Washington Winter Show 2010

the house in the popular Victorian style of the time. Floorboards were covered with patterned wall-to-wall carpets and stylish wallpaper cov- ered the walls. Strict rules of etiquette in the Victorian era (ca. 1837–1901) were based upon social hierarchy and models of courtly behavior. Social engagements were highly structured and, by the middle of the nineteenth century, ladies in Georgetown and the Federal City conformed to the ritual use of calling cards. “Card leaving was a way of entering soci- ety, of designating changes in status or address, of issuing invitations and responding to them, of sending sen- timents of happiness or condolence, and in general, of carrying on all the communication associated with so- cial life (Figure 7).” 6 By the late nineteenth and ear- ly twentieth century, the manufac- ture of silver expanded dramatically as a result of its precipitous drop in price. Craftsmen were eclipsed by machines which provided oppor- tunities for diversification and in- creased production of silver goods. 7 Fine silver objects for household and personal use reflected the Peter’s social and economic status within the stratified Victorian era. They purchased jewelry, table, and toilet ware, by firms such as the Gor- ham Company, Ball, Black & Co., Black, Starr & Frost, Samuel Kirk Figure 6: Simple Tales, Mrs. Amelia A. Opie (1763–1853), printed by R.C. Weightman, published by J. March’s Bookstore, 1807. Title page with Martha Peter’s signature and page listing Georgetown subscribers. Collection of Virginia San Peter. Tudor Place Archive. Photograph by Red Tack Arts. Figure 7: Britannia Peter Kennon’s (1815–1911) calling card, ca. 1900. Paper, printers ink, graphite, gall ink. Tudor Place Archives. 34