14. See the catalogue of Historical Exhibits Collection: National Star Spangled Banner Centennial, Peabody Art Galleries, September 7th to 20th, 1914 (Baltimore: 1914), cat. 313, "Settee and Chair from Belvedere, home of John Eager Howard," loaned by John Ridgely of Hampton; and cat. 314 "Two decorated settees and chairs from 1800, from Belvedere, home of John Eager Howard. Showing medallions, Mount Clare, Montibello, Belevedere and other country seats." This listing of buildings confirms that the two settees were included along with the chair depicting Belvidere. Mrs. John Ridgely was on the committee involved with classification and creation of the catalogue, but her role in providing specific details is not known. Lydia Morris Howard's son Frank Key Howard was also involved in planning this exhibition, but what he knew about the suite is also not known. He was thanked by the mayor for his efforts (James H. Preston to Frank Key Howard, November 4, 1914, Lydia Howard de Roth Papers, ms. 1906, MdHS). That the suite was thought to be a vital part of the exhibition is documented by its presence on an early list of the objects slated to be exhibited (Historic Exhibits Committee to Louis H. Dielman, Peabody Institute, July 4, 1914, Archives of the Peabody Institute, Executive Secretary, Correspondence, Gallery of Art 1911–1928, Series IV. A.1). The other exhibition was held at Homewood House on the campus of Johns Hopkins University, June 9–24, 1928 (Friends of Art, Homewood Exhibition [Baltimore, Md.: Friends of Art, 1928], items on display in the Music Room). The author thanks Catherine Rogers Arthur at Homewood for bringing this exhibition to his attention and for her assistance with other questions regarding the Carroll and Rogers families and their furniture. The records of the Friends of Art shed no further light on this provenance, as the Friends seem not to have preserved research notes used to compile the catalogue. See the folders for this exhibition in Municipal Art Society of Baltimore, Records, 1905–1949, Ms. 2840, box 2, MdHS. When Lydia Morris Howard died in 1921 she divided her estate between her children, Lydia, Nancy, and Charles Morris, and placed an equal share in trust for her son Frank Key (Lydia E. H. Howard Will, Wills, H.W.J. [137], fols. 115–117, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). All of these children apparently lived with her at 401 North Charles Street. Lydia Morris Howard's inventory lists stocks, and only one page of personal items including several pieces of furniture. This was clearly not enough to furnish this house (Lydia E. H. Howard Inventory, Inventories, H.W.J. [231], fols. 368–372, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). It appears that by this time her children had informally inherited or divided the contents of the house, including the suite. Nancy H. Howard was the first of Lydia Morris Howard's children to die. She left her furniture equally to her three siblings. In the inventory of her possessions at 401 North Charles Street, Nancy's part of the suite is specifically itemized under a heading "Painted furniture from Clearmont made by Findlay." According to the inventory, she owned the chairs depicting Belvidere and the St. Paul's Charity School, and the settee depicting Montebello at the center of the crest (Will and Inventory of Nancy H. Howard, estate #2651, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). When Lydia Howard DeFord died in 1945, her inventory included "8 Small chairs, 2 seats, 1 console Table," valued at $1,200, which were listed as being at the Museum of Art (Inventory of Lydia Howard DeFord, estate #42404, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). Charles Morris Howard left all of his furniture to Lydia Howard DeFord's two daughters, so the two chairs he owned were re-united with the rest of the suite (Will of Charles Morris Howard, estate #46237, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). Frank Key Howard died in 1929. Presumably, the pieces he had inherited passed to his sister Lydia Howard DeFord, who had earlier acquired the furniture owned by Nancy. Throughout the 1930s, Charles Morris only owned two chairs, including the one that depicted Willow Brook. Either Lydia DeFord de Roth or her sister Nancy DeFord Venable owned a copy of Scarborough's "Unique Record of Baltimore Mansions." Neither made corrections to Scarborough's observation that the suite had been used by John B. Morris at Claremont, suggesting that they did not find her account in error. See Lydia Howard de Roth Papers, ms. 1906, MdHS. Some other articles and obituaries in this collection are corrected or annotated.

15. The fate of the blue suite of furniture purchased by Charles Howard is not known. When he died in 1869 he left all of his property to his wife Elizabeth Phoebe (Key) (Will of Charles Howard, Wills, J.H.B. [35], fols. 376–377, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). His estate was not inventoried, nor was there any further administration. Elizabeth died intestate in 1897. If the blue suite was among her possessions, it was not inventoried as a readily identifiable group (Inventory of Elizabeth P. K. Howard, Inventories, T.W.M. [164], fols. 568–572). Both Charles and Elizabeth's obituaries state that they died at their country home Oakland in Allegheny County. Although they had lived at the northeast corner of Mount Vernon Square for many years, that property was sold and Elizabeth died at their home at 919 Cathedral Street. As they had a number of children, the suite could have been given or bequeathed to any one of them. The white and yellow suites in the auction catalogue were both described as including armchairs, as were other suites of chairs in the house. As the description of the blue suite simply stated "chairs," these seating forms were most likely side chairs (Catalogue of the Furniture, Plate, &c. of the Late Col. Howard, lots 47, 89, 247). Two copies of the auction catalogue are in the collection of the MdHS. One copy was owned by Charles Howard, but descended in the family of Charles McHenry Howard, a cousin of the Howards under discussion. The other copy was owned by Benjamin Chew Howard, whose descendants, even more distant cousins of the Howards under discussion, gave it to the MdHS. For the 1914 exhibition the committee provided forms to each potential lender, with spaces to describe each object. A blank form is in a large group of documents regarding this exhibition in Mayor James H. Preston's Papers at the Baltimore City Archives.

16. Amy D'Arcy Wetmore, "Old Country Seats Scenes of Gaiety. Baltimoreans of 1800 to 1850 Enjoyed Suburban Life in Country. Many Old Homes are Now Passing. City was Formerly Encircled by Places where the Owners Entertained Friends," Baltimore News, July 25, 1914. In this article, Wetmore discusses many of the houses depicted on the Morris suite but does not mention the furniture. Since she also mentions the Morris country house, Claremont, Wetmore may have known of the furniture. Although her article preceded the National Star Spangled Banner Centennial exhibition by several months, she could have heard of the suite during the planning stages of this exhibition or known the Howards socially. Another manuscript document, also apparently in the hand of Lydia Howard DeFord, accompanied the suite when acquired by the BMA. On it, she listed three of the houses, Willow Brook, Bolton, and Montebello, and living descendants of the original owners. She may have contacted these individuals for information about the houses. However, as the manuscript also has a brief list of "Collectors," including Mrs. Miles White and Mrs. William H. Whitridge, the individuals listed may have been people who might have had an interest in purchasing the suite. As the list also notes that Mrs. H. Irvine Keyser gave a building to the Maryland Historical Society (the Enoch Pratt House), it was created sometime after 1916. It is possible that some of the properties depicted on the suite did not have names. A typed list headed "Key List to Houses represented on furniture" is in the file for the suite at the BMA. Although no author for this list is noted, local historian Dr. J. Hall Pleasants created it. J. G. D Paul's "Art, History and A Baltimore Cabinet-Maker," noted that the BMA was indebted to Pleasants' research, and he is credited for information concerning the set in Baltimore Furniture: The Work of Baltimore and Annapolis Cabinetmakers from 1760 to 1810, p. 156. For some reason, numbers 3 and 5 were omitted from this list. Pleasants noted the uncertainty of the identifications and locations of several houses, in particular those that are not named on the list. Some of his research notes on the suite are in his file on John and Hugh Finlay (J. Hall Pleasants Studies in Maryland Painting, MdHS).

17. The suite's images are treated as securely identified "documents" regarding the appearance of the buildings in the 1936 exhibition at the Peale Museum and in Robert L. Raley, "The Baltimore Country-House 1785–1815" (master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1959). Although unpublished, this thesis is often cited. Warner & Hanna's map shows the location of Gibson's house, indicating that this structure is the house to the left of Bolton in several landscapes by Francis Guy. See Colwill, Francis Guy, pp. 63, 65. The correction of numbers 3 and 4 is noted in Elder, American Furniture 1680–1880, p. 47, nt. 7. See Baltimore Equitable Society, policy 1355, November 1, 1803. McCurdy's seat, described as being near that of Jeremiah Yellott, was brick, measured 50' x 22'3", and had a "well finished Balcony along the whole front of twelve feet wide." The house had two stories, with "about two thirds of the Cellar part above the surface of the Earth." This description does not relate to the image said to be McCurdy's house. The Equitable Society records are one of the few resources available to document the size and general appearance of buildings from the early nineteenth century. Unfortunately, in this period few of the owners of the houses illustrated on the suite insured their country residences with this company.

18. Whitman H. Ridgway, Community Leadership in Maryland 1790–1840: A Comparative Analysis of Power in Society (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1979), chapter 4 and appendices.

19. Willow Brook or its precursor is visible on the 1799 edition of the Warner & Hanna map. The map indicates that the house was owned by (Thorowgood) "Smith," who built the dwelling and subsequently sold it to John Donnell. A change in the shape of the dedicatory legend hid this building in the 1801 version of the map.

20. The author thanks J. Laurie Ossman for suggesting that the images would have been hidden when the seating furniture was in use.

21. The image on the chair was identified as Greenwood in Elder, Baltimore Painted Furniture, p. 41. Correspondence from the previous owner of these chairs, in the accession file for the work at the museum, makes no mention of the identification of the buildings on the pieces. For more on Druid Hill see Edith Rossiter Bevan, "Druid Hill, Country Seat of the Rogers and Buchanan Families," Maryland Historical Magazine 44, no. 3 (September 1949): 190–99. The house and its builder are also discussed in Robert L. Alexander, "Nicholas Rogers, Gentleman-Architect of Baltimore," Maryland Historical Magazine (hereafter cited MHM) 78, no. 2 (summer 1983): 84–105. No earlier authors questioned the identications of the buildings painted on the suite, and in the past the images have been used as historical documents without questioning the accuracy of the depictions or their identification. Greenwood's similarity to Druid Hill is noted by Bevan, "Druid Hill, Country Seat of the Rogers and Buchanan Families," p. 197, nt. 16; and Alexander, "Nicholas Rogers, Gentleman-Architect of Baltimore," pp. 87–88. Both authors used only the pier table image as evidence of the appearance of Greenwood. Bevan found the image on the pier table "rather reminiscent" of Druid Hill, while Alexander found it a "virtual replica." Noting that the pier table image is damaged, Alexander observed slight differences in the windows in the parapet and in the stairway and columns. It appears that neither author knew of the more intact image on the chair (fig. 41).

22. In his Baltimore period, Saint-Mémin produced a number of images with suggestive landscape settings. The Rogers piece is unique among the known images for its inclusion of an actual house. Two other Saint-Mémin portraits depict buildings, but the sitters and structures have not been identified. See Ellen G. Miles, Saint-Memin and the Neoclassical Profile Portrait in America (Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), pp. 122, 268, 382, 418. The author thanks Ellen Miles for her thoughts on this portrait.

23. Architect Michael F. Trostel restored Druid Hill a number of years ago. In his copy of Elder's Baltimore Painted Furniture, he annotated the image of Greenwood "now known to be Druid Hill." Precisely how Trostel came to this conclusion is not known. The author thanks Peter Pearre, Trostel's partner in the firm of Trostel & Pearre, for his assistance with this article. For Greenwood, see Baltimore Equitable Society, policy 4135, February 1, 1815. An earlier policy 896 and 897, February 1, 1801, does not mention the kitchen underneath. On February 1, 1808, it was renewed as policy 2107 with the same description as 1801, both valued at $2,666.67. When renewed in 1815, the phrase about the kitchen was added, and the valuation increased to $3,000.00. For Druid Hill, see Baltimore Equitable Society, policy 7883, January 26, 1824. As of this time the house was owned by Nicholas Rogers' son Lloyd Nicholas Rogers. The author thanks Peter Pearre for these insurance references.

24. The author has also speculated that an earlier manuscript could have listed the house as that belonging to "Col. Rogers" which could have been mistaken for "Phil. Rogers" if written in a particularly flowery hand. A newspaper article discussing one of Lloyd Nicholas Rogers' daughters gave a history of the Rogers family and an account of the sale of Druid Hill to the city ("She Lived in Druid Hill, Mrs. Goldsborough last Occupant of Mansion at Sale," The Sun [Baltimore], March 6, 1905).

25. The listing of "Mrs. Carroll" on the Howard manuscript has only been acknowledged in the catalogue for the 1928 Friends of Art Homewood Exhibition. Michael F. Trostel, Mount Clare: Being an Account of the Seat built by Charles Carroll, Barrister, upon his Lands at Patapsco (Baltimore, Md.: National Society of Colonial Dames of American in the State of Maryland, 1981). After the barrister died, his wife Margaret had only a life interest in the property. At her death it was to become the property of the Barrister's nephew James (Maccubbin) Carroll, who did not take possession of the house until 1817 (see ch. 5 and p. 91). Margaret is listed as the tax-paying owner of the property for the 1798 federal tax and is listed on the 1804 tax list for precincts surrounding Baltimore Town (George J. Horvath, Jr., The Particular Assessment Lists for Baltimore and Carroll Counties 1798 [Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1986], pp. 59, 138). It is unlikely that this house references James Carroll. He had never resided there before the suite was made. Jesse Hollingsworth obituary, American & Commercial Daily Advertiser, October 1, 1810, Dielman-Hayward file, MdHS. The fact that the Howard list does not refer to "Mrs. Yellott" or "Mrs. McCurdy" as it does to "Mrs. Carroll," suggests that the suite may have been made before the deaths of Jeremiah Yellott and Hugh McCurdy in 1805, although "McCurdy," as mentioned, may simply be in error.

26. J. Thomas Scharf, History of Baltimore City and County, 2 vols. (1881; facsimile reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Regional Publishing Company: 1971), 1: 454. Scharf also discussed the subsequent use of this building by the Mount Hope College, which apparently purchased it in 1828. He described it as being seventy feet long, and states that it was probably built "about 1800" (ibid., 2: 853). Scharf's account of the Banks of the City appears to be one of the few extant, and is often quoted and paraphrased.

27. Scharf, History of Baltimore, 1: 452–56. Gilmor was a committee representative from the Bank of Maryland around 1797, when the Banks of the City was in its formative stages. Grundy and Harris represented the Office of Discount and Deposit in different meetings in 1800. During later years, Gilmor, Samuel Smith, and Jeremiah Yellott represented the Bank of Maryland, and Grundy and Harris represented the Office of Discount and Deposit. The boards in this period seem to have only undergone minor changes each year. In 1795 Nicholas Rogers and Hugh McCurdy supervised the sale of subscriptions for the Bank of Baltimore, but they were not among the list of directors in 1796, 1803, or 1804.

28. Information on the early years of this school is found in the Benevolent Society's publication An Address to the Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the City and County of Baltimore (Baltimore, Md.: Joseph Robinson, 1811). Scharf's History of Baltimore only mentions the St. Paul Charity School in a footnote (2: 521, nt. 1]) where he states that a performance was for the benefit of the "Female Charity School, under the direction of the Benevolent Society." Other early charities include the Charitable Marine Society (1796); the Baltimore Orphan Asylum (prior to 1801), first known as the Female Humane Association Charity School, and then as the Orphaline Charity School and St. Peter's School and Orphan Asylum (1806) (ibid., 2: 592, 594). It is unclear whether each institution had a building. St. Peter's School could have been founded after the suite was made. On the subsequent history of the St. Paul's Charity School, see Mary H. Bready, Through All Our Days: A History of St. Paul's School for Girls (Hunt Valley, Md.: Braun-Brumfield Inc., Sheridan Group, 1999). The author thanks Bready for her assistance with his research.

29. The Laws of Maryland, Volume II, edited by William Kilty (Annapolis, Md.: Frederick Green, 1800), ch. 44, "An Act to incorporate a society for the maintenance and education of poor female children, by the name of The Benevolent Society of the City and County of Baltimore." An Address to the Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, pp. 9, 11. When The Orphaline Charity School was rechartered in 1807, similar voting structures were put in place, and it was affirmed that women had the right to vote for the trustees, indicating that this issue was important to the managers. The Laws of Maryland, Volume III, edited by William Kilty, et al. (Annapolis, Md.: J. Green, 1820), ch. 145, "An Act for incorporating a Society to educate and maintain Poor Orphan and other destitute Female Children, by the name of The Orphaline Charity School, and to repeal an Act of Assembly therein mentioned." The school was first chartered in 1801 as the Female Humane Association Charity School.

30. An Address to the Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, pp. 6, 13–19. For Margaret Carroll's bequest, see Trostel, Mount Clare, p. 88. Will of Nicholas Rogers, Wills, W.B. (11), fols. 354–356, Register of Wills, Baltimore City.

31. On Ridgely as a trustee, see Kilty, The Laws of Maryland, Volume III, ch. 145, where it is also mentioned that by this time the charity had a "school-house." Scharf, History of Baltimore, 2: 592, states this school was organized several years previous to its charter in 1801. On this school's complicated history, see Ron Pilling and Pat Pilling, Pickersgill Retirement Community: Two Centuries of Service to Baltimore (Towson, Md.: Pickersgill Retirement Community, 2002). The Pillings state that as of 1802 several of the female managers were married to tanners and riggers (p. 12). These women and their families were from a different social class than those associated with the Morris suite. Several Ridgelys made donations to the Benevolent Society, but not Charles Carnan Ridgely or his wife Priscilla Dorsey Ridgely. See An Address to the Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, p. 16, for Charles Sterrett, Nicholas G. and Rebecca, who were donors; and p. 18 for Rachel and Rebecca as discontinued subscribers. Rebecca was probably Charles Carnan Ridgely's aunt. On the instrumental roles of Philip Rogers and Charles Carnan Ridgely in establishing Methodism in Baltimore, see Those Incredible Methodists: A History of the Baltimore Conference of the United Methodist Church, edited by Gordon Pratt Baker (Baltimore, Md.: Commission on Archives and History, Baltimore Conference, 1972), p. 15, 27V.

32. See Wendy A. Cooper, "American Painted Furniture: A New Perspective on Its Decoration and Use," Antiques 161, no. 1 (January 2002): 212–17. The Morris suite was used in a country house by about 1904. Painted armchairs and side chairs similar to those in the Morris suite were in George Brown's country house Brooklandwood by 1897 (Elwell, The Architecture, Furniture and Interiors of Maryland and Virginia, pls. 3, 4, 8). Although several objects illustrated in Elder's Baltimore Painted Furniture were used in country settings, few can be documented there before the early twentieth century.

33. Betsy Patterson Bonaparte to John Spear Smith, August 22, 1816, Bonaparte Collection, ms. 142, box 3, MdHS. The author thanks Helen Jean Burn for this reference. John Spear Smith was the son of General Samuel Smith, owner of Montebello. Written a century after Patterson's account, Wetmore's "Old Country Seat Scenes of Gaiety" suggests a more active life in the country. The patronage and display of landscapes like those painted by Francis Guy are not well documented. Harry Dorsey Gough's views of his estate Perry Hall were part of the furnishings of his house in Baltimore (Colwill, Francis Guy, p. 111). A valuable comparison is found in two of Flemish artist Hendrik De Cort's (1742–1810) views of Castle Howard and its grounds, commissioned by the Fifth Earl of Carlisle specifically for his town house in London (Castle Howard [Yorkshire, England: Castle Howard Estate Ltd., 1997], pp. 60–61). These works were apparently painted after De Cort came to England in 1790. As the earl had in the 1770s commissioned four views of the estate by William Marlow (1740–1813) that were used in the castle (see ibid., pp. 53, 60), this second commission suggests an increased interest in the use of country views in the city.

34. Records of the City of Baltimore, vol. 4 (1818), as quoted in Sherry H. Olson, Baltimore: The Building of an American City (1980; revised and expanded ed., Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), p. 54.

35. Elder, Baltimore Painted Furniture, pp. 28–33; Elder, American Furniture, 1680–1880, pp. 47–48, 60–61, 135–36, 162–63; and Montgomery, American Furniture, pp. 451–53. Although this suite of furniture is not the focus of the article, the houses and furniture are discussed in "Buchanan Family Reminiscences," MHM 35, no. 3 (September 1940): 262–69. This article gives one the earliest known accounts of the furniture, and a drawing closely replicating the image on the pier table is included on page 265. By 1940 some of this furniture had been sold to individuals outside the family. In "Buchanan Family Reminiscences," the building on the card table is described as "the town-house," but it is not specifically associated with James A. Buchanan. Elder identified the building in American Furniture 1680–1880, p. 136, nt. 2. Documentation for the date of the building is found in Thomas Waters Griffith, Annals of Baltimore (Baltimore, Md.: W. Wooddy, 1824), p. 169. The chair with the view of Hampton and its accompanying seating forms are thought to be English and only decorated in Baltimore. A chair from this set is illustrated in Miller, American Antique Furniture, 1: 205, no. 278. At that time, Miss Harriet R. Chew, a Ridgely descendant, was the owner. Two chairs remain at Hampton, one with the house depicted on the crest rail, the other with a garden ruin. The crest rail image of Hampton is illustrated in Hastings, A Guidebook to Hampton National Historic Site, p. 74. The author thanks Lynne Hastings for information on these pieces. There is no evidence that Eleanor and Nicholas Rogers owned the Morris suite. Eleanor died before her husband and, as was typical, no estate was entered into probate. Nicholas died with a will, but no inventory was taken of his personal possessions (Will of Nicholas Rogers, Wills, W.B. [11], fols. 354–356, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). As mentioned, his son Lloyd Nicholas Rogers subsequently owned Druid Hill, selling it immediately before he died. The recording of his estate took place shortly after he had moved out of the mansion. In the detailed inventory of his house on Mulberry Street in Baltimore, nothing corresponds to the Morris suite (Lloyd N. Rogers Inventory, Inventories, I.P.C. [79], fols. 91–100, Register of Wills, Baltimore City). However, several pieces of caned furniture were listed including "5 Cane Seat Chair[s]" and "2 Cane Seat Hall Chair[s]" in the hall and "5 Cane Seat Chairs" in the garrets. These seating forms may well have constituted the suite of twelve white painted chairs of New York or Massachusetts origin possibly used at Druid Hill. For the armchairs, see Weidman, Furniture in Maryland 1740–1940, pp. 110–11. John B. Morris was in law partnership with Lloyd Nicholas Rogers and probated his will. Morris could have acquired the suite from Rogers any number of times, including when the latter sold Druid Hill. Coincidentally, Rogers' townhouse was very close to the residences of Morris and Morris' daughter Lydia Morris Howard.

36. Most accounts of the rooms are drawn from Scharf, History of Baltimore, 2: 679–80, who noted that they opened in January 1798. Robert Alexander stated that the rooms opened in January­ of the following year (Alexander, "Nicholas Rogers," p. 88). On assembly rooms as part of a larger culture of social refinement in the United States, see Richard L. Bushman, The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities (New York: Knopf, 1992), pp. 50–51, 160–61, 186–88.

37. The New Baltimore Directory, and Annual Register; for 1800 and 1801 (Baltimore, Md.: Warner & Hanna, [1800–1801]), p. 22. The author thanks Helen Jean Burn for leading him to this reference. The city directory published in 1799 did not mention the rooms, perhaps because they were not yet open. [John H. B. Latrobe], Picture of Baltimore, Containing a Description of All Objects of Interest in the City; and Embellished with Views of the Principal Public Buildings (Baltimore, Md.: F. Lucas, Jr., 1832), p. 192. The building is illustrated opposite p. 191. This publication notes that the function of the rooms had recently been changed. The best description of the rooms and their sizes is found in the sale announcement for 1817 ("Trustee's Sale . . . Dancing Assembly," Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, March 31–May 7, 1817, announcing the sale which took place on May 8). See also James S. Buckingham quoted (without noting that it is him) in Alexander, "Nicholas Rogers," p. 90.

38. Alexander, "Nicholas Rogers," p. 90. For a brief discussion and illustration of this building, see Mills Lane, Architecture of the Old South: Maryland (New York: Abbeville Press, 1991), pp. 88–90. In Refinement of America, Bushman observes that "these special structures for cultured events were less common in America than taverns with special rooms for assemblies" (p. 161). Bushman does not specifically discuss the Baltimore Dancing Assembly Rooms. The author thanks Charles Brownell for his thoughts on assembly rooms in this period.

39. This denial of admission to males in the area is noted on "Baltimore Assembly" (Baltimore, Md.: W. Goddard and J. Angell, n.d.). Two copies of this broadside detailing the "rules" of the assembly are in the Broadside Collection, MdHS. Although not dated, one is inscribed on the reverse: "Assembly Tech [? sp]1789/ Mr. Harris." This copy was apparently inscribed to David Harris, a very early subscriber to the assembly. The other is inscribed to "W. H. Dorsey (of [?])." This copy may have been sent to William Hammond Dorsey, the brother of Walter Dorsey. Similar guidelines are found in much later rules. See "Extracts from Proceedings of Directors and Managers, Relative to Baltimore Assemblies," December 23, 1836, Broadside Collection, MdHS. "Though the membership encompassed a larger group than any one individual's circle of friends, the assemblies were self-consciously and resolutely exclusive" (Bushman, Refinement of America, pp. 50–51). After attending a concert in Baltimore in 1827, Robert Gilmor, Jr., wrote: "There was a large company of our acquaintance invited, but many of those present were not of our circle, though very respectable people, who came to see their daughters perform" ("The Diary of Robert Gilmor," MHM 17, no. 3 [December 1922]: 249, entry for January 18, 1827). Gilmor's many diary entries document the close family circle that dominated his social activities, as well as the larger circle of friends and acquaintances with whom he interacted. While numerous, the friends in no way represent all of wealthy Baltimore society. Both Gilmor and his father were members of the Dancing Assembly. The contentious exchange between Smith and Oliver, which ended without bloodshed, is noted in John Bosley Yellott, Jr., "Jeremiah Yellott—Revolutionary War Privateersman and Baltimore Philanthropist," MHM 86, no. 2 (summer 1991): 183–84. John Yellott states that Robert Oliver blackballed Robert Smith from membership, but this author read the original source and interpreted it differently. Smith, who was a member, criticized Oliver's respectability, as he believed Oliver had cashed a check that was not his. Oliver stated that it was his right as a Dancing Assembly stockholder to follow his judgement in voting on nominations. See Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, December 21, 23, 26, 31, 1798. The subscribers are documented in "New Dancing Assembly Association," April 16, 1817, vertical file, Manuscripts Department, MdHS. This document gave Isaac McKim, James Sterrett, and John Spear Smith the authority to purchase the rooms for the association's use by dividing the cost into shares that would be purchased by those signing the document. The manuscript also notes that as soon as the building was purchased, the subscribers would convene to adopt regulations necessary for the management of the property. This sale required an act of the Maryland Legislature, which appears to have been proposed in 1816 and passed on January 30, 1817. See The Laws of Maryland Volume V, edited by William Kilty, et al. (Annapolis, Md.: J. Green, 1820), ch. 191, "An Act for the Sale of the Baltimore Dancing Assembly Rooms." The notice of the sale appeared in Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser as "Trustee's Sale . . . Dancing Assembly." The second sale was first advertised in "Baltimore Dancing Assembly Rooms for Sale," American & Commercial Daily Advertiser, April 10, 1835, and the advertisement ran through June 1, 1835, the day of the sale. The lot is described as 48' x 95', apparently the size of the building. On June 2, 1835, the American & Commercial Daily Advertiser reported that B. I. Cohen had bought the rooms for $10,000, and that "it is intended to retain the building for the purpose for which it was originally designed, and that it will undergo material repairs and improvements in order the better to adapt it to this object." Matchett's Baltimore Director. Corrected up to May, 1837. For 1837–8 (Baltimore, Md.: Baltimore Director Office, 1837), p. 19, noted that the building had "lately been altered in height from two to three stories, and otherwise improved." See "Baltimore Assembly Record Books," 1837–1839, ms. 53, Manuscripts Department, MdHS. This volume lists the subscribers to balls in this period. A note by Mendes Cohen, who donated the volume to the MdHS in 1915, states that he purchased it from a dealer "some year ago." According to this note, the volume also included invitations addressed to "the Misses Cox," but the invitations are no longer in the volume. They are, however, probably the invitations seen by Scharf and noted in his History of Baltimore, 2: 678. The sale of the building is noted in Historical Sketch of the Central High School of Baltimore: Its Wants and Claims, by a Friend of Education (Baltimore, Md.: Samuel S. Mills, 1856), pp. 14–15. "Messrs. Cohen" owned the building when it was purchased by the city. The sale was first suggested in 1842 and completed in 1844. At the time of the purchase, the property was described as the "Old Assembly Rooms and tavern." This tavern, apparently a building between the Dancing Assembly Rooms and the Holliday Street Theater, was torn down to make way for a playground. The building with its third story is illustrated in the school's 1860 annual report. See also Rice, Maryland History in Prints 1743–1900, p. 195. The fire spread to the former Dancing Assembly Rooms from the Holliday Street Theater (The Sun [Baltimore], September 10, 11, 1873). It appears that the second and third stories were largely destroyed, or at least heavily damaged. Whether the building was torn down shortly thereafter is not mentioned.

40. "Baltimore Dancing Assembly," Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, September 5, 1798. Although built in the 1770s, the Maryland State House was apparently not uniformly furnished until 1797 (William Vose Elder, III, and Lu Bartlett, John Shaw: Cabinetmaker of Annapolis [Baltimore, Md.: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1983], pp. 127–28). Elder and Bartlett note that "A new State House did not necessarily entail all new furniture; some furnishings accumulated in the sixty-five year history of the second State House would have survived." Although the Dancing Assembly Rooms were new in 1799, a similar situation could have arisen with that organization's furnishings. This author believes it likely that the rooms were not immediately equipped with all new furniture. See J. C. Nates' 1804 engraving of the Pump Room in Barry Cunliffe, The Roman Baths at Bath: Authorised Guide Book (Bath, Eng.: Bath Archaeological Trust, 1993), p. 40. This illustration as well as one from the mid-nineteenth century are in Diana Winsor, Historic Bath (Norwich, Eng.: Jarrold Publishing, 1987), n.p. The 1804 view shows no furniture, while that from mid-century shows a few chairs and settees lining the walls. These pieces do not appear to be upholstered. "Extracts from Proceedings of Directors and Managers, Relative to Baltimore Assemblies."

41. See the reproductions of their advertisements in the Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, October 24, 1803, and the American & Commercial Daily Advertiser, August 11, 1804, reproduced in Colwill, Francis Guy, 24. A detailed account of this celebration is in "Commodore Perry," American & Commercial Daily Advertiser, February 2, 1814: "The whole of the arrangements, paintings, and decorations, under the management of that ingenious artist, Mr. Findley, who displayed a taste, and a spirit, such as have not been witnessed in our city on any former occasion." See also Rembrandt Peale, "Reminiscences. Desultory," The Crayon 3, no. 1 (January 1856): 6. Peale recounted this story to explain how he had been, in his opinion, responsible for the change in Robert Mills' design for the column. Peale does not mention the first name of the Finlay involved. A contemporary account of the festivities observed that Peale's portrait and a painting by Henry Warren of Mills' design "were richly decorated by Mr. Hugh Findley, forming, together, an appropriate trophy for the occasion" (An Authentic Account of all the Proceedings on the Fourth of July, 1815, With Regard to Laying the Corner Stone of the Washington Monument Now Erecting in the City of Baltimore [Baltimore, Md.: John Horace Pratt, 1815], p. 4). Scharf, History of Baltimore, 1: 267.

42. Robert Oliver Papers, ms. 626.1, MdHS; Journal 1805–1808, fol. 159, August 7, 1806, and fol. 270, January 31, 1807. "The Baltimore Dancing Assembly," Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, January 12, 1799; and the 1836 "Extracts from Proceedings of Directors and Managers, Relative to Baltimore Assemblies." Both publications indicate that the heads of the horses pulling the carriages should face Gay Street on arrival and departure. John E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times 1803–1891 (Baltimore, Md.: Norman, Remington Co., 1917), p. 190. Latrobe believed that by 1824 there may have been fewer than a dozen private carriages "because the style of living was plainer, and that strife had not arisen in which victory constituted outdoing your neighbor in dress and equipage." Latrobe was too young to have personally remembered the period in which the Dancing Assembly Rooms were built, and by 1824 the financial pressures of the late 1810s may have altered the extravagant displays of earlier times. Interestingly, Latrobe's discussion of carriages immediately precedes his discussion of balls, indicating they were linked in his mind.

43. For more on the White House furniture, see Betty C. Monkman, The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families (New York: Abbeville Press, 2000), pp. 38–40. When President Monroe redecorated this room after the fire, his agent Joseph Russell informed him that "mahogany is not generally admitted in the furniture of a Saloon, even at private gentlemen's houses." Russell subsequently supplied him with a gilded suite (p. 61). Samuel Smith to Dolly Payne Madison, March 10, 1809, receivers copy, White House. The author thanks Catherine Thomas of the BMA for bringing this highly important document to his attention. It has been published in Monkman, The White House, p. 40. On Finlay's behalf, Smith asked for Dolly Madison's "friendly interference" with Latrobe "that he may participate in the furnishing of the Presidential House."

44. The chair depicting Lafayette was given to the Baltimore Museum of Art by a descendant of William Patterson. Family tradition apparently held that it was made for Patterson to use at a dinner given in Lafayette's honor during his visit to Baltimore. Since as early as 1936, this visit has been associated with a reference in J. Thomas Scharf's The Chronicles of Baltimore, Being a Complete History of "Baltimore Town" and Baltimore City From the Earliest Period to the Present Time (Baltimore, Md.: Turnbull Brothers, 1874). On page 415, Scharf mentions two dinners attended by Lafayette with members of the corporation of Baltimore. This is the source cited by Elder, Baltimore Painted Furniture, p. 69. Its 1936 association with the chair is documented on the Index of American Design Data Report Sheet MD-FU-56 (1943.8.4397), on file with the Department of Modern Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., which also cites this source. When a photograph of this chair was included in the Index of American Design exhibition at the National Museum in Washington, a local newspaper account incorrectly stated that this chair had been used for a dinner given for Lafayette at Fort McHenry ("A Catalogue of U.S. Artisans," The Sun [Baltimore], August 2, 1936). As Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore does not discuss the dinner and ball at the Dancing Assembly Rooms, the possibility of the chair having been made for this occasion has not to date been suggested. In addition to the two dinners he documents, Scharf only notes that there was a "splendid ball given in [the] Holliday Street Theater, which had been fitted up for the occasion." He amended this in his History of Baltimore, 2: 679, where he notes that the impressive dinner that followed the ball was held at the Dancing Assembly Rooms. Plan of Arrangements for The Ball, In Honour of General La Fayette (Baltimore, Md., 1824). A copy of this program is in the collection of the MdHS. Contrary to Scharf's account, the program indicates that the ball and dinner were held in the Dancing Assembly Rooms, while the Holliday Street Theater was used as holding rooms for the guests. At the head table at the dinner, Lafayette was seated with "several gentleman entitled to seats . . . attended by the five elder Managers, and the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangement" (p. 5). The gentleman and "elder Managers" were not named, but William Patterson was included in most of the short lists of those in Lafayette's company while in Baltimore (Scharf, Chronicles of Baltimore, pp. 409–15). Thomas Waters Griffith, Annals of Baltimore (Baltimore, Md.: W. Wooddy, 1824); and Thomas Waters Griffith, Notebook, 1824, ms. 412, MdHS. This notebook bears a handwritten title page "Seven Lectures on Chapters on Maryland History read by the late Thomas W. Griffith in the Baltimore Assembly Rooms in 1824." Depending on the dates of his lectures, Griffith may have been asked to speak after the publication of his volume.

45. On the general cultural criticism in this period, see Bushman, Refinement of America, pp. 186–93. [Sir Richard Hill], An Address to Persons of Fashion, Relating to Balls: With a Few Occasional Hints Concerning Play-houses, Card-tables &c. In Which is Introduced the Character of Lucinda, With an Appendix, Containing Some Extracts From the Writings of Eminent Pious Men, Against the Entertainments of the Stage, and Other Vain Amusements. By a Member of the Church of England (Baltimore, Md.: Printed by J. Robinson, for Cole and I. Bonsal, Warner & Hanna, and George Hill, 1807). Sir Richard Hill (1733–1808) was a British author. This work was first published in 1761. The author thanks Mary Herbert, Curator of Manuscripts at the MdHS, for bringing this reference to his attention and for sharing her work on the Morris suite. Ibid., pp. v–vi, 25–26. One copy of this volume (MdHS) is annotated on the front fly leaf "P Gough 1807"; on the title page "P Gough"; and on page 7 "Prudence G. Ridgely." The volume was probably owned by Prudence Carnan Gough (1755–1822), the sister of Charles Carnan Ridgely of Hampton, and perhaps later by her granddaughter Prudence Gough Carroll (1795–1822), who married John Ridgely (1790–1867) of Hampton in 1812. The author thanks Lynne Hastings at Hampton for assistance in sorting out the ownership of this volume.

46. The Finlays advertised "Trophies of Music, War, Husbandry, Love, etc., etc.," indicating that they were thinking of their decorations in symbolic ways (Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, February 4, 1806). The Union Bank is the next bank chartered after the three that were housed in the Banks of the City (Scharf, History of Baltimore, 1: 456). On the building designed by Robert Cary Long, Sr., see Lane, Architecture of the Old South: Maryland, pp. 106–7. The sculpture on the bank's pediment depicted Neptune and Ceres, representing maritime commerce and agriculture. The Commercial and Farmers Bank, built later, had an arched entry with spandrels depicting Mercury and Ceres, representing commerce and agriculture (pp. 122–23). Therefore, in this period Baltimoreans were used to thinking of commerce in abstract representational ways, suggesting that they may have viewed the buildings depicted on the suite in this manner. The author thanks Martin Perschler for this observation regarding masculine and feminine spheres.

47. See for instance H. Rodney Nevitt, Jr., Art and the Culture of Love in Seventeenth Century Holland (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 6. See also Cesare Ripa, Baroque and Rococo Pictorial Imagery; The 1758–60 Hertel Edition of Ripa's ‘Iconologia' with 200 Engraved Illustrations, introduction by Edward A. Maser (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971), pls. 9, 53: where "Earth" and "Assistance" use a grapevine twined around a staff to symbolize fruitfulness and "conjugal assistance." This metaphor would blossom throughout the nineteenth century into the commonplace "clinging vine" and "sturdy oak." Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2 vols., translated by Henry Reeve (1837), 1: chapter 17. De Tocqueville noted that while religion was often powerless to keep men from the temptations of life, its "influence over the mind of women is supreme, and women are the protectors of morals. There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated." Robert Gilmor, Jr., had a commemorative medal made for the fiftieth wedding anniversary of his parents Robert Sr. and Louisa (Airey). The back of the medal depicted Cupid with the motto: "To Conjugal Happiness." This medal was presented at a ceremony at the Gilmors' country residence Beech Hill (Humphries, Robert Gilmor, Jr., 1: 111). Prescriptive discussions of conjugal happiness, religion, and love were so commonplace at this time that they appeared in almanacs published locally. See, for example, Abraham Weatherwise, The Rural Almanac for the Year of Our Lord 1806 (Baltimore, Md.: Printed by John West Butler, 1806), for a discussion on "Love": "There is something in the rich endowment of a woman's love, which exceeds all human bliss. . . . It not only inspires our morals, but even our religion is cold philosophy without it." See Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History (1978; reprint, Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1980), p. 232. "Ambitious parents had to engineer marriages rather than arrange them [as they had in the eighteenth century], by seeing that their daughters met the right sort of young man in the right circumstances. London balls, or balls in the local Assembly Room, were a good venue for striking up a first acquaintance; but the relaxed atmosphere of a house-party was ideal for the last stages before the proposal." This source is helpful on the role of assemblies in this period.

48. Thomas Twining, Travels in America 100 Years Ago (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1893), p. 116. Twining believed this, as much of the country he traveled through on his journeys between cities was still forested. Like many of his peers, he equated progress with inhabiting and taming wild land.

49. Kathleen D. McCarthy, Women's Culture: American Philanthropy and Art, 1830–1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 4–5. Jane Austen, Persuasion (1818), ch. 1.

50. On this cultural guardianship, Bushman, Refinement of America, pp. 189–90, observes: "Men and women shared equally in the softening of American character, but women played a particular role, because of an assumed greater susceptibility to genteel vanities. . . . On the positive side, women were more naturally delicate and sensitive and so more open to refining influences; on the negative, they suffered from an inclination to vanity and delight in pleasure." Bushman notes in the late eighteenth century "criticism grew in volume and force" at the very moment that country houses, elegant town houses, and "the construction of assembly rooms" was increasing (p. 191). Hill, An Address to Persons of Fashion, Relating to Balls, pp. iii, 31. In a note on page 25, Hill gives a mock accounting of expenditures on "diversions" versus money spent "for the relief of the sick and needy." The first item among the diversions, the price of an annual subscription to an assembly, includes the cost of ball dresses, indicating that Hill's tract was largely aimed at women.

51. See the transcription of Guy's notice in the Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, March 12, 1803, in Colwill, Francis Guy, p. 130. At subsequent lectures Guy donated the "surplus" of the admission price to either "the benefit of Orphans" or "the poor" (transcriptions of American & Commercial Daily Advertiser advertisements for June 29, 1809, July 8, 1809, and March 2, 1813, ibid., pp. 132–33).

52. MacCreery was an annual subscriber to the school, and one of the original donors (An Address to the Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, p. 19). On his involvement with the assembly, see Scharf, History of Baltimore, 2: 679.

53. On Rogers' public service, see Alexander, "Nicholas Rogers," p. 88. Dorsey served on the new Court of Oyer and Terminer and resigned his post in 1808 (Scharf, Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 286). Scharf, History of Baltimore, 2: 728, erroneously states that Dorsey died in 1808. He also notes that Nicholas Rogers was one of five judges appointed in 1788 when this criminal court was first assembled.

54. Other than these two organizations, no other business or social organization is known which connects so many of the individuals represented on the suite. Considering Samuel Smith and John Eager Howard's political rivalry, and their different religions, their presence together is perhaps the most extraordinary. On a rare occasion when they did come together, in the corporation of the Baltimore and Frederick Turnpike company, other key figures are not involved with the suite, such as the company's president, Jonathan Elliott. John Donnell was the only other manager whose house is depicted on the suite. See the list of managers in a notice in the Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, May 14, 1805. For more on the Library Company, see "The Library Company of Baltimore," MHM 12, no. 4 (December 1917): 297– 311; and Stuart C. Sherman, "The Library Company of Baltimore, 1795–1854," MHM 39, no. 1 (March 1944): 6–24. Also see their papers, Library Company of Baltimore Papers, ms. 80, MdHS.

55. See Treasurer's Account Book, January 1796–April 1806, entries for July 27, 1798, and September 14, 1798, box 4, Library Company of Baltimore Papers, ms. 80, MdHS. The payment to the joiner was made through Robert Cary Long, the builder of the Dancing Assembly Rooms. This reference to Daley, a local chair maker, precedes his first appearances in the city directory in 1804. For the directory reference, see Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, p. 276. The library board of directors met monthly and reported the business addressed at each meeting. Gifts to the library were acknowledged in the minutes. If the suite was purchased by the library or given by a group of subscribers it would probably have been mentioned in the minutes. There does not appear to be any mention of such furniture in the first volume of the board minutes (Record Book, January 20, 1798–April 5, 1809, box 2, Library Company of Baltimore Papers, ms. 80, MdHS). In the minutes, mention is made of a "director's room," but the location of this space is not known. This exclusive location might have been more appropriate for furniture such as the Morris suite. During this period several of the male individuals associated with the Morris suite were on the library board, but at no time are the individuals exactly the same.

56. For additional information on these pieces, see Elder, Baltimore Painted Furniture, pp. 37–38, 41. At the time of the publication the pier table was in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. William M. Maynadier. The Maynadiers had recently sold the card table to the house museum Mount Clare. No previous owners or dates of ownership are indicated. The chairs reputedly descended in the Birckhead and VanDeventer families, and were acquired from a family member who in 1972 reported that they were used in a house in Washington, D.C. (Robert VanDeventer to Baltimore Museum of Art, August 19, 1969; and Robert VanDeventer to William V. Elder, March 1, 1972). The third chair, owned privately, was sold at auction in 1996 (Weschler's, American Furniture and Decorations, Washington, D.C., April 27, 1996, lot 171). This lot included three painted chairs, but the one similar to those in the BMA collection was not illustrated.

57. Hill, An Address to Persons of Fashion, Relating to Balls, p. 12. Letters of Mary Boardman Crowninshield, edited by Francis Boardman Crowninshield (New York: Riverside Press, 1905), p. 59, as quoted in Montgomery, American Furniture, p. 319. Hill, An Address to Persons of Fashion, Relating to Balls, p. 25. In his mock account of funds spent on diversions, Hill specifically included money lost at loo.

58. The building on the side table is remarkably similar to Oliver's country house, which apparently went through at least two building campaigns. Depicted on the 1801 Warner & Hanna map as a three-bay house, this dwelling was subsequently extended to five bays. Much later, it gained an enormous Doric portico on its side. Although the building depicted on the side table is missing a middle window on the second floor (probably more an artistic error than an actuality), it does have a center chimney—a distinctive feature shared by Oliver's house. If built as a five-bay house originally, it is more likely that chimneys would have only been used on the outside walls. The house as remodeled with the addition of the portico is illustrated in Lane, Architecture of the Old South: Maryland, p. 107.

59. The author thanks Stiles Colwill for information on these pieces, acquired from a San Francisco collection with connections to Baltimore in the early twentieth century. The furniture was believed to have come from Rosewood, a house in the Caves Valley near Baltimore. Morris' sister-in-law who lived with the family reported "the utter destruction of every article within our long cherished paternal home," including parts of the house such as doors, shutters, and mantles that were either destroyed or stolen. This destruction necessitated the family moving to the "fine large house" on Mulberry Street, which they rented in September from the widow of Eaton R. Partridge. Here there was no "feeling of home. [N]o furniture the eye had rested on all our lives" (Lydia E. Hollingsworth to Rachel Tobin, December 10, 1835, Hollingsworth Family Letters, 1802–1837, MdHS).