To Zogry, the historian of UNC'S Carolina Inn, the four 5-by-7-foot "Scenes of North America" panels restored this month were part of a 1940s redecorating scheme meant to appease critics of liberal creep.

"The university was under attack," Zogry said.

President Frank Porter Graham had a progressive vision for UNC and the South. In the years after World War II, many considered his views on race relations too liberal, his social policies communistic.

And the wallpaper, which depicts billowy ships in Boston Harbor, Natural Bridge in Virginia and Niagara Falls?

That was Billy Carmichael's idea, Zogry said.

Graham had persuaded the veteran of New York's Wall Street and Madison Avenue to come to Carolina as controller.

Carmichael saw the Inn as the public face of the state's flagship university. He hired Otto Zenketo remake the inn in the style of a Southern plantation.

What better way, Zogry says, to subtly reassure visiting lawmakers and alumni donors that Carolina hadn't broken faith with traditional values?

But even tradition needs sprucing.

After decades of wear and literal tear, the wallpaper was restored by Michael Lee of Etherington Conservation Services.

It was first printed in 1834 by the French company Zuber et Cie and installed at the inn in 1946. The panels were originally created by precisely pressing 1,690 painted blocks to the paper and then handpainting in details.

Years of cigarette smoke, wind and rain gusting in from the outside and guests' fingers had taken their toll.

"I've seen people touching it even while we're working here," Lee said, "which is a major no no."

The wallpaper would next get a coat of varnish, a railing to discourage future vandals and a plaque. Fitting, Zogry says, for one of the most historic wallpapers ever designed.

"This is not just wallpaper you buy at Lowe's."