Hooked rugs - New Hampshire Historical Society offers reproductions of nineteenth-century hooked rug designs - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, March, 2000 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

One of the most colorful and idiosyncratic expressions of American folk art is the hooked rug. In many cases these rugs were created by women for their own use, and some of the most exuberant survivals are those worked in New England, particularly in New Hampshire, in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The New Hampshire Historical Society, founded in 1823 in Concord, has a large and interesting collection of folk art produced in the state and elsewhere in New England, including hooked rugs made by New Hampshire farmers' wives. Three examples are now being reproduced by Company C, a Concord firm that designs and imports rugs and other textiles for residential use. The New Hampshire Historical Society receives part of the proceeds from the sale of each reproduction.

The reproductions are worked by hand using wool yarn dyed in small lots. What is called the New Hampshire rug (illustrated at lower right) was originally created in the mid-nineteenth century. It is no-table for its intricate design, subtle shading, and meticulous workmanship. The Mary straw rug (illustrated at top left) was worked by Mary Robinson Straw (1841-1925) and her mother Hannah Chadbourne Straw (1816-1899), in the late 1800s. A document in the curatorial files of the society notes that the rug was "designed by Mary Straw of Newfield, Maine. Made by Mary and her mother, ca. 1880 in about six weeks time while another daughter [Cyrene Agnes; 1845-1924] did the house work" Since the rug is room size and completely worked by hand, the ladies must have burned the midnight oil. The last example, known as the Hexagons rug (illustrated at top right), was found early in the twentieth century by Mary Thompson Mason Tilney, an inveterate early collector of Americana. Starting in 1894 she combed the farmhouses near her summer house on Lake Wentworth in search of art and antiques, finding this rug in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. She prided herself on her discoveries, which, according to her daughter Jessie, were always purchased directly from their owners.

These rugs are available in a number of sizes and may be purchased through the historical society's museum store or at home furnishings' stores throughout the country. For more information contact the society's Museum of New Hampshire History store at 603-226-3189, extension 225, or by e-mail at rcourser@nhhistory.org. The rugs can also be seen on the society's Web site (www.nhhistory.org) Company C maintains a list of specialty stores around the country that carry these reproductions and it can be reached at 800-818-8288 or through its Web site www.companyc.com).