Lincoln Home Historic Furnishings Report

SECTION D: EVIDENCE OF ORIGINAL FURNISHINGS (continued)

WALLPAPER

The following is a list of the Lincolns' known wallpaper purchases from several Springfield stores. [107] These purchases show that major papering took place at approximately four-year intervals with patching occurring in between.

Wallpaper in the parlors and sitting room may be seen in the 1861 drawings from Leslie's but the patterns are indistinct. Patterns in the dining room and back parlor are more clear in the 1865 stereoscope views. [109] A 1912 photograph of Mr. Lincoln's bedroom (from the Robert Ide Collection, Illinois State Historical Library) is the earliest view of what is believed to be the original wallpaper in Lincoln's bedroom, a piece of which remains on the wall today. [110] In this view, the original paper is partially covered by a dado and border.

The 1861 drawings show the general appearance of the papers for the parlors and sitting room. They are not detailed enough to provide the design for reproductions. They show enough of the overall pattern, however, that a period paper with the same design characteristics could be located and reproduced.

The stereoscope views of the Lincoln back parlor and the dining room were taken after Lincoln's death in 1865. At that time, the Tiltons were renting the Lincoln home. Both views clearly indicate the wallpaper patterns. It is possible that the wallpaper shown in these views was put on the walls by the Lincolns.

Two early references to the wallpaper in Lincoln's bedroom confirm it as original to the Lincoln home. An article on Lincoln's home in The National Picket (July 1891) by Lida Oldroyd describes this paper, "On the wall of this room [Lincoln's bedroom] is the original paper, and very peculiar looking paper it is; it would be difficult to describe, and the name I should apply would be Dolly Varden, the figures are so large and the colors so gaudy." [111] The Souvenir Supplement of the Illinois State Journal for 1892 stated that two rooms were "papered just as the Lincoln family left them..." [112] There is nothing about the design of the paper to contradict these statements.