Rag Rug Weaving Family - c1890 Cabinet Card Photograph
This set of two cabinet cards is unlike any I've ever seen. Period photos of weavers are unusual but are found. This set features a home based rag rug weaving family. Rag rugs consist of scrap or discarded cloth, sliced in narrow strips, loaded on a special shuttle and woven to create a sturdy and long wearing rug. Rag rugs were popular during the later part of the 19th century as affordable floor coverings.
The set consists of a photo of the workroom and of the family. In the workroom can be seen four large and heavily built hand looms, a sewing machine and the entire family. A gas lamp hangs overhead. The shape of the workroom, the lamp and the wall paper leads me to identify this as a room in a home, likely the living room.
The family photo is a typical posed cabinet card photo of a proud family. No doubt these were shot by a traveling photographer, taken on site and developed in the photographers traveling wagon.
