Receipts, Letters, and the News: How Archival Documents Crafted the Restored Old Senate Chamber

When most people think of an archives, the first thing to come to mind is often how the documents can be used as genealogical and legal resources. People rarely consider how these centuries of valuable documents can all be applied to restorations. While research within the Maryland State Archives, such as the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland, Maryland 400, and Brookeville projects, all use resources in the institution’s holdings to attempt to piece together the histories of people, the Old Senate Chamber restoration has similarly been using the same documents for years to piece together the history of a single room.

1825 header depicting the State House on the Maryland Gazette, one of the first published American newspapers. Many original editions of the paper are in the collection of the Maryland State Archives. Maryland Gazette, 21 April 1825, MSA SC 378-42.

With a room as old and historic as the Old Senate Chamber, shadows of architectural remains and photographs of the room in later periods do not suffice to explain all aspects of the room's original appearance. Instead, more unusual resources need to be used to flesh out the narrative. In the past, we have used probate and watermark analysis on documents to verify information and craft the lives of the key players in the Old Senate Chamber’s history.

Lafayette Becomes “Quite the Thing” in Annapolis

As recent visitors to the State House may have noticed, the Old Senate Chamber restoration impacts much more than just the closing of one room! Many paintings in the state art collection are currently undergoing conservation as part of the restoration, including several portraits of Maryland governors, which have recently been removed from the Archives Room. Walls in the State House rarely remain bare for long though, and we are pleased to use this opportunity to introduce a new exhibit to the Archives Room, featuring an eighteenth-century character with surprisingly strong connections to Annapolis! The Marquis de Lafayette, who first landed in the colonies on June 13, 1777, 237 years ago this month, visited the Maryland State House several times over the course of his long and heroic life.

Marquis de Lafayette by Robert Templeton after Charles Willson Peale, 1975. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1545-1034.

The Mysterious Life of John Shaw

On March 5, 1829, both the Maryland Gazette and the Maryland Republican ran an identical article of remarkable length for an obituary of that day. The obituary described the deceased, an Annapolis cabinetmaker called John Shaw, in glowing terms: “He was not afraid to die! … He was a good man, who lived sincerely beloved by his family, and deservedly esteemed by his fellow-citizens; and has, we trust, passed from this world of care, to partake of the joys promised to the righteous.”[1]

Doubtless, followers of this blog have noticed the recurrence of John Shaw’s name in various capacities throughout the construction and operation of the eighteenth-century Maryland State House. Today, the cabinetmaker has played a critical role in research for the renovation of the Old Senate Chamber. Recent research into John Shaw’s life has uncovered new and exciting details, perhaps sometimes raising more questions than answers. All the same, in gaining a better grasp on the biographical details of Shaw, we are better able to understand how and when he would have furnished the Old Senate Chamber.

Signature of John Shaw on a receipt for candles to illuminate the State House for Washington's ball, December 1783. Maryland State Archives, Scharf Collection, MSA S 1005-83-117.

In this entry, we will focus specifically on recent research that uncovered details on his early life, fostering the man who would become one of the greatest contributors to the interior appearance of the Maryland State House.

The Keeper of the State House

It is difficult to look through the Maryland State Papers of the late eighteenth-century without coming across Jubb Fowler's name. A skilled carpenter, messenger to the Governor and Council, and caretaker of the Maryland State House, Fowler, like many Annapolitans of the Revolutionary period, had multiple jobs. However, according to Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, Jubb Fowler is the only laborer of late eighteenth-century Annapolis to have gained significant upward economic mobility in his lifetime.[1]

Jubb Fowler was born on November 14, 1735 to Benjamin and Helen Fowler of Anne Arundel County. The Fowlers were a farming family, who had settled in Anne Arundel County a short time before Benjamin Fowler's birth in 1717. While there is no record of Jubb Fowler ever having married, he did have one daughter, Frances.

The James Brice House, 42 East Street, Annapolis, MD, where Jubb Fowler worked as a carpenter during its construction. Photograph by Marion E. Warren. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Jubb Fowler first appeared in Annapolis in 1767 as a carpenter for employer James Brice's house, now a National Historic Residence. After Fowler's initial work, Fowler and Brice appear to have maintained a professional relationship. In 1769, the pair advertised together in The Maryland Gazette for two runaway indentured servants. Fowler also borrowed money from Sarah Brice on several occasions, as recorded in the Brice account books.[2]