A Created Document with an Excerpt from the Late Simon Wilmer’s 1798 Estate Inventory Accompanying the c. 1795 ‘White House Farm’ Painting that Depicts Wilmer, his Chestertown Farm, his Family, Washington College & the African Americans he Enslaved

Vintage paper
Frame: Stained pine & pine molding
2020

In 1986 Washington College acquired the White House Farm painting after it was located by the college’s art historian Robert J.H. Janson-La Palme. The painting hung at the entrance of the college president’s office until Washington College students, led by the Black Student Union, called for the painting’s removal. In December of 2019 the painting was taken down and is to be displayed at the college’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, where it will be properly contextualized as an important early American artifact that holds special significance to Kent County Maryland and Washington College.