Perennially Perry

Archives of 130-year-old paint company are part of Historic New England collection

by LORNA CONDON Senior Curator of Library and Archives

As a young boy, Samuel D. Perry would sit in the offices of his family’s firm, the Perry Paint Company on Newbury Street in Boston, and observe and absorb the conversations and work of the artisans employed there. Through this first-hand experience, Sam gained an extraordinary knowledge of nineteenth- and twentieth-century paint technology and technique as it was developed and employed by his family. He also acquired a deep understanding of the significant role his family played in the history of paint in America.

The Perry Paint Company (ultimately the Edward K. Perry Company) was founded by Lewis F. Perry in 1858 in South Dedham, now Norwood, Massachusetts; the company relocated to Boston by the mid-1860s. With its emphasis on innovative techniques and high-quality decorative painting, the company’s reputation grew quickly. During its 130-year history, it was responsible for painting and decorating some of America’s most important and well-known buildings, among them H. H. Richardson’s Trinity Church and Symphony Hall in Boston; The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Delaware; New York City’s Radio City Music Hall; Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia; the Library of Congress; the National Gallery of Art; Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts; multiple Harvard University buildings; and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.

As the company grew, so did its archives, featuring thousands of cards and boards that illustrate decorative

Melissa and Sam Perry, supporters of the Perry Paint Collection. A 1906 hand-painted calendar advertised the company’s products and services.

finishes and paint colors created by the firm; a significant reference library; a photographic collection made up of prints, negatives, and albums; company ephemera; architectural drawings; and hundreds of stencils, some designed and cut by the artist John Singer Sargent, who collaborated with the firm on the decoration of the Boston Public Library, the Rotunda of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Memorial Room at Harvard University’s Widener Library. Architectural fragments, ironwork, and wallpaper and fabric samples completed the collection. In 1986, the Perry family sold the company. Sam Perry and his mother, Alice deV. Perry, recognized the importance of preserving the firm’s archives and donated the collection to Historic New England in order to make it available to the public. Like the Perry family, we are committed to making this unique document of American taste and practice in the decorative arts accessible to the broadest audience—homeowners, architects, historic site stewards, professional designers, and anyone researching the history of interior design and nineteenth- and twentieth-century paint technology and technique— through our website, articles, lectures, and in-person research. Although he has pursued other professional interests since the sale of the firm, Sam Perry remains a passionate and committed advocate for quality painting and decorative work. He shares his tremendous expertise about paint and his substantial knowledge of New England architecture with those involved in the preservation of the region’s built environment. In addition, by devoting many hours to an ongoing series of oral history interviews with Historic New England staff, Sam has ensured that his experience is captured for future generations.

Sam and his wife, Melissa, are deeply committed to the Perry Paint Collection and Historic New England. They support our efforts to make this extraordinary resource available to all.

The Perry Paint Company headquarters, c. 1906, at 44 Winchester St., Boston. The company moved there several years after its founding in South Dedham, now Norwood, Massachusetts. Below The work of artist John Singer Sargent is represented in the collection with stencils such as this one.