the 1840's, industrialization transformed

the business of producing wallpapers and made

them affordable in the average household. An

appetite for papers was stimulated by manufacturers: their advertisements in this period pro- moted wallpaper for use in churches, banks, and

offices, as well as in houses. The resulting popularity of patterned walls is reflected in statistics of soaring production. In 1840, observers of the

1 James Birket, Some Cursory Remarks Made by James

Birket in his Voyage to North America, 1750-1751. (New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1916), p. 8. (Reprint from

original manuscript in the Library of Congress).

industry reported that this country produced two

million rolls of paper. By the 1880's paper was

the standard wall finish and production rose to 100 million rolls in 1890. This wallpaper craze continued until World War I, for almost every

imaginable use, from nursery to butcher shops.

Architects increasingly specified wallpapers for

their designs, and many examples of the late 19th-century period survive both on site and in photographs.

Today, wallpaper is rarely given adequate consideration in the restoration of interiors. However, it should be remembered that 18th- and

19th-century owners, architects, and builders may

have visualized certain spatial effects of light,

warmth, mood, and proportion dependent on the use of wallpaper—effects which are completely

distorted when the walls are painted a solid color. Therefore, attempts to create rooms in restored

houses require careful consideration of the ap- propriate interior wall finish. The likelihood that

wallpaper may have been used should be recognized and investigated. Whether the objective is to accurately restore an interior to a specific date, or to convey the feeling of a period, wallpaper can contribute positively to the overall success of a restoration.

Striving for an accurate restoration, a high

level of objectivity must be maintained and the

evidence carefully considered. There are some pitfalls to avoid in choosing the paper. Not just any

paper will achieve the proper historical ambience,

and finding the proper documented paper is not

always easy. Many expensively restored late 19thcentury rooms have been unwittingly papered

with reproductions of distinctly 18th-century

INTRODUCTION 1
patterns which were readily available. The per- sonal tastes of the board of directors, local decorators, influential donors or volunteer committees can pose great problems. Often, after professional research reveals the actual paper that was used in a room, the results are ignored by

members of an influential committee who consider the paper ugly and therefore "inappropriate." The impulse to decorate in conformity with

20th-century taste is commonly allowed to prevail, but should be suppressed. If paper is to be

hung, patterns consistent with any evidence

found in situ, or contemporary to the restoration

target date and the type of room, should be carefully chosen.

Figure 1: Making Paper—An

English engraving printed for F.C. and J. Rivington in 1821

shows a papermaker plunging

his mold into a vat filled with

pulp made from old rags, water and other ingredients.

He is about to scoop a small

quantity of pulp and water

onto the wire surface of the bottom half of the mold

known as the "frame." The

"deckle" or top half of the mold will then hold the pulp

mixture in place while the water drains out and the pulp

has dried. The product will then be further dried, pressed,

and flattened in the press seen

at the left, and finished as paper. In this process, the mold could be no larger than

the papermaker could handle

and that, in turn, restricted the finished size of a sheet of

paper.

2 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Historic Wallpaper Technology

In determining the age of wallpaper, the most reliable clues are the signs of the technology used

to make it. Distinguishing handmade paper from

machine-made, and traditional block printing

from machine printing can help determine the

date a paper was made. Information about the

age of a wallpaper can, in some cases, help to

establish the date of a wall or of architectural

changes within a building.

HANDMADE PAPER

Wallpaper manufactured before ca. 1835 consisted of small sheets of paper, pasted together to form the length long enough to extend from floor

to ceiling. The special class of paper known as "hanging paper" was described in the 18th century as "made from the coarsest and cheapest

rags and woolen stuff." It was rarely bleached

white, but by modern standards it was of high

quality and strong. The size of handmade paper was limited by the size of the mold. The mold

was made up of two parts, a deckle and a frame,

and was limtied to a size that could be easily

handled (figure 1).

The individual sheet that made up a "piece"or a

roll of wallpaper were not uniform in size, but

usually were smaller than 22 by 32 inches. Early

in the 18th century, most paper "stainers" printed

sheets which were then pasted individually to a

wall. But by mid-century, the sheets were usually

pasted together to form rolls before any coloring was applied. The standard length of a "piece" of

joined wallpaper, formed from the individual

sheets, was established by English excise officials at 12 yards and most were 23 inches wide.

Horizontal seams in a length of wallpaper are good evidence of handmade paper (as described

above) and likely suggests that it predates ca. 1835. Such seams are the first item to look for,

and this can be done by shining a strong beam of

light, held close to the wall, horizontally across

the surface. Under this raking light almost any

irregularity on the wall should become apparent

in the resulting shadows. Indications of seams between the sheets and between the lengths of wallpaper could appear, even under a coat of paint.

However, if subsequent layers of paper have been

applied over a handmade paper, evidence of seams could be hidden by the smoother surfaces.

If an edge of the paper can be uncovered, evi- dence of the handmade process might be indicated

by the slightly ruffled or "deckle edge" caused by

the uneven drainage of the water from the top

half of the mold (called the deckle). Although

for stationery and other fine papers, deckle edges

are sometimes imitated on machinemade products, there is no evidence that this was ever done on hanging papers.

If only small fragments of paper are found, ex- amination under magnification will distinguish between the multidirectional patterns of the fibers

characteristic of the handmade process, or the

regular vertical alignment of machine-made

paper. The paper should also be examined over a strong light for the imprint of the wires that made

up the surface of the frame on which the pulp was

pressed under the deckle to form the sheet. Other

characteristics of handmade paper which might

appear include watermarks, sometimes visible in areas where opaque coloring has not been thickly

appied to the paper, and tax stamps. A royal inHISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 3
Figure 2: Stenciling with Block Printing—An early 18th-century French pattern printed in black with stenciled washes of red, green, yellow and blue, is shown here in a piece 14 inches wide and 20% inches high.

4 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 2A: Detail of the early 18th-century French wallpaper shown in 2, which shows the thin-bodied,

poorly registered stenciled coloring.

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 5
signia would indicate that the paper had been

printed in England previous to the repeal of the

tax laws there in 1832 (figure 13).

MACHINE-MADE PAPER

Machines for producing "endless" paper were

the important innovation of the early 19th century that made possible the industrialization of

wallpaper making. Developments in England in- cluded the Fourdrinier machine of 1799 that used

a cylinder to form paper. In 1817, the first machine-made paper was produced in America by

Thomas Gilpin in Delaware. Though wallpaper

manufacturers would have been the logical early users of the new endless paper, they do not seem

to have adopted it in France until 1820, in England until 1830, and in this country not generally

until 1835. The widths of machine-made paper

varied from country to country. By the 1850's the

standard width of French paper was 18 inches, of

English paper 21 inches (20 inches when hung)

and of American paper 20 inches. Despite standardization, papers from all these have been found

in widths varying from 18 to 40 inches.

Early handmade papers were composed of textile fibers and were generally heavier and more

durable than later machine-made papers. The in- troduction of wood pulp for making paper was

first commercially successful in England in the

1850's, and was introduced to America in 1855.

By the 1880's, the bulk of commercial hanging

paper stock had been greatly cheapened by the in- troduction of wood pulp, straw, and other less expensive ingredients. Such paper is now characteristically brittle, and browned from the acids

present in the wood pulp. Superficial examination

usually serves to distinguish cheap, machine-made

papers from the handmade, that is; machine-made

paper will tear in a neat line and the browning and

brittleness are often all too apparent. But further

microscopic examination may be required to determine if a fragment of higher quality paper

with a high rag content is machine-made or handmade.

PAINTED PAPERS

A few wallpapers, generally the more expensive

ones, including Chinese papers, have been hand

painted through all of wallpaper history (figure

17). The brush strokes were executed in water- base colors. Stylistic analysis, rather than a knowledge of technology, will be of the greatest help in dating painted papers. Chemical analysis of

the pigments used in the paints might serve to pinpoint datable pigments (some of which are dis- cussed in the following section on block printing).

STENCILED AND PRINTED PAPERS

Ordinarily, in analyzing the wallpaper, a restorationist will be called upon to distinguish among

the various methods of mass-producing pattern,

that is: (1) stenciling, (2) block printing, (3)

machine printing, introduced in the 19th century,

and (4) silk-screen printing, which became com- mon after the Second World War.

Stenciling

Early 18th-century wallpaper makers in France

produced pattern outlines from woodblocks using

black ink. The black ink was thin bodied, unlike

the thick distemper colors of most 18th- and 19thcentury wallpapers. In early examples, the black

printed outlines were filled in freehand, or with

the aid of stencils, in thin, transparent water

colors. This stenciling can be recognized by the

presence of multidirectional brush strokes, ending

abruptly at the edges of solid-colored pattern

shapes, where outlines of color often collected and

streaked. Stenciling appears in cheaper wallpaper

of the mid to late 18th and early 19th century, but was not a common feature of wallpapers of the

best quality.

Block Printing

The use of woodblocks with the printing sur- faces carved in relief has been standard in making

fine wallpapers. A separate block is required for

printing each color. During the mid- 18th century, a tradition of fine craftsmanship in this skilled work developed in France and survives today in

spite of the development of many alternative

methods for mass producing wallpaper.

Distemper colors were normally used for color

printing from woodblocks. To make distemper

6 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
colors, pigments were mixed with water and glue

size to produce the thick-bodied, opaque, chalky

colors still favored in fine wallpapers. Occasionally, oil-based mediums were used to produce

glossy accent colors, but sometimes they were also

used for ground colors.

Naturally occurring organic and inorganic pigments were used to make the distemper colors of

the 18th century. A list of the standard colors

"proper to be used for paper hangings" was published in London in 1758 by Robert Dossie in his

Handmaid to the Arts. Dossie's list of colors in- cludes archaic words and color names that are

fully analyzed by Rosamond D. Harley in Artist's

Pigments ca. 1600-1835 (New York: American

Elsevier Publishing Company, 1970). Dossie's list and Harley's study of early color nomenclature

and history should be consulted by any researcher

undertaking chemical analysis of the pigments

present in old wallpapers.

In dating papers, chemical analysis of wallpaper

colors may be helpful. The presence of some of

the "new" colors discovered and developed in the

late 18th and early 19th century may be evidence

for the earliest possible date that a wallpaper

could have been made. For example, the presence

of Chrome Yellow (PbCrOJ indicates a date

after 1809. Chrome Yellow was discovered in 1797, but the formula was not published until

1809, and not widely available until after 1820.

By mid- 19th century, it was used by many wallpaper makers. Sheele's Green-Copper Arsenite is another new color commonly used in the wallpaper trade after its discovery in 1775. Another,

Schweinfurt Green-Copper Aceto Arsenite was

first produced commercially in Schweinfurt in

1814; the first publication of a method for making

the color followed in 1822. A still later color,

"Artificial Ultramarine" was discovered in 1826,

but its formula was not published until 1828, and

the earliest known mention of its use in the wallpaper business was in the year 1864.

In the standard 18th-century wallpaper manufactory, thick distempers were used both for

"grounds" and for printing the patterns (figures

4 and 5). After the individual sheets of paper had

been "joined"—pasted together—to form a roll of hanging paper, a coating of coloring or of white

was applied with wide brushes. This ground color

concealed both the joints and any discoloration in the paper stock itself. Multidirectional brush

strokes applied by hand are often apparent in the

grounds of early papers. Grounding was one of

the first processes in wallpaper making to be

mechanized. Machines for rotating long cylindrical brushes that applied an even coating of

ground color were introduced to the trade by the

early 19th century. The uniformity of vertical

streaking is sometimes apparent in grounds applied by this mechanical process.

Once the ground coat had dried, the pattern could

be printed. The craftsman pressed his block

(figure 3; figure 4 just left of center; figure 5, center) against a pad, which had been coated with a

layer of the liquid distemper color. Then he lifted his block and let it strike the paper, sometimes

tapping it with a mallet to make a firm impression. It was almost like marking a letter with a rubber stamp. The block met the paper in a

straight up and down motion. Close examination

of the coloring in pattern elements that have been

block printed will reveal multidirectional "veining" within pattern shapes that have sharply defined outlines. The veining will often take the

form of little sunbursts, formed as the block came

down, pressing the color out in all directions.

Also visible in the areas of solid coloring may be

little holes from the bubbles created during the

moment of pressure and release of the block

(figure 6A).

Machine Printing

In the 1820's, as textile printing was being mechanized using engraved copper cylinders, experiments were made for incorporating this technology in the printing of wallpaper. The Zuber Factory in Alsace produced papers in this manner

using thin-bodied, glossy coloring. But the result- ing patterns were composed of thin lines, similar

in character to engravings, and the venture was of

limited commercial significance. Evidence of

their use in the United States has not yet been

found.

In the 1840's a significant commercial impact of

machines on wallpaper printing occurred (figure

8). Steam-powered machines were developed

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 7
BLOCK PRINTING

Figure 4: An engraving at the top of a billhead illustrates the basic steps in making wallpaper during the 18th

century. On the far right, two craftsmen mix colors in barrels. The gentleman wielding a large brush in either hand is laying on ground color. Immediately to the left of the tablet describing the business, a printer with his left hand

under the handle on a carved woodblock raises a mallet with his right hand to strike a firm impression. The boy

standing to his left prepares the color between each impression, spreading it on a pad. The man on the far left, with

the assistance of yet another boy, is probably rolling and trimming paper in standardized lengths for sale.

Figure 3: Block Printing—Three wooden printing blocks shown here are each about 8 inches high,

24 inches long, and 1 1/2 inches thick. Each was

used in France during the 19th century to print a

different color in a "swag" border pattern. The

one at the bottom was used to print the first color,

forming large areas of patterning. After that first color had dried, the second block was used to print more detailed parts of the pattern over the

first color. Fine details were added last, over the

first two colors, using the block at the top. The raised printing surface is formed of carved

wood in the first block, of wood and bits of metal

in the second, and in the third, all of the printing area is formed of bits of metal driven into the block.

Figure 5: A page from an 1860 edition of Charles Tomlinson's Illustrations of Trades,

printed in London, indicates that block printing

continued relatively unchanged well into the 19th

century. The use of carved blocks with raised printing surfaces has been improved: a wooden

structure with levers carries the weight of the

printing block in the central vignette, so the workman has only to guide it. Mechanization has

also simplified the basic process of color grinding

and mixing.

8 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
THE PAPER STAINER AND PAPER HANGER. 4 I

305. COLOUR DRUM.

J02, 303. PAINT BRUSHES. 3lH. LUUM FOR L.U'IMJ ON FLOCK.

30G. PAINT POT. 307. SIZE CAN.

308. FRONT OF PRINTING BLOCK. 309. PRINTING PRESS. 310. BACK OF WOODEN BLOCK FOR PRINTING.

312. SPAT. 313. LADLE. 3H. CRUTCH. 315. COLOUR-GRINDING MACHINE. 31C. COLOUR SIEVE.e

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 9
Figures 6 and 6A: Block Printing—To make this French paper of the late 18th or early 19th century, a series of woodblocks was used to print opaque layers of thick, chalky distemper colors in pastel shades over a brown

ground color on a sheet 23i/2 inches wide. The impressions made by stamping with carved woodblocks

10 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
are characteristically sharp edged. Little bubbles formed in the process of printing with the thick liquid have left tiny holes in the surface of the color. The ground as well as the printed colors have been applied over the horizontal

joint between two handmade pieces of paper which appears at the center of the detail.

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 11
MACHINE PRINTING

Figure 7 : Machine Printing—Four machines for

printing wallpaper are shown in the factory of Christy,

Shepherd and Garrett in New York as illustrated in the July 24, 1880 issue of Scientific American. The largest

machine, second from the left, was equipped to produce

patterns in 12 colors, printed from 12 cylinders or

rollers ranged round the giant central drum on which

the paper was carried. The workman's left hand rests on the color trough, while with his right hand he

adjusts the belt that feeds color to a printing cylinder.

with efficient systems for feeding color to cylinders that printed from raised, rather than en- graved surfaces, employing the conventional

principle of the woodblock. The standard cylinder

had a wooden core with the raised printing surfaces, formed by strips of brass which were tapped into the wood core and made cloisonne-like

raised outlines of shapes. Inside of these little walls, felt was tightly stuffed to carry the colors

for the solid areas of patterning (figure 9). Details such as lines and dots were printed by appropriately shaped brass pieces. The cylinders were placed on a machine that had at its core a

large revolving drum, or giant cylinder, upon

which the blank paper rode while it engaged in sequence a series of the smaller cylinders, each of

which had a raised surface to print one color of

the pattern. Each printing cylinder was coated

Figure 8: Machine Printing—A cylinder or roller for

printing wallpaper, used by the F. E. James Company

during the mid- 19th century. Cylinders like this, each

adding details in different colors, would have been

used on machines like those pictured in figure 7. On

the wooden core of the roller, 19 3

4 inches long, the

raised printing surface has been built up by hammering

in strips of metal (usually brass) which form little walls standing out about a fourth of an inch from the wooden core, and appear here as the dark outlines around solid shapes. Those shapes are filled with felt, which carries the colors. The circumference of this cylinder is 16 inches, the measurement that dictates the repeat length of the printed pattern.

with its individual coloring by a roller fed belt from a trough that held the appropriate color.

Old papers that bear the impression of these

raised-surface cylinders of machine printing can- not safely be dated before 1841. The little metal

outlines filled with felt left a distinct impression: an outline of thicker coloring around the edges of

each shape combined with traces in colored areas

of the unidirectional streaking caused by the constantly rotating cylinders (figure 10 and 10A).

The colors used on the machines were thin bodied

for quick drying. These characteristics of machine printing are particularly easy to recognize

in cheaper papers.

12 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Silk Screening

MB -"

Silk screens are sophisticated stencils carried on

very finely woven silk textile screens, stretched over wooden frames. Patterns produced from

these screens can often be recognized with the

aid of magnification. The crisscrossing of the woven threads of the textile leave their mark,

especially along curves and diagonals. The fact

that the coloring material has passed through a woven fabric is indicated by minute little "stair steps" that form the edges of shapes. Silk- screened wallpapers, which have become particularly popular for the more fashionable and ex- pensive patterns produced since the 1940's are

often marketed as "hand prints."

Flocking and Metallic Colors

Wool and silk flocking were added to many 18thcentury papers. From the 17th century to the

present, chopped colored shavings of silk or wool

have been spread over areas of patterning printed

(or stenciled) in adhesive varnish on wallpaper

(figure 7). Occasionally, powdered mica or isin- glass was added to 18th-century papers, and in the late 19th century, became very popular wallpaper decorations. Metallic colors, gold and sil- ver, are found in papers of the 18th century, as well as in later wallpapers. Because their use was

so long lived, the presence of any of these tex- tured decorations does not in itself provide a basis

for dating a paper.

Hanging Techniques

The development of the methods by which wallpapers were fixed to the wall provide further dating guidelines. During the early 18th century, the

English used tacks to hang wallpapers and evi- dence for this practice in America has been found

as early as 1741. 2

^^E -v

:*li*ifei-_

The tacks used along the edges of paper were

covered with borders, which were also tacked to the walls. English instructions of 1700 for tacking

- Walter Kendall Watkins, "Early Paper-Hangings in Boston," Old Time New England, Publication of the Society

for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, vol. 12, no. 3 (Boston, 1922), p. 110.

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 13
Figures 9 and 9A: Machine Printing—The 20 inch wide sample is probably American, of about

1840-1850. Marblized effects have been machine printed in pale gray on an off-white, ungrounded

stock; other elements in the pattern are printed in red and blue. The enlargement shows the imprint

14 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
of the metal outlines used to form printing surfaces on rollers for machine printing. The thin- bodied pigments are characteristically transparent, giving a grainy texture in which all the streaking runs in a vertical direction, the direction in which the printing rollers were turning.

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 15
Figure 10: Flocking—An illustration of the 1880's shows

the principle for flocking was little changed from the 17th century. The man on the left block prints a

pattern in varnish on paper which is then fed into

up wallpaper include the advice that the back

side of the paper first be gently wetted to make it hang smoothly.

Early 18th-century wallpapers were sometimes

pasted sheet by sheet to the wall. American refer- ences indicate that papers were sometimes fixed

to fabrics and canvas before they were hung. But

by the mid- 18th century, papers were more commonly bought in rolls, and pasted directly to the

walls. An invoice of paper hangings shipped in 1799 from London to Virginia was accompanied

by a note: "The process of putting up paper hangings is to have the wall as smooth as possible and

then to be well sized over. The ingredients used

for making of paste is flour and water with a small quantity of Allum put in and boiled till quite thick." Although such water-soluble pastes

the flocking trough with its flexible, drum-like bottom.

Boys beating on that bottom raise clouds of finely

powdered wool shavings to spread them evenly over

the surfaces printed with the adhesive varnish.

were the most common, not all paper was put up

with water-soluble adhesives. (In salvage operations one finds that some pastes resist all chemical

solvents!)

In spite of smooth plastered walls being recom- mended as the proper surfaces on which to paste

papers, early papers are sometimes found in American houses pasted directly on unfinished

boards (figure 20). Skills of paper hangers, as

well as budgets of houseowners dictated the methods used. A common practice, intriguing to the

researcher, was that of simply pasting new papers on layers of older ones (figure 1). During the late 19th century, textile liners were used to prepare

a smooth surface on the wall to which the paper was then pasted.

16 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 11: Thirteen layers of wallpaper which have been

steamed apart are here arranged in the sequence

they were pasted, one covering another, on one

wall of the Nathan Beers house in Fairfield,

Connecticut. The earliest pattern, shown at the bottom,

dates from the first decade of

the 19th century, while the

stripe with grapes, shown at the top, was probably pasted over its predecessors about

the turn of the 20th century.

& isfa.z£&

HISTORIC WALLPAPER TECHNOLOGY 17
History of Wallpaper Styles and Their Use

In the following section, an introduction to wallpaper styles and history of their use will emphasize stylistic characteristics as further clues to the

age of wallpapers, and provide guidance in choosing replacement patterns for buildings from

which any evidence of the design of papers has

disappeared.

GENERAL HISTORY

Traditionally, wallpapers have imitated more ex- pensive materials, such as architectural details,

painted wall decorations, wood grains, marble,

and, most often, textiles. General stylistic trends.

Figure 12: A red flocked version of an English

flowering vine with diaper pattern survives from its 1781 installation in the Webb House built in 1752 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The enormous size of the

repeat, 72 Vi inches long and 38 Vi inches wide,

contrasts with the narrow border, just under 2 inches

wide. The scale is unexpected in a low-ceiled bedroom.

Many of the horizontal as well as vertical seams

between individual sheets of handmade paper, each

about 21 inches wide and 24 inches long, are apparent

in this photograph.

Figure 13: This paper with tax stamp found on the reverse side (shown in inset) was retrieved from the General Philip Schyler House near Albany, New York.

Both are shown in full scale. Such a stamp, with the

insignia "GR" (for "George Rex") could have appeared on any English wallpaper from the reign of King

George I until the death of King George IV in 1830.

It would be nearly impossible to determine the country

of origin for such a simple repeating pattern without

the English tax stamp.

The face side of the paper was designed with a field of gray covered with greenish-blue sheaves of wheat.

This design could date as early as 1795-1805.

The meaning of the marking "J6" is unknown.

paralleling those of other furnishings and decorative arts can be traced in wallpapers.

Prior to the Revolution, English papers dominated the American market. Flocking was a

specialty of 17th- and 18th-century English paper

stainers, and its popularity was reflected in American houses. English flocked paper and canvas, with patterns of strapwork and scrolls, were used

here in the 17th century. Floral patterned papers

with flocking reflected 18th-century textile styles;

formal symmetrical bouquets in flocked hangings were derived from damask-woven patterns, and

18 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
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Figure 14: Block printed in black and white on a gray ground, this English paper was

probably the original

wallcovering used in the Samuel

Buckingham House, built in 1768 in Old Saybrook,

Connecticut. The remnant

illustrated is about 24 inches

wide. Such relatively large scaled neo-classical "Pillar and

Arch Figures" were advertised

for use in hallways. A copy of

this pattern, which differs from

this one only in that the figures

and every detail is exactly

reversed, bearing the mark of a

Hartford, Connecticut paper

stainer of the 1790's is also preserved in the Cooper-Hewitt

collections, illustrating the American practice of imitating

imported papers.

20 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
patterns formed of branching stems putting forth

flowers and leaves over backgrounds of diaper

patterning were executed in flocking, as well as in

distemper colors (figure 12). Other English floral patterns included some that featured flowing rib- bons among the flowers, and floral stripes. Examples of each of these styles of 18th-century

English wallpapers have been found in American

houses.

Hand-painted, rather than printed, English wallpapers with large-scale nonrepeating views depicting ruined architecture are known to have

been used in at least three important American

mansions of the 1760's: the Philip van Schuyler

and Stephen van Rensselaer Houses in Albany,

New York, and the Jeremiah Lee House in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The elegant views were

surrounded by wallpaper "frames."

A distinctive English pattern type was made of

"pillar and arch patterns" (figure 14). These

were recommended especially for use in hallways.

These and many other 18th-century English wallpapers were generally monochromatic and subdued in palate compared to the French papers of

the same and later periods. Many examples of

grey papers, some with sparsely applied highlights of color have been found in this country

bearing English tax stamps (figure 13).

The end of British colonial trading restrictions

cleared the way for a dramatic increase in the

importation of French wallpapers to this country.

Yet it was not until the 1790's that American advertisements began to feature the French paper

hangings. Most distinctive of the French styles were the Arabesque patterns first popularized in Paris by Jean Reveillon (figures 15 and 16), and

particularly admired in this country by Thomas

Jefferson and his contemporaries during the

1780's and 1790's. Through the use of many indi- vidual blocks to print the large number of colors

within a single pattern, Reveillon was able to develop a clarity of color and a subtle combination

of brilliant and pastel shades that distinguish his

wallpapers and those of his successors.

Both the English and French styles were influ- enced by hand-painted nonrepeating papers ex- ported from China to the West from the 17th

century onward (figure 17). The expensive

Chinese papers can be generally grouped into

three basic types: flowering trees bedecked with

birds and insects, landscapes, and processionals.

Chinese papers were only hung in the houses of

the richest Americans, but this trend filtered down; the incorporation of chinoiserie motifs in wallpapers printed by all the Western wallpaper

manufacturing countries was common during the

18th century.

The earliest documentation known to the author

for the printing of wallpaper in America appeared

in the 1756 advertisement of a dyer and scourer

"lately from Dublin," one John Hickey, who an- nounced in the New York Mercury on December

13, 1756, that he "stamps or prints paper in the

English manner and hangs it so as to harbour no

worms." In 1765 another New Yorker, John

Rugar, is recorded as having begun a wallpaper

manufactory, and in 1769 Plunkett Fleeson, a

Philadelphia upholsterer who had been in busi- ness at least since 1739, first announced that he

had for sale "American Paper Hangings manufactured in Philadelphia . . . not inferior to those

generally imported." The American paper stain- ers based their patterns on imports, but despite

their claims to excellence, they seem to have been

held in low esteem by most consumers. The advertisement of one paper hanger published in 1785 is revealing: he offered to hang "any paper,

from the most elegant imported from the East

Indies or Europe, to the most indifferent manufactured in this country."

A late 18th-century style that lasted far into the

19th century featured the use of a plain solid

shade of coloring applied to wallpaper, usually in green or in blue but available in a wide range of

other colors as well. These papers were called

"plain papers" and were usually advertised with

"rich" or "elaborate" borders (figures 18 and

19). Walls painted in a solid color were also embellished with wallpaper borders; the "plain pa- pers" had one advantage over paint—they hid the

cracks.

French styles dominated the American wallpaper

trade during the first 70 years of the 19th century.

In the early part of the century bright, strongly

colored, even gaudy, Empire styles (figure 21)

vied for attention with the spectacular nonrepeating "views" and "landscape" papers (figure 20).

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 21
In the scenic papers, French block printers re- fined their skills in creating realistic imitations of

paintings. In other wallpaper decorations, print- ers imitated drapery, sculpture, ornamental carving, plasterwork and other architectural detail. Simpler repeating patterns and stripes enjoyed

steady popularity, and the French patterns served

as models for American manufacturers. Bright

powdery pastel shades were featured in many of

the simpler patterns during the early part of the

century (figures 22 and 23).

During the 1820's the Zuber factory in Alsace developed a printing technique that became a style

in itself, widely imitated by European and American factories well into the 1840's (figure 24). The

technique was one for printing subtle, blended

color effects, called "irisee" by the French, and

advertised as "rainbow papers" in this country.

They resembled the ombre textiles of the same

period, which were printed or woven with graduated alternating dark and light bands of the same

or various colors. Factory records preserved in

Alsace, document the dealings during the 1820's

of the Zuber factory with a hundred American importers from Maine to New Orleans. The

Zuber rainbow papers have survived in houses in New England, as well as the South.

From the middle years of the century, elaborate

Rococo Revival styles were peculiarly characteristic among the thousands of patterns annually ofFigure 15: This panel of wallpaper, after a design by

Jean-Baptiste Fay, was block printed in the Parisian manufactory of Jean-Baptiste Reveillon about 1788. The Arabesque pattern shown here was rendered in multicolors on a cream ground. Vertical panels like

this with its curious mixture of grotesque and

naturalistic elements, all branching symmetrically from

a central stem, reflected contemporary neo-classical

styles. Designers of the Arabesque wallpaper panels

like this one, apparently relied heavily on the wall decorations like those painted at the Vatican by

Raphael.

Figure 16: Oliver Phelps had this paper and an

intricate combination of borders hung in the hallway of

a new wing he added to his Suffield, Connecticut House

in 1795. The principal pattern was made in the manufactory of Jean Baptiste Reveillon, perhaps under the

direction of Reveillon's successors, Pierre Jacquemart

and Eugene Bernard. The incorporation of architectural elements and its large scale make this pattern

comparable to English pillar and arch designs also popular for American hallways.

4 y?«±s,*X *

22 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 23
Figure 17: Chinese

craftsmen painted panels

like this one in sets for export to the West

where they were used as wallpapers. The rich of

America made them

particularly fashionable

during the middle and

later years of the 18th

century. Elegant Chinese

papers have been

influencing Western

taste in wallpaper design

and craftsmanship since

the 17th century, as they continue to do. The

late 18th century

example, which is shown here (43 inches

wide), displays white

and pale yellow

blossoms over a pale green ground.

24 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 18: The

watercolor Piano

Recital at Count

Rumfords, Concord,

New Hampshire was

painted about 1800 by

Benjamin Thompson

(Count Rumford). The

plain green walls embellished with wide

festoon borders at cornice level, and

narrow edgings at chair

rail level and around

the door, were probably papered. They

certainly illustrate the

late 18th century taste for the plain colored

wall with contrasting

borderings, a fashion

that lasted well into the 19th century.

Figure 19: Four

lengths of festoon border survive uncut,

side-by-side, as the paper stainer block

printed them. They

correspond closely to a border pattern

illustrated on a late 18th-century bill head

of Appleton Prentiss of Boston who perhaps

made them. Printed in orange, white, green, and pink on a gray ground, each border is 5V4 inches wide.

Duplicates of the

pattern in a variety of

colorings, including one embellished with

mica "spangles," have

been found in New

England houses.

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 25
26 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
fered by hundreds of manufacturers (figure 25).

Using wallpaper, the Gothic Revival found its way

into numerous domestic interiors during the

1840's and 1850's, while in many cases exteriors

remained chastely classical. During this period,

combinations of vivid green with grey, strong

harsh red with brown, or a brilliant shade of blue

paired with brown were particularly popular.

Shiny, polished satin finishes for wallpaper had

Figure 20: In the bedroom of a North Carolina house,

this early 19th-century French "View" survived until the early 1940's when it was photographed in this lamentable state of repair. Though battered, it can be

identified easily by comparison with Joseph Dufour's

annotated illustrations published in 1804-1805 as the paper first made by Dufour in Macon, France. This

celebrated paper depicted the voyages of Captain Cook,

here shown on the Island of Tongatabo. It is apparent

that the paper was hung directly on unfinished boards, a fact which contributed to its deterioration. The use

of floral borders and of a paper imitating a coffered

ceiling in conjunction with the scenic paper is particularly interesting.

The restoration of this paper to preserve it in place

would have been so demanding and expensive as to render it impractical. It would probably have required

that the paper be faced for removal, while a proper

backing was prepared before it could have been rehung.

Then a great deal of in-painting would have followed,

so that the end result would have been little more than

a newly painted reproduction. The alternative of

replacing it with an antique copy of the same Captain

Cook paper would have been the more practical and

economical.

also grown in popularity since the beginning

the century (figure 26).

of

Scrollwork and miniature scenes appeared in profusion on wallpapers of the mid- 19th century.

Renaissance Revival styles competed with patterns

of the other revival movements. Realistic flowers

blossomed on many mid-Victorian walls (figure

27). There were also patterns for more sober

tastes: in the 1850's and 1860's, papers featuring

small embossed gold motifs, evenly spaced over

grey or off-white grounds were considered very

tasteful. Many of these embossed papers were imported from Germany.

In the 1870's, English styles pushed the French

ones aside and regained dominance of the fashionable wallpaper trade. Turning away from the elaborations and realistic painterly effects of French

papers, Americans accepted the abstract and

stylized flower patterns introduced by the English,

and praised in Charles Eastlake's newly popular

book, first published in 1868, Hints on Household

Taste (figure 28). The impact of these new EngFigure 21: Shades of gray foil, vivid yellow and bronze

shades in this bold French wallpaper dado which is 22

inches wide. It survived in a New Orleans House. A

duplicate pattern with the drapery in blue can still be

seen in the dining room at "Prestwood," a house near

Clarksville, Virginia, where it was hung in 1831 on the lower part of a wall that boasted an elaborate scenic paper above the chair rail.

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 27
lish designs was strongly felt at the Centennial

Exposition in Philadelphia.

American taste-makers continued to endorse the

stylized artistry of Englishmen like William Morris, Christopher Dresser and Walter Crane during

the last quarter of the 19th century. The subdued,

grayed palates of their patterns were particularly

admired. In 1882 Oscar Wilde toured America,

popularizing the English ideas about decorative

design that included admiration for the exotic

styles of Japan and the Middle East. In the wake

of his visit, American wallpaper manufacturers

popularized Moorish motifs, and a style known as "Anglo-Japanese" (figure 30). The patterns were

rendered commercially in metallic golds, maroon,

olive, black, and creamy yellow-beiges. Even on

the most commercial level during the 1880's a degree of self-conscious interest in "good" flat pat- tern design and in abstraction was manifested that

had never before been apparent and was soon to disappear.

Figure 22: The French wallpaper that was hung when

the French-Robertson House was built about 1820 at Milk- Roches on the St. Lawrence River in Canada

survives in the house. The pattern of alternating

motifs between widely spaced stripes (like that in figure 23) is typical of the early 19th century as is the use of borders at cornice and chair rail levels, and

outlining the mantle. Some paper hangers' manuals

suggest that borders served practically as well as decoratively: they covered up any gaps or irregularities

should a length of paper be cut improperly, and helped

to hold down the paper at the top where it might have

begun to peel away from the wall.

28 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 23: An advertisement that appeared in a Hartford, Connecticut newspaper of 1821 shows simple

stripes, closely akin to French papers from which they were doubtlessly derived. The simpler stripes flank another French wallpaper pattern type that was

popular in America and copied by manufacturers here through the first 35 years of the 19th century. This

central paper is also a stripe: the vertical lines of

patterning at the edges of the paper width formed

borders for a field of spotted, small-scale motifs which

were the background for two larger motifs. These

larger motifs, here flowers, alternated vertically over

the entire length of paper. PAPER-HANGINGS.

mm*

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 29
30 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Three special types of late 19th-century wallcoverings were very popular. The first is "LincrustaWalton," an invention of the 1870's made by an

Englishman, Frederick Walton. Lincrusta is a

composition, which like linoleum, is based on lin- seed oil. Very thick and strong, and patterned in high relief, it was sold both colored, and plain, to

Figure 24: The shadowy chevrons of alternating darker

and lighter tones shown in the repeating pattern above

the floral border are deliberately contrived color shadings in tones that range from white, through

yellow-gold to green. The color-shading technique

introduced by Zuber et Cie, a manufacturing firm in Alsace, was very popular in this country during the 1820's-1840's. The Zuber Company, which is still in business, shipped these patterns to America in quantities. This pattern, found in a samplebook of 1828-1829 which is preserved in the factory archives,

duplicates the paper found in the Calhoun house in Clemson, South Carolina. Sold here as "rainbow paper,"

the Zuber prototypes had many imitators.

be painted after hanging (figure 29). In 1882 a company was organized to manufacture the English invention at Stamford, Connecticut. It was

advertised during the 1880's as "The Indestructible Wall Covering," and had many imitators.

The second of these wallcoverings especially popular during the late 19th century was Japanese

"Leather Paper." The final appearance of this product was so realistic that it fooled many a connoisseur into accepting it for actual leather. The

Figure 25: An 1849 lithograph shows a Philadelphia

wallpaper store with a wide selection of patterns

ranging from scenes in the Gothic Revival taste, to Rococo Revival panels featuring elaborate scrollwork,

to floral stripes and diaper patterns. Close inspection

of the illustration will reveal that the diamond diaper

pattern which forms the border background around the

storefront in fact depicts rolls of wallpaper stored on

a diamond grid of shelving.

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 31
32 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
heavy gauge paper was highly embossed and varnished, and featured richly colored and gilded

decorations. It was not only hung on walls, but

also frequently used to decorate the bamboo and

imitation bamboo furniture that was popular during the period.

Finally, a third category of papers popular into

the 1920's was "Ingrain" paper. According to the

1877 patent, the paper was to be made from

mixed cotton and woolen rags, which were dyed

before pulping. The process gave a thick, roughly

textured "ingrained" coloring. Similar papers

with rough grainy surface were known in the

trade as "oatmeal papers."

Innovative flat patterns in the Art Nouveau taste had limited impact in America around the turn

of the century. Some English designs continued to be bought by the design conscious avant-garde in

Figure 26: On a mid- 19th century stripe, realistic flowers were printed in bright blue, pink, and orange, shaded with maroon over scrollwork in gray, blue, and

gold, all on a polished white satin ground. Typical of French imports of the period, this 22 inch wide paper was used in the EarLy House in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Figure 27: Panel sets like the one shown here divided

the walls of a room into vertical segments. They

became fashionable in the mid-19th century. This

iDfYiir Tunis XV

Mfltifr /fr mi'/fi

engraved mid-19th century illustration shows a set by

the Parisian firm Delicourt, a firm whose papers were

prominently advertised in New York. Fragments of this design found in a house in Camden, Maine, are preserved at the Society for the Preservation of New

England Antiquities. Panel sets were called "fresco papers" in the advertisements, and elaborate decorations

in wallpapers like these are preserved in houses from

New England to Mississippi.

iMiconrl. «///-. .,//,/./,),,„/., ./.)„/.. .W„, ,/ r'/,,,,,,,/,.,, /•//, (;, i' HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 33
Figure 28: The Englishman William

Morris (1834-1896) designed this "Willow" pattern in 1874. It was one of

the most successful of the stylized flat patterns—as contrasted to the naturalistic 3-dimensional patterns (like that of figure

26)—that won a generation of taste conscious Americans away from French

designs. Morris papers inspired "artistic" imitations by American wallpaper

manufacturers. Morris himself designed

a total of 41 wallpaper patterns between

1861 and his death in 1896, and 5 patterns

for ceilings. Because each was registered

by name and number with accompanying

sample at the English Board of Trade, and

because these records are preserved in the British archives, the dating and

identification of the designs of Morris,

and of many other well-known British designers, can be quite precise.

Figure 29: "Lincrusta-Walton" of the 1880's was preserved from the dining room of the John D. Rockefeller House in New York. In the thick, linseed-oil based

composition material, highly embossed

gold flowers on a dull red ground are

stylized in the flattened abstracted "Aesthetic" manner that originated in London during the 1870's. Advertised as the "Indestructible Wall Covering,"

Lincrusta-Walton was first patented in England, and became so popular that its producers established a factory at Stamford, Connecticut. "Lincrusta" has lived up to its advertising, surviving in remarkably good condition in many stylish

patterns in diverse settings: a log cabin in Leadville, Colorado, a Gothic cottage in Woodstock, Connecticut, and Mr. Rockefeller's New York mansion.

34 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
21/lp^u

!i >JS*

Figure 30: In a commercialized American version of the "Anglo Japanese" style, owls, fish, and flowers are all arranged in a strange asymmetrical configuration considered "artistic" in its day. Printed in maroon, yellow, light green, black, and olive on an olive green ground, this pattern is typical of quantities produced by American factories during the 1880's and into the 1890's.

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 35
^^^g«h^o>-K»>74oUioMtoH"H^

Figure 31: "A Characteristic Treatment in Moderate

Priced Papers," this illustration from Carpentry and

Building for December 1880 shows the favorite scheme

of the day for dividing walls into three horizontal

sections: freeze at top, fill below, and dado below chair

rail, all marked off by borders.

America. But the 1890's witnessed a general re- turn to commercial production of scrollwork and

naturalistic styles not far removed from those of

the mid-century. Commercial manufacturers

leaned heavily on palates that featured saccharine

pastel shades, and color blendings.

BORDERS, FRIEZES, AND DADOS

Through the 18th and 19th centuries particular at- tention should be paid to the styles in wallpaper

borders. Borders were not originally used for decoration alone, nor were they a refinement used

only by the stylish. They commonly served the

function of simplifying the paperhanger's job by

concealing and fastening the cut ends of pieces of

wallpaper. They could also serve to hide any tacks

used, or to fill the gaps if a paper were trimmed

too skimpily.

In the late 18th century, narrow 2-inch borders were often used to outline interruptions in a wall:

windows, doors, fireplaces, cabinets, pilasters;

slightly wider borders, 4 to 5 inches, were used in combination with the narrower ones, usually on

the horizontal at the cornice and chair-rail level (figures 12 and 16). This practice was continued

past the turn of the century (figure 22). In the

early 19th century, the French produced, and

Amercans used an abundance of 15 to 30-inchwide friezes at the tops of walls and dados below

chair rail level in combination with narrow and

wide borders along the vertical edges of walls (fig- ure 21).

By mid-century, the use of borders diminished

slightly: they grew narrower, and were for the

most part confined to the tops of walls. But in the

1850's and 1860's a French fashion for dividing

the wall into vertical panels, formed by border

papers or by wallpaper "pilasters," again focused

fashionable attention on wallpaper borders (figure

27). These panel decorations, many of which in- cluded elaborate dados imitating architectural

panelling and carving, were known as "fresco

decorations," and required clever hanging to be

fitted on a wall.

With the English patterns of the 1870's and 1880's came the preference for dividing the wall into

three clearly differentiated horizontal sections:

frieze at top, fill below that, and dado below chair

rail (figure 31). These areas of different patterning were marked off by border patterns. The

scheme was often carried up stairways in dados

and friezes printed with diagonally oriented patterns.

In the 1890's, friezes became even wider, dominating the whole wallpaper scheme (figure 33 and

33 A). A great favorite of the first quarter of this century was the "Crown Hanging" in which vertically oriented designs, usually flowers, rose in widely spaced stripes up the wall to join a dominant design that ran horizontally across the top

of the wall.

36 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
CEILINGS

Wallpapers were frequently used on ceilings. Paper designs imitating plasterwork medallions were common during the early 19th century. But some more ambitious designs imitated large ceiling

paintings of gods and goddesses in the cloudy

heavens. Borders were frequently used around the

edges of ceilings, and papers imitating architectural ornaments of coffered ceilings have been

found in this country. Overall patterning was in- creasingly used on late 19th- and early 20th-century ceilings. Many ceilings of the 1880's were

elaborately segmented by wallpaper borders into

many areas of different patterning (figure 32)

.

Figure 32: Elaborate wallpaper decorations for ceilings,

incorporating borders, centers, and fill patterns were

illustrated in the December 1880 issue of Carpentry

and Building. Paper decorations had been used for

ceilings all through the 19th century. Medallions

imitating plasterwork or providing floral embellishment

for the point from which a lamp or chandelier was hung were particularly popular. In the mid-1870's,

decorators and manufacturers began to popularize

elaborate schemes for ceilings which captured middle

class taste during the 1880's.

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 37
Figure 33 and 33A: A wide wallpaper frieze dominates

the walls of this room illustrated in the January 1904

issue of The Wallpaper News and Interior Decorator. The frieze illustrated is shown below as a sample

of actual wallpaper in the Cooper-Hewitt collection. It

is the 22 Vi inches wide "May Tree Frieze" by Walter

Crane (1845-1915), designed in 1896, and printed in shades of tan, blue, green, and yellow. Crane, an

illustrator, had a strong influence on his contemporaries,

and the abstracted landscape, flattened by the strong

outlines is typical of turn of the century stylization.

fkomtheShopof THKO.HFTEKsflT Cincinnati

A MODERN DINING-ROOM

The May tree frieze is from a famous English wall-paper factory.

38 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 34: An Art Nouveau design

of about 1905 by an American

designer, Albert Ainsworth, of Hackensack, New Jersey relies heavily on English models. It was

printed in green and mustard

colors on a grainy yellowish

"ingrain" or "oatmeal" paper. The

pattern was used in a Brooklyn

house.

HISTORY OF WALLPAPER STYLES AND THEIR USE 39
Wallpaper Within a Restoration Project

PLANNING FOR WALL TREATMENTS

Planning for wall finishes should begin early in a

project and should be predicated on solid research on the specific building to be restored. Basic, potentially expensive decisions about painting

and/or papering should only be made after careful examination of the physical evidence in the

building, documentary descriptions of the historic

interiors, as well as more general written sources. This thorough research should be done before the

start of any demolition or restoration work.

Outside expertise may be needed for identification

of any wallpapers found during a restoration project. There are a number of museums with

wallpaper reference collections that may be contacted to solicit their interest in offering professional assistance in identifying samples (see

appendix A). If so, then duplicate samples accompanied by good clear slides of the room and

wallpaper would be appropriate to send for examination. Preliminary, generalized, and brief state- ments of opinion about the date of a wallpaper,

may be given free of charge, though many museums may set a minimal fee.

If more extensive information and research is re- quired or requested, consultants' fees may be

charged. On-site examination of wallpaper is of- ten necessary, in which case, most of the listed museums can recommend consultants. Travel ex- penses and fees vary and may seem high on first consideration, but expertise is invaluable in planning the preservation of valuable wallpapers and

can prevent costly mistakes.

RESEARCH

Many kinds of expertise are needed in researching

the various historical and physical aspects of an

old building. Architect, engineer, architectural

historian, historian, curator, and other trained

personnel may all be needed. Ideally, personnel

experienced in restoration work should do the

preliminary research, both in documents and in the physical structure, and set the scope for the

total restoration project.

In determining the appropriateness of wallpaper,

there are some specific points to be covered. Part

of the examination of a building should begin

with any extant records of the business, institution or family connected with it. These should be studied for any references to wallpaper or other in- terior finishes. Diaries, business journals, bills of

sale, public documents and construction contracts should be searched with care. Old photographs

and portraits should be examined for visual evi- dence of patterned walls in the background. If there is evidence that specific rooms were papered,

the physical examination of those rooms should

be particularly diligent.

If an architect designed the house, his records

and/or library might yield clues. Many wallpaper

patterns were published in late 19th-century architectural journals. Studying the house-owner's

library for publications on furnishings might re- veal his taste in interiors, but can hardly be relied

upon as conclusive evidence. On the other hand,

scrapbooks, bookmarks, drawer linings, shelf paper, were often made from the remnants of wallpaper rolls. Even the clothes of paper dolls and

the walls of family owned dollhouses should not

40 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
be overlooked. Search in old pieces of furniture

and under the linings of mirrors, prints, and paintings. Ends of rolls of paper may be still hidden in the attic under the eaves, and old wallpaper sample books have been preserved in these areas as

well. Old boxes, trunks, hatboxes, and bandboxes

should be examined with particular care, as they were frequently covered and lined as well as re- covered and relined with leftover bits of wallpaper. The researcher should check for earlier

layers under the topmost layer. Storage areas also

may contain "fireboards," rectangular pieces of

wood, large enough to cover a fireplace opening.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, some fire- boards were decorated with wallpaper to match

the rest of the room. Many fireboards were stored

and forgotten. Again, these objects should be

checked for more than one layer of paper. If possible, any furniture or documents related to the

building, but now in the hands of descendants,

should be checked for any information helpful in the restoration.

Before repair, demolition, or restoration begins, a

search should be made for wallpaper still on the

walls in the structure itself. In examining a building, painted walls should be carefully scrutinized

under a raking light before test scraping for early

paint, to see if the paint covers early paper. Sometimes the horizontal seams in early handmade

hanging papers are discernable through layers of

paint, as are the vertical edges of later papers. Rooms that have been stripped to what appears

to be the bare plastered walls should be illuminated with black light and walls carefully studied

for elements of early patterning. Chemical traces of coloring matter printed on papers have sometimes leached through the wallpaper paste and

left an impression on the walls which, though in- visible to the unaided eye, will appear under ultraviolet illumination.

All closets, which are frequently additions in old

houses, should be searched carefully. Sometimes

old wallpapers are preserved on the walls of

closets with nothing more hiding them than a

closet door. Search behind anything that has been

added over the years: from paneling and partitions to large mirrors, paintings, and bathroom

cabinets and from stairs, doors and window

frames to moldings, and baseboards. Such examination should continue as the demolition work

procedes, especially with the removal of later additions.

It is not enough to look for wallpapers in only one

part of a wall. All edges and outlines, all openings

in the walls should be checked carefully for border papers often used with the major patterns. If one pattern is found above the chair rail, the

search should begin for a different pattern below

chair rail level, and at frieze level, as well as for

the borders that may have divided them one from

another. Ceilings should also be checked for overall patterns, borders, and center medallions.

When a wallpaper is discovered, measured elevations of the walls and plans of the ceilings should

be drawn and coded notations made indicating

where the evidence was found. In turn, each area

of paper should be photographed in place using

black and white as well as color transparency film,

carefully including a scale and coding to corre- spond with the measured drawings.

Within a restored building, preservation in situ of

old papers in good condition is the preferred procedure, not only as a responsible course within a

conservationist's frame of reference, but also fre- quently, as the simplest and least expensive. Even

if a room is to be adapted for some heavily traf- ficked use, original papers can be retained as is, behind Plexiglas or other protective covering.

But rarely will an old building retain original papers in presentable condition. If a papered room is found, the paper frequently requires extensive,

skilled, and therefore expensive restoration (fig- ure 20) . If such restoration cannot be undertaken

immediately, the paper could be carefully covered

over with plasterboard so that the old papers can

be preserved while the room is redecorated and

used for whatever purpose until funding and time

for proper restoration is available.

Often the old paper, or the supporting walls, are

in such poor condition that in the interest of pre- serving and using a room, the paper must be re- moved. Before removal begins, the papered room

should be thoroughly documented with a set of

photographs as described above. Samples including full widths and repeat lengths should be nuWALLPAPER WITHIN A RESTORATION PROJECT 41
merically coded in pencil to correspond with any

evidence drawings and, only then, should be carefully removed from the wall. It is essential, despite any ensuing research, that a copy of each

type of sample be retained by the preservation

project.

UNCOVERING AND REMOVING

SAMPLES OF OLD WALLPAPER

If a fine early paper is discovered, or if a large ex- panse of old paper appears which may be salvageable, an expert paper conservator should be called

in to investigate the possibility of preserving it. The job of uncovering a quantity of paper that has

been covered by later papers, or by paint, is not one for amateurs, nor should anyone, without

long experience, be entrusted to remove a large

expanse of paper and remount it for reuse.

In making paint scrapings, paper may be dis- covered under layers of paint. Removal of paint

that has been applied directly to the paper is difficult, as often the paper has absorbed the paint.

By testing on a few small areas, a solvent may be

found that will remove the paint without disturbing the paper, allowing exposure of a representative area of the pattern. Sometimes, the paper

layer from the desired historic period may. lie beneath the painted paper. Lifting the later layer

by steaming and loosening the water-soluble wallpaper paste is usually a simpler process than re- moving paint.

Walls bearing many layers of paper are frequently

encountered in old houses (figure 11). The easiest

way to examine the successive layers is to find an

inconspicuous area where the whole "sandwich"

of layerings has been loosened from the wall, and

to remove the whole patch by carefully working

a spatula behind it. Then the layers can be

steamed apart on a horizontal surface, using a hand steamer (figure 36). To separate layers, the

jet of steam should be directed at the paste on the

underside of each successive layer until the paste

is moistened, separating two layers which can then

be pried apart with a spatula. As the paper be- comes moist and weakens it should be supported

with screening or with blotters.

Figure 35: During the restoration of this building, the removal of a partition has exposed a vertical strip of French scenic paper over a dado with a border paper. This type of evidence is a fortunate find. Information on the building and its alterations can help date the paper or, as in this case, knowledge of the paper will contribute to the understanding of the history of the

structure. The scenic and the dado can be precisely

identified, by comparison with pristine complete

examples in museum collections, as French examples

of the 1830's and 1840's.

If steaming proves difficult, and if quantities of

duplicate paper are available to back up a loss,

the whole "sandwich" of wallpaper layers may be

submerged in lukewarm water. When the paste

begins to soften (which usually happens before

the water-soluble colors begin to run), a spatula

may be inserted under the topmost layer, and as

the paper loosens, a piece of screening can be

slipped under it for support and lifted from the water. After most excess water is removed, the

individual layers can be transferred to glass or to waxed paper to complete the drying. Do not dry

the papers on newspaper, toweling, or another sur- face to which the old paste might adhere. Successive layers can be removed in the same manner. There will be more color loss with this method,

but it is usually quicker and easier than steaming.

Since there is usually little hope for restoring pa- per which has been covered over and abused, the

goal is to preserve samples as records upon which

to base reproductions. Steaming is the easiest way

to preserve good samples without sacrificing the

colors that would be lost in submersion. However,

the steaming process should only be done if duplicate repeats of the papers are available, as successive top layers will have to be sacrificed in uncovering a good sample of each pattern.

IDENTIFYING SAMPLES

Physical examination of the wallpapers for evi- dence of the paper and coloring technology is the

most important starting point in determining an approximate date. But in narrowing down the

time frame, this process alone is of limited help.

At some point, documentary and stylistic evidence

must be examined.

The bibliography to this report provides guidance

toward publications helpful in recognizing early

42 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Line of Partition

Remnants of French Scenic Paper

encased behind added partition

Border Paper at Top of Dado

WALLPAPER WITHIN A RESTORATION PROJECT 43
wallpaper styles. But these volumes are rare and

difficult to consult outside of major research li- braries. Because literally thousands of patterns in hundreds of "color ways" (or schemes) were annually introduced by numerous manufacturers

throughout the 19th century, no publisher could

afford to illustrate all the available patterns and

colors. The most elaborate and expensive highstyle papers, especially the 19th-century scenic

papers, are the ones most likely published and

identified. Searching for more ordinary repeating

patterns in publications is usually a fruitless task.

As mentioned previously, any of the museums with

wallpaper reference collections might be consulted for assistance. Also, at the Cooper-Hewitt

Collection there are color slides and photographic

prints of thousands of dated and identified pat- terns with which the researcher can compare his findings. In addition, sets of color slides showing

wallpapers of a given period can be ordered by

mail.

Once the general period of the paper is determined, if precise identification of maker and designer is wanted, patent illustrations from France,

England, and the United States could be consulted. Illustrations of the official documents are being gathered at the Cooper-Hewitt, but the ar- chive is far from complete.

Rarely, makers' marks are found stamped on the

backs of early papers, but more frequently are found printed along the front margins of later 19th- and early 20th-century papers. These marks,

along with English and French excise tax marks

(figure 13), can help in precise datings of papers.

Files of makers' names and working dates are being assembled at the Cooper-Hewitt.

The National Archives of Britain, France, and the

United States include design patents and registers

of designs which provide useful means of identifying some old wallpapers.

The earliest American wallpaper design patent on

file in the Patent Office in Washington, D.C.,

dates from 1866; and these records include an in- teresting array of designs through the turn of the

20th century. However, a relatively small proportion of all wallpaper patterns actually produced in

this country are found in these records, as design

patents offered such little protection to a designer or manufacturer that most did not obtain them.

By simply changing the scale of a pattern, or some

detail, one could have claimed to have invented a "new" pattern, which was not protected by the

original patent. Therefore, the time, inconvenience, and cost involved in searching these records

and stacks of uncategorized photographs for positive identification might be to no avail.

The British records indicate that design patents were more heavily used by designers and manufacturers in England than were their counterparts

in this country. In deep storage outside London

are the records of the Board of Trade, Registers

of Designs from 1839 onward. Since English

manufacturers printed the registry number of a paper in the margin, and since these numbers are on file, they can be most helpful in dating and

identifying the wallpapers. When a registry number is found, one can write to the British National

Archives for identification. For American restorationists, the files of British wallpapers dating from

1875-1915 often prove particularly helpful.

French wallpaper design patents most frequently

prove helpful in identifying patterns dating from

the turn of the 19th century. Samples of marvel- ous patterns of Napoleon's era are on file at the

Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. However, per- sonal inspection rather than mail inquiry is us- ually required for researching these records.

ALTERNATIVES FOR

WALLPAPER RESTORATION

The following are suggestions for assessing the al- ternatives for wallpaper treatment including:

preservation of a paper in place, restoration of the

original paper, custommade reproduction of the

original paper, or the purchase of wallpaper pat- terns appropriate to a given date and available on

the market.

Preservation of a Paper in Place

Very rarely does the preservationist find a room

with the wallpaper from the target date of the

restoration in situ and in good condition. Once the

44 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
identity and the date of the paper have been verified, preservation in place is the most ideal, and

possibly the cheapest solution. Superficial cleaning of the paper by vacuuming, while protecting it with fine nylon screening, may be all that is needed. Cleaning with a draftsman's vinyl cleaning pad is most effective on horizontal surfaces,

but may also be tried on the vertical wall. It is very important that these only be used on smooth

surfaces of wallpaper in good condition and that

all residue be thoroughly cleaned off by careful

brushing with a very soft camel hair brush.

If a number of layers of wallpaper are found, a

basic decision should be made within the context

of the goals of the overall project regarding which

of the wall finishes should remain exposed. In the

case of a 19th-century paper found in a 18thcentury house, careful consideration should be

given to the validity of removing a historically

significant layer of decoration in favor of returning the room to an earlier date.

If the decision favors removal of the topmost

layers of paper, every attempt should be made to: (1) check that even earlier layers that should be

preserved do not lie under the desired finish layer,

and (2) arrange in advance for the preservation

of whatever papers have to be removed. Do not

dispose of the wallpapers, but notify local preser- vation interest groups of the availability of such

papers or advertise in one of a number of publications circulated among preservation projects. A

project in need of your extra paper could finance

its removal and restoration. A partial list of such

publications is included in appendix B.

Preservation of wallpaper in situ involves not only

superficial cleaning and minor restoration, but

also a careful check of the condition of the walls

behind it, especially for areas of moisture. If any

alterations are to be made to the structure, particular care should be taken to protect the papered

walls during construction from damage by man- made or natural causes. During any alterations to the roof, special precautions should be made to protect a papered room against leakage. If a wall

or wing is removed suddenly exposing a formerly

interior papered wall to outside weather, special

protection should be constructed. Drastic changes

of temperature and humidity could prove disastrous to wallpaper that has been well protected

from the elements.

Because pigments used to color wallpapers are

light-sensitive and subject to fading, ultraviolet

filtering Plexiglas should cover windows, and artificial lighting should be kept to a level of 15 foot

candles using incandescent lights. Installation of

shades or blinds may prove necessary if a papered room has too much direct sunlight. A further

safeguard is constant temperature and humidity

control, which will help preserve the life of the

papers, pigments, and adhesives.

Some basic practices to avoid: DO NOT use Scotch tape, rubber cement or Duco cement to re- pair minor tears. Instead, use only chemically

pure wallpaper paste to readhere torn papers to the walls. DO NOT varnish or shellac the paper or spray it with a fixative, as these tend to darken

and discolor the paper as well as add a glossy

sheen, uncharacteristic of wallpapers. If protection is needed for old papers, especially near doorways where visitors will be tempeted to touch

them, cover the papers with sheets of Plexiglas,

mounted on blocks that hold it about one-fourth

inch or so from the wall, allowing circulation of

air and preventing condensation under the plastic.

Removal and Rehanging ofLarge Areas

of Wallpaper

Skill and experience are required to successfully remove and rehang whole walls of paper. An ex- perienced paper conservator should be consulted

and any subsequent work carefully supervised.

The techniques for removal may be as complicated as facing the paper with a strong tissue on

which it can be held together while it is lifted from

the wall and carried, or as simple as carefully

scraping the paste away from underneath already

loosened paper to coax it off the wall.

Once removed, the paper should be cleaned,

backed with acid free lining paper, and mounted

on chemically pure muslin before it is rehung.

One source for this lining material is Charles

Gracie, at 979 Third Avenue, New York (1977).

If it must be stored before hanging, every effort should be made to avoid rolling the paper. For

long periods of storage, it should be laid flat on

WALLPAPER WITHIN A RESTORATION PROJECT 45
blotters or on good acid free paper with masonite

or plywood boards underneath to keep it flat. When papers are rolled, the thick pigments on the

surface can easily be dislodged and flake off.

In rehanging, only very pure water soluble paste

should be used. An alternative would be to simply

tack the already carefully backed wallpaper to the

wall so that it can be easily removed for cleaning

or rehanging at a later date.

In some cases, papers pasted directly on unfinished

boards resist removal even by the most skilled

paper conservator. If the patterning is to be

preserved at all, then the board itself must be re- moved and stored, ideally in a dark, temperature

and humidity controlled storage area. One sample

of a full repeat might be left on display in the room to be restored.

Consideration for the aesthetic appearance and

for the teaching possibilities of leaving worn paper

exposed next to the new reproduction should be

assessed in deciding whether or not to leave samples of the paper on display in situ. Sample areas can be preserved in place under ultraviolet filtering Plexiglas covers and will not detract from the

general appearance of the room, if they are in in- conspicuous locations. However, the sample can

probably be preserved with the least amount of

color fading and future deterioration if it is re- moved from the wall and stored as described below. Unless there is great difficulty in removal,

this probably is the preferred procedure.

When paper is removed from a wall, samples in- cluding a full repeat of any patterning should be

preserved, layers separated, cleaned, and then en- capsulated in polyester film following the procedure developed by Peter Waters at the Library of

Congress (figure 37 to figure 39). A very similar

method is described in a two-page instruction

briefing on the encapsulation process used by

George Cunha at the New England Documentation Center, North Andover, Massachusetts and is available from the center.

The relatively simple procedure using tape to seal paper samples between two layers of a polyester

film, polyethylene terephthalate, which is most

widely known under the brand name Mylar, has

many advantages over old methods for matting

Figure 36: By starting at a corner using a steamer and a spatula, the author

begins the process of

separating a thick "sandwich" of many

layers of wallpaper,

pasted one on top of

another. As work

proceeds, the jet of steam will be directly

aimed at the paste on

the back of the topmost

layer, while the small flat spatula is used to coax

the layers apart when

the paste softens.

46 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 37: A length of early 19th- century wallpaper, printed with

two duplicate border patterns, is shown as it rests on top of one

sheet of Mylar, a plastic film of polyethylene terephthalate. Paper

weights hold flat the sample as this particular piece has been rolled since it was made. A second layer of the clear plastic film is being

placed on top of the sample.

Figure 38: A special double-faced

tape is used to seal the paper between the two layers of plastic.

Here, protective coating is peeled

away from the tape which is fixed

in place bordering the sample.

Figure 38A: Once the upper layer of Mylar is in place, a squeegee is used to force out all excess air before sealing in the paper. Use of

the squeegee also reinforces the bonding of static electricity which

holds the paper immobile between

the plastic layers.

WALLPAPER WITHIN A RESTORATION PROJECT 47
paper samples. Encapsulation protects papers very

well, so that they can be handled safely for study,

allowing full view of both sides of the paper. Because static electricity holds the paper sample

firmly in place, and the plastic supports it completely, it is not necessary to mend tears in samples. In addition, the paper can be very quickly

removed from the Mylar if there is any need to do

so by simply cutting through the film.

Both the Mylar and the tape (3-M product, Tape

#415) have been tested and subjected to accelerated aging tests, and should last indefinitely if stored and handled properly. When they are not

in use or under study, the encapsulated samples

should be kept in light-free storage, with constant

temperature and humidity control.

Great care should be exercised in repairing damaged papers. Crucial to this is the selection of a competent worker chosen on the advice of a rep- utable paper conservator and who would work

within clearly established guidelines which dictate

choice of materials and procedure. Repairs to valuable papers important to a historic restoration

should be undertaken only by an experienced pa- per conservator.

The most common problems are: (a) adhesive

breakdown, that is: wallpaper falling off the wall,

(b) flaking colors, (c) lost colors and areas of

pattern, and (d) waterstaining. The following suggestions apply to restoration as well as to subsequent maintenance procedures.

Frequently, old wallpaper paste will lose its adhesive strength due to either excessive dryness or

moisture. Moisture may indicate that the wall behind the paper is wet, in which case mechanical

and structural causes for this should be investi- gated and corrected.

Before readhering paper which has been separated

from the wall, the surface of the wall should be

carefully cleaned, and all old paste should be re- moved from the wall and from the wallpaper.

This can usually be done by delicately scraping

with a small knife that has a curved blade. Paper

in good condition, only partially loosened from

the wall, can be readhered with first quality water

soluble wallpaper paste. Paper in weakened condition, worn and frayed, should probably be re- moved, mounted on lining paper and rehung with

first quality paste.

Fine wallpapers printed in distemper colors over

a ground coat of thick distemper color are subject

to flaking, due to an inherent weakness in the

bonding capabilities of the color to the paper. Do

not employ the ruinous 19th-century varnishing

method for remedying this problem and do not

simply attempt to spray with a fixative. Not only

will an undesirable shiny finish be created by

either of these methods, but neither will serve to properly readhere the pigments to the surface of

the paper.

To readhere flaking colors, cautiously brush

and/or flow a synthetic adhesive over the affected

area, gently forcing the liquid behind the flakes. As they become moistened and relaxed, cover a small area with glassine and mechanically stroke,

pressing the loose pieces back against the paper.

This is painstaking, meticulous work which must

almost be done flake by flake by a careful, patient,

and skillful hand.

The correct synthetic adhesives to use will vary

according to the color, thickness and surface ap- pearance of each area of flaking paint. They may

include polyvinyl alcohol of varying viscosities, one or two percent methyl cellulose dissolved in water, polyvinyl acetates of varying viscosities in toluene or Acryloid B-72 (a polymethacrylate) in xylene.

Where colors and pattern elements have been lost, in-painting may be undertaken using Windsor and

Newton watercolors or gouaches. Samples of the

colors should be allowed to dry so that they may

be compared with the areas to be in-painted before

they are used. Particular attention should be given

to the gloss of paints to be used.

When in-painting, every effort should be made to reproduce the block printed effect of the buildup

of layers of flat opaque colors in shapes that have

strong edges. Solid areas of coloring in block

printed wallpapers have none of the brushstroked

qualities of shaded easel painting. Of course, by

48 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Figure 39: In a temporary wallpaper storage-study area

at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, a researcher, seated at the table, is viewing color slides showing the wallpaper

samples, with the assistance of Ann Hysa Dorfsman of

the museum volunteer staff, who photographed and

supervised the organization of the collection. Hundreds

the same logic, if in fact the paper is hand painted,

brushstrokes are in order, and an attempt to re- produce the look of machine printing should be

made when machine printed papers are being in- painted.

With repeating patterns, it is relatively easy to reproduce missing elements. With nonrepeating

scenic papers, every effort should be made to secure a good clear photograph of the missing

area from a duplicate set of the paper, and to re- produce the missing elements as they appeared

originally. Illustrations of scenic papers may be

available from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in

of samples can be speedily reviewed using the slides as an index. Then, when the researcher finds among

the slides a pattern needed for close study, it can be

retrieved from storage files like those shown on the

right. Duplicate copies of the slides may be ordered

from the Museum.

New York, from the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in

Paris, or in several published sources (see bibliography) .

There are a number of methods available to an

experienced and skilled conservator for removing

water stains from paper, when working on a horizontal surface. One of the simplest is to place a

blotter or a little Fuller's earth under the paper,

then to work with water, tamping or rolling this solution with a cotton swab so that the solution passes through the paper. It is then followed by

pure water, which is tamped through the paper in a similar manner to washout the bleach. A more

WALLPAPER WITHIN A RESTORATION PROJECT 49
difficult method involves using an etherial solution

of hydrogen peroxide (equal volumes of hydrogen

peroxide and ether), and again tamping with a cotton swab. But this method is physically dangerous, and it is suggested for use only by the very

experienced.

The removal of water stains presents a wide variety of conservation problems. This, coupled with

the difficulties of working on a vertical sur- face with water-soluble colors on wallpaper, suggest that in-painting or over-painting might be a more practical solution to unsightly waterstaining.

Custom-made Reproduction of Original

Wallpapers

When physical or documentary evidence indicates

the need for a wallpaper pattern that is not currently available commercially, custom reproductions can be silk screen printed. Unless there is a particular interest in reproducing the early processes of block printing or paper making, such ex- pensive refinements as the carving of printing

blocks and the handmaking of small sheets of

paper to be glued together to form rolls for hanging, can be bypassed in good conscience. Most

restorationists agree that it is not necessary to re- peat the original printing process as long as the

finished appearance of the reproduction matches

as closely as possible that of the historic paper.

Also, in the long run there would be no confusion

as to the paper being a reproduction.

The cost of silk screen reproduction depends on

the number of colors included in the pattern to be

reproduced, as a separate screen must be cut for

each color. To make the screens (which are so- phisticated stencils), a full-size repeat of the pat- tern is needed. A pristine sample of wallpaper can

serve, but most often carefully painted renderings

of a complete pattern repeat must be made at full scale. Because these images are usually transferred

photographically to the screens, the character of

the artwork is crucial to the success of the finished

product. Details indicating the original production

process should be skillfully included. A rendering

of a block printed paper should reproduce the

strong edged, thick opaque shapes as closely as

possible, with no suggestion of a brushstroke visi- ble. A rendering of a machine printed wallpaper

should reproduce the thin-bodied character of trie colors, the sharp lines around shapes, and the vertical graining produced by the rollers. If you have

only one sample of an old wallpaper for an artist to copy, protect that sample carefully. Do not

simply send it to the artist or manufacturer.

Either require that the artist come to the sample,

or accompany the sample and supervise its use. Allow no markings or tape to be used which will deface a unique sample of paper. It is a document

which should be carefully preserved as part of the

restoration project.

The restoration supervisor should review the art- work carefully and critically and insist on having

proofs of the printed product to compare side-byside with a sample of the original. Do not settle for fuzzy generalizations of pattern elements that are distinct and crisp in the original. If working

from worn discolored fragments, or from photographs, colors may be checked against pristine

samples in museum collections that date from the same period as the paper being reproduced. Most

colors should be chalky and matte but in some

early papers, highlights were printed in shiny, oil- based colors, and this quality should be reproduced. Mica, "spangles," flocking, and other

textural additives on patterns of the 18th and 19th

centuries should be reproduced if they were incorporated in the original models, as well as any embossed elements. When the screen printer is not

prepared to emboss, firms can be located that are

able to do such unusual and specialized work.

Appendix C includes a list of firms that have done

successful screen printed custom reproduction

work. The papers were produced in close conjunction with curators, architects and the administrators of the restoration projects. The success of the

product depends on the careful and critical supervision of a demanding and observant customer.

Because wallpaper firms normally deal in large

volumes, time-consuming customwork means little profit and the charges for producing a special design will be high. In some cases, the cost can be

reduced by selling the firm the exclusive rights to the pattern, and allowing the use of the restoration

project's name in their commercial advertising.

Any wallpaper manufacturing firm equipped to do

50 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
screen printing, and willing to undertake the

scrupulous task of duplicating an antique pattern,

should be able to reproduce an old wallpaper. Essential to this operation are: exacting specifications and a competent artist, either from the staff of the manufacturer or the restoration, to execute

the renderings and oversee the work.

Another source for reproducing wallpaper may be

a local artist skilled in the art of screen printing.

With some time and ingenuity, a pattern can be

printed on a one-time basis in a studio, often at reduced expense. If custom reproductions are made, it is advisable to order slightly more than

double what is actually needed. The duplicate rolls should be carefully preserved for repairs and for

future renewal when necessary.

In addition to having silk screened reproductions

made, there is the chance that one of the very few

extant block printing wallpaper companies in France or England may still have the original

woodblocks and would be able to make new paper

in the style needed. As noted before, the Zuber

Factory (68 Rixheim, Alsace, France) exported

quantities of paper to this country during the early

19th century and retains many, though not all, of

its original printing blocks.

Two English firms, Cole and Son Wallpapers, Ltd.

(18 Mortimer Street, London W 1) and Sanderson

and Sons, Ltd. (Post Office Box 31, 100 Acres Oxford Road, Oxbridge, Middlesex, UB81 JT, England), retain quantities of blocks for printing high

style late 19th-century designs and many from

the early 20th century. If such patterns would be

appropriate, inquire about special printings, per- haps sending photographs of the kinds of designs

you seek.

Many antique dealers occasionally handle roomlots of wallpapers, and the house restorer may

happen upon an important old paper in an unusual

shop. But several dealers regularly stock antique

papers and should be visited if an antique paper is wanted. Antique Chinese papers, and the French

scenic papers of the 19th century have com- manded a steady market and the prices might

range as high as several thousand dollars. If fragments of a specific scenic paper are discovered in a house but are beyond restoration, or if documentation indicated a particular scenic paper that

has long since disappeared, there is a good chance

of replacing it with an original antique duplication

since these elaborate showpieces of the block

printer's art were produced in multiples. The best

known American dealers in antique papers are: A. L. Diament and Co., 2415 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146

Charles W. Gracie and Sons, 979 Third Avenue,

New York, NY 10022

Purchase ofAppropriate Wallpaper Patterns

A careful study of the published information on

the wallpapers used at a given date should precede

any selection of commerically advertised "period

papers" for a restoration. If possible, the photographic files of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum should

be consulted first hand. Otherwise, copies of color

slides showing patterns of appropriate dates can

be ordered through the mail.

A number of wallpaper companies include in their

commercial lines adaptations of early wallpaper

patterns based on samples of old papers. The old

samples are known in the trade as "documents."

Frequently in making the reproductions the scale

of the original pattern is altered, colors are eliminated to cut printing costs, and of course, modern

color schemes are used, though often the "document color" is offered as one alternative among

several color ways.

If you want to use a pattern which is a straightforward reproduction of an early wallpaper ask

for the "document color," and compare the reproduction with the original sample, which should be

retained by the manufacturer or in the collections

of the historic house or museum for which it was

produced. Check for variations in scale and for

color adaptations.

There are many late 18th-century and early

19th-century patterns reproduced and commercially available, but there are very few from the

Victorian era, and almost none from the early

20th century. Again, the two English companies,

Coles and Sandersons, may be able to supply later 19th-century designs which are carried in their

lines.

WALLPAPER WITHIN A RESTORATION PROJECT 51
Wallpaper companies' statements about the dates

of their papers must be checked for accuracy.

Many adaptations of 19th-century patterns are

sold as "colonial." If you find a commercial paper

that purports to be of a given date, confirm the

validity of the claim through publications and museum collections, or through the expert advice of

a qualified person who has made a special study of

wallpaper.

Conclusion

This report has been only suggestive at best. As

is true for any phase of restoration work, it is impossible to give broad generalized instructions for

wallpaper care and replacement that will always

be applicable. Cautious and inquisitive testing of

techniques is always necessary.

It is equally impossible to adequately illustrate all of the types of wallpaper patterns, even in generalized terms, which were used from the 18th

through the early 20th centuries in this country.

Hopefully, the report has provided elementary

guidance about where to go for identification of

samples and for advice about patterns appropriate

to a given house, as well as guidance to expertise

in restoring and replacing papers. At the very

least, it will sensitize more restorationists to the

importance of looking for and preserving wallpaper as part of any preservation project.

52 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

19th century publications on archi- tecture and furnishings which include

discussion of wallpaper or examples

of its use

Arrowsmith, H. W. The House Decorator and Painter's Guide. London:

1840.

Artistic Houses: Being a Series of Interior Views of a Number of Beautiful and Celebrated Homes in the United States. 4 vols. 1883. Reprint (4 vols, in 1). New York:

1971. Bradshaw, William Richard. Wallpaper: Its History Manufacture and

Decorative Importance. New York:

1891.

Brunner, Arnold W., and Tryon,

Thomas. Interior Decoration. New

York: 1887. Church, Ella Rodman. How to Furnish a Home. New York: 1881. Cook, Clarence. What Shall We Do

With Our Walls? New York: 1880,

1881, 1884. Downing, A. J. The Architecture of Country Houses. 1850. Reprint.

New York: 1969.

Eastlake, Charles. Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details. London:

1868. 1872. Reprint. ' Benjamin

Blom, 1971. 1878. Reprint. Dover,

1970.

Edis, Robert W. Decoration and Furniture of Town Houses. London,

New York: 1881.

Elliot, Charles Wyllis. The Book of American Interiors. Boston: 1876.

Exhibition Catalogues from various

19th century International Expositions: 1851, London: Crystal Palace Exposition

1853, New York: Crystal Palace

Exposition

1862, London: International Exposition

1873, Vienna: International Exposition London: International Exposition 1876, Philadelphia: Centennial Exposition 1878, Paris: International Exposition 1883, Boston: Foreign Fair

1898, Chicago: World's Columbian

Exposition

Gardiner, Eugene C. Home Interiors. Boston: 1878.

Garrett, Rhoda and Agnes. Suggestions for House Decoration. Phila- delphia: c. 1880.

Holly, H. Hudson. Modern Dwellings

in Town and Country. New York:

1878. How, S. Indoors. New York: 1894.

Jeffrey and Company. The Victorian Wallpapers for the Decoration of Rooms and Staircases. London: c. 1895.

Jennings, Arthur Seymour. Practical Paper Hanging. New York: 1892. Kent and Company, Publ. "A Decorator," The Paper Hanger, Painter,

Grainer and Decorator's Assistant. 2d ed. London: 1879. Le Normand, Sebastien. Etoffes Imprimees et Papiers Peints. Paris: 1832.

Lienard's Interior Decoration. New

York: 1873.

Loftie, Mrs. The Dining Room. London: 1878.

Loftie, William John. Gems of Home

Scenery. London: 1876.

. A Plea for Art in the House. London: 1876. Loudon, John Claudius. Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture. London: 1830, 1833, 1836, 1857. Morton, George H. History of Paper

Hangings. London: 1875.

Orinsmith, Lucy. The Drawing Room.

London: 1878.

Spofford, Harriett Prescott. Art Decoration Applied to Furniture. New

York: 1877. Varney, Almon C. Our Homes and

Their Adornment. Detroit: 1893. Von Falke, Jacob. Art in the House.

Boston: 1879.

Webster, Thomas. Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy. New York:

1843.

Whittock, Nathaniel. The Decorative Painters' and Glaziers' Guide. London: 1832.

Williams, Henry T., and Jones, Mrs.

C. S. Beautiful Homes: How to Make Them. New York: 1885.

19th Century Journals

Architectural Record. New York:

July 1891-present.

Architectural Sketchbook. Boston:

July 1873-December 1876. American Architect and Building News. New York: 1871-1899. The Art Journal. New York, especially 1880 vol. p. 4 ff. "Principles of Decoration: Wallpapers."

Building Age: Carpentry and Building. New York: January 1879- September 1930. The Journal of Design. London:

1849-1852.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 53
The Manufacturer and Builder. New

York: 1869-1894, especially vol. 1, no. 9, "Manufacture of Paper

Hangings."

Wallpaper News and Interior Decorator. New York: 1885-1915.

20th century secondary publications on the history of wallpaper and its use

Clouzot, Henri and Follot, C. Histoire du Papier Peint en France. Paris: 1925.

Clouzot, Henri. Tableaux Tentures de Dufour et Leroy. Paris: c. 1930.

Dornsife, Samuel. "Wallpaper." The

Encyclopedia of Victoriana. Edited by Harriet Bridgement and Eliza- beth Drury. New York: 1975.

Entwisle, E. A. A Literary History of Wallpaper. London: 1960.

Frangiamore, Catherine Lynn. "Wallpapers Used in Nineteenth Century

America." A n t i q u e s Magazine,

New York: 1972.

. "The Story Wallpapers

Tell." Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C.: October-December

1975.

. "Wallpaper: Technological Innovation and Changes in Design

and Use." Technological Innovation and the Decorative Arts. Winterthur Conference Rept. 1973.

Charlottesville: University Press of

Virginia, 1974.

Greysmith, Brenda. Wallpaper. New

York: 1976.

Hotchkiss, Horace, "Wallpapers Used

in America, 1700-1850." The Concise Encyclopedia of American Antiques. Edited by Helen Comstock.

1 vol. New York: 1958. Hunter, G. L. Decorative Textiles. Philadelphia: 1918. McCelland, Nancy V. Historic Wall- papers from their Inception to the Introduction of Machinery. Phila- delphia: 1924.

Minhinnick, Jeanne. At Home in Upper Canada. Toronto: 1970. Mus£e des Arts Decoratifs. Trois

Siecles de Papiers Peints. Paris: 1967.

National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Docu- mented Reproduction Fabrics and

Wallpapers. Washington, D.C.:

1972.

Sugden, Alan V. and Edmondson, J. L. A History of English Wallpaper,

1509-1914. New York: 1925. London: 1926.

Tapeton: Hire Geschichte bis iur Gegenwart. Edited by Heinrich

Olligs. 3 vols. Braunschweig: 1970.

Victoria and Albert Museum. Cata- logue of Wall-Paper. Edited by C. Oman. London: 1929. Whitworth Art Gallery. Historic Wall- papers in the Whitworth Art Gallery. Manchester: 1972.

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

Figure 1 Author's Collection Figure 2 & 2A Courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York

Figure 3 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 4 as Illustrated in Nancy McClelland, Historic Wall-Papers

(Philadelphia and London; J. B. Lippincott Co., 1924) p. 268. Figure 5 Courtesy of the Science and

Technology Research Center, New

York Public Library, Astor, Lenox,

and Tilden Foundations.

Figure 6 & 6A Courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York

Figure 7 Courtesy of the Science and Technology Research Center, New

York Public Library, Astor, Lenox,

and Tilden Foundations. Figure 8 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 9 & 9A Courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York

Figure 10 Illustration from Scientific American, November 26, 1881. Courtesy of the Science and Technology Research Center, New York

Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and

Tilden Foundations.

Figure 11 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 12 Courtesy of the National

Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Connecticut Figure 13 Courtesy of the National Park Service Figure 14 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 15 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 16 Courtesy of The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, Inc., of Connecticut

Figure 17 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 18 Courtesy of the National

Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice

Chrysler Garbisch

Figure 19 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 20 Courtesy of Mrs. Wilson

L. Stratton Figure 21 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 22 Courtesy, Upper Canada

Village, Morrisburg, Ontario

Figure 23 Courtesy of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford,

Connecticut

Figure 24 Courtesy of the Zuber et Cie, Rixheim, Alsace, France

Figure 25 Courtesy -of the Library

Company of Philadelphia

Figure 26 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 27 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 28 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 29 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 30 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 31 Courtesy of the Avery

Library, Columbia University, New

York

Figure 32 Courtesy of the Avery

Library, Columbia University, New

York

Figure 34 Courtesy of the CooperHewitt Museum, New York

Figure 33 & 33A Courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York

54 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
APPENDIX A

WALLPAPER REFERENCE

COLLECTIONS

Cooper-Hewitt Museum,

Smithsonian Institution

9 East 90th Street New York, New York 10028

Metropolitan Museum of Art

82nd Street and Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10028

Musee des Arts Decoratifs

Paris, France

Museum of Art, Rhode Island

School of Design

224 Benefit Street Providence, Rhode Island 02903

Print Department

Victoria and Albert Museum

Exhibition and Cromwell Roads

London SW1, England

Society for the Preservation of

New England Antiquities

144 Cambridge Street Boston, Massachusetts 02114

Stowe-Day Foundation

77 Forest Street Hartford, Connecticut 06105

APPENDIX 55
APPENDIX B

PRESERVATION PUBLICATIONS

List of publications circulated among preservation The Brownstoner

projects:

The Old House Journal

American Association For State and Local History, History News Museum News

Antiques

Antiques Monthly

National Trust for Historic Preservation, News

Newsletter of the Society of Architectural Historians

Association for Preservation Technology, Communique, and Bulletin The Bulletin of the Victorian Society in America

APPENDIX C

REPRODUCTION WALLPAPER FIRMS

The Birge Company, 390 Niagara Street, Buffalo,

New York 14202

Katzenbach and Warren, Inc., 155 East 56th

Street, New York, New York 10022

Louis W. Bowen, Inc., 979 Third Avenue, New

York, New York 10022

Old Stone Mill Corporation, Grove Street, Adams,

Massachusetts 01220

Brunschwig and Fils, Inc., 979 Third Avenue,

New York, New York 10022

Scalamandre, 977 Third Avenue, New York, New

York 10022

Jack Denst Designs, Inc., 6-117 Merchandise

Mart, Chicago, Illinois 60654

F. Schumacher and Company, 919 Third Avenue.

New York, New York 10022

Inez Croom, 527 Madison Avenue, New York,

New York 10022

Waterhouse Wallhangings, 420 Boylston Street,

Boston, Massachusetts 02116

56 WALLPAPERS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION


Clemson University

3 1604 004 717 833

DATE DUE

Demco, Inc 38-293

For sale by tbe Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402