William Pitcher Farmstead HSR

ANALYSIS
The first major campaign of renovation in the Pitcher house took place in the last
quarter of the 18 th century, after William Pitcher had received title to the property
from his father in 1768. The reconfiguration from a traditional Dutch two-room,
center-chimney dwelling to a more modern center-hall house reflected William Pitcher’s
status as a relatively well-to-do farmer. The center hall allowed the master of the
house to decide how much access a visitor would have to the private spaces within.
The center hall was also the first place that a visitor would be impressed by the
Pitchers’ keeping up with the latest fashions.
By the 1760s there were wallpaper manufacturers in New York and Philadelphia who
were able to compete with European imports and bring the cost within reach of the
middle class. Wallpapers were handmade from a slurry of reconstituted rags and other
fibers until at least 1835. Paper made by hand is identifiable by fibers arranged
randomly rather than in a linear fashion. Viewed microscopically, the first two strata of
coverings from the anchor beams of 103 and 105 are handmade.
In 1775 Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele invented a green pigment made from
copper arsenate, which was used in wallpapers and paints. Scheele’s Green, a precursor
to Paris Green, is anecdotally blamed for the death of Napoleon. The first layer of
wallpaper from the Room 105, on anchor beam III, is likely colored with Scheele’s Green
(fig. 15).
The earliest layer of paper from anchor beam IV in the entry hall (103) is a simple
geometric pattern, printed in black and white on rag paper. The pattern, with very
sharp lines (fig. 9), is either block printed or stenciled. The second oldest layer from
the Room 103 wallpaper sample is a white rag paper with a light blue background and
pattern of slightly brighter shapes that evoke a bee (fig.8).
In the 1850s, wood pulp began to be added to paper making, which had already
become mechanized. These papers are identifiable by their slightly darker backing and
oriented fibers. The product devolved with the addition of other pulped fillers, such as
straw. Wallpapers produced after 1880 are identifiable by their dark brown backing
and brittleness caused by acids in the wood.