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Grenfell Rugs

4/9/2014

8 Comments

 
Thanks so much for sharing Dick!
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Auctioned piece that sold for $5400.00
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Dick's Adaptation of a Grenfell rug.
This wonderful 21"X28" mat was estimated to sell for around $1500.00 at auction Tuesday night in Dover, NH. The estimate was WAY off as the gavel dropped at $5400.00. Worth every penny, I think. My poor adaptation will keep me happy for years…or until one of the kids "runs off" with it! A "tip of the hat" to the Grenfell Mission, the artists and the inspiration that the craft still supports. Dick Barr

Grenfell Mission is a medical and religious mission founded by Sir Wilfred Grenfell in the late 19th century in St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The purpose of the mission was to help the poor with food, clothing and medical care, as well as improving their global economic conditions. The mission was created by Grenfell and modeled after a Boston hospital founded and managed by Jessie Luther.

Grenfell Mission was famous for its burlap rugs, which were sold to hospitals in the United States and Britain. Encouraged and promoted by Dr.Grenfell, the rug makers of the mission used designs created by Mrs. Grenfell. Beginning in the early 20th century, the International Grenfell Association (IGA) hired Jessie Luther of Providence, Rhode Island, to set up and direct the Grenfell Industrial Department. Grenfell established retail shops in England and in several U.S. cities. These shops were staffed by volunteers and augmented by traveling salesmen. Following the death of Dr. Grenfell and the surge in machine-made rug production, the business gradually failed. Grenfell rugs remain highly prized by folk art collectors.

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The quiet months of February and March were known as the "matting season" along the rugged coast of northern Newfoundland and Labrador. It was a time of respite from the fishing season. Generations old by the time the Grenfell Mission began, the roots of mat hooking lay with the founding English and Scottish settlers. The women all hooked, most from their earliest childhood.

In 1892, when Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell arrived from England, he met courageous, hardworking people who were fighting terrible odds against chronic disease, hunger, poverty and exploitation. From his determination to alleviate their distress, Grenfell's medical mission began. His conviction that outright gifts of money, food and clothing would offer no long term help led to the development of a cottage industry known as "the Industrial," which produced distinctive handicrafts including hooked mats. The mat industry rose to peak production in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It began to decline as the effects of the Great Depression reached the region and fell off dramatically after World War II.

In 1905, Grenfell met Jessie Luther, an American woman who had set up a sanitarium with crafts as part of the treatment. Excited by her methods Grenfell encouraged her to come north. In 1906, Luther journeyed to the tiny settlement of St. Anthony on the northeastern most tip of Newfoundland to establish a weaving project by which the local women could augment their families' meager and unreliable income from fishing.


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Map of Newfoundland (chrome).
Silk or rayon stocking material, dyed; 42" x 31 1/2";
Mat maker unknown, ca. 1938.

8 Comments
Charlene
4/9/2014 11:25:28 am

Christine, my family lore has it that my great grandmother gave Dr. Grenfell his first cup of tea when he came off the boat in St. Anthony. I also donated to Memorial University Archives a prescription he wrote for my great aunt when she was 1yr old. For all that there is not and never was a Grenfell mat in the family. Too bad.

Reply
Christine
4/11/2014 02:27:09 am

Pardon the pun Charlene, but your family is steeped in history with that tea given to Dr. Grenfell....sorry I could resist. Too bad you didn't have a Grenfell mat passed down the family lines but the subscription and tea story is a great tale to tell! Thanks for sharing!

Reply
Dick
4/12/2014 12:53:57 am

Thank you. Really enjoyed reading your historical overview. Enjoy your blog, regularly.

Reply
Susan morris
4/13/2014 04:54:12 am

Nice article. I am the lucky owner of two grenfell pieces that I treasure.

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Joan Foster link
4/13/2014 07:06:05 am

Mat hooking in the Grenfell tradition is alive and well in the St. Anthony area. There is currently a resurgence of interest in the craft and some beautiful pieces are being produced - some using the old designs and others featuring new ones. Check out Grenfell Handicrafts which is operated by the Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell Historical Society at www.grenfell-properties.com.

Reply
Gerry Lush 186 Reid Street Corner Brook
10/6/2016 03:41:47 pm

Gerry and Daphne Lush

Reply
Bob Morrison
8/22/2020 08:08:51 pm

Lived on Cobb Lane 1951 to 54 Now 86 and have a Grenfell Indistries hooked Wall Mat 42" x 30" The Newfowndland Image. Green water not blue. Excellent shape .... Value? .... I wantto sll! ... How?

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Reply



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