James Madison’s Montpelier

Is That Ink?

One of the many interesting discoveries during the mansion restoration was a dark stain on the floor of the Old Library (M207). The stain can be seen in the northeastern corner of the room, near the fireplace. The staff had several ideas as to how it got there. Some even wondered if Madison himself spilled a bottle of ink.

We saw this as a very promising opportunity to have a specialist examine the stain to determine if it is actually ink. The staff called upon the expertise of Thomas Snyder, a conservator and owner of Williamsburg Art Conservation Inc..

a stain on the floor of the Old Library

Snyder first examined the stain under longwave ultraviolet radiation. This allowed him to see how the stain would fluoresce. Next, he compared this fluorescence to the way known types of 19^th-Century ink such as Iron Gall, sepia, and carbon, look under UV light.  He did not find any similarities.

Snyder then photographed the stain with a special camera that only captures the infrared (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The digital  IR images show the “stain” as black. The material that makes up the “stain” absorbs the IR radiation while the rest of the floor reflects the IR back to the camera.

This suggests the stain is actually a charred section of wood. Charred wood is very rich in carbon, which readily absorbs IR. Some inks will absorb IR as well, so this does not rule out ink. The first test does seem to rule out ink as a possibility, though. The charring could have been caused by hot embers or coals from the firebox being dropped on the wooden floor when a fire was being stoked or as hot ashes were being emptied.  If an ash bucket was placed on the narrow hearth, embers which were still warm could have spilled over onto the wooden floor, blackening the boards and causing the slight indentations left in the wood. 

One final possibility is the stain is the result of water, with high iron content coming into contact with the pine flooring. The iron in the water would react to the tannic acids in the pine flooring, creating an iron tannate stain. Looking at the IR photo, there is a round ring shape to the stain. Perhaps an iron ash bucket got wet? Or the bucket full of hot ashes could have created a charred ring too.

Both of these possibilities seem much stronger than an ink stain. While the library stain is almost certainly not ink, there is also a stain downstairs in Mr. Madison’s study (M104) which we have not yet tested. Could it be the result of a toppled inkwell? We hope to be able to test it in the future, and when we do, you’ll read about it here!

Tags: James Madison, Old Library