Part of the Grenfell Mission, these three hooked mats came in with problems of dirt, acids, and moth damage. Chemistry baths neutralized the acids and lifted the dirt particulates away. After some research into how these mats were made it was discovered that the material was not wool but was silk stockings dyed from plants in Newfoundland! A similar process is be using to incorporate new material. The research also brought to light a tremendous backstory. When Wilfred Grenfell, a British doctor, traveled to Newfoundland and Labrador he was struck by the hunger, poverty and chronic disease that the hardworking native people suffered from. Instead of gifting food, money and shelter, his solution was to enhance a local tradition, mat hooking, to raise the standard of living and cause a trickle down effect to alleviate their hardships. Production rose to its peak in the late 1920s and early 1930s but it saw a decline with the Great Depression and then with WWII. Grenfell hooked mats are known for their almost universal use of straight horizontal line hooking and their use of every hole in the brin, which results in as many as 200 stitches per square inch. Stay tuned for more…
