Grenfell Textiles & Wilfred T. Grenfell

The Grenfell Mission Mat, by Robert Meltzer

In 1892, Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, physician, missionary and ardent mariner, arrived on the coast of Labrador to investigate conditions among the fishermen there. He found no resident doctor anywhere along the 1,000 plus miles of coastline. Many of the fishermen, primarily of English descent, lived there year-round, “liveyeres” as they were called, in remote villages, without roads, far from shops and/or markets, in poorly constructed huts and in need of food, clothing and medical care virtually year-round.

During his first years as the “Labrador Doctor” Grenfell established a hospital at St. Anthony’s (an earlier one he built at Battle Harbor burnt down), a series of medical stations, schools for children (with the cooperation of student teachers from Yale University) and co-ops – first for the pooling, shipping and selling of fish without the traditional “middleman” – and then several cottage industry projects, including the unique hooked Grenfell Mats.

Mat hooking in this region is believed to date back to the seventeenth century. These early “fishing families” used the mats to warm floors. Hooked with a bent nail for a hook, they were done in straight, tight, horizontal lines with as many as 200 loops per square inch.

Dr. Grenfell established an “Industrial Department” at the Mission, and sent out calls to churches throughout in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region requesting of their parishioners that “when your stockings begin to run, let them run to Labrador”. When these silk and rayon materials from stockings, nightgowns, and under garments arrived they were dyed, then cut into strips and rolled into a ball. Brin, or burlap as we call it, was purchased commercially and stenciled – using discarded X-ray film for the stencil.

Dr. Grenfell, along with other Grenfell Mission workers with artistic abilities, designed many of the rug patterns. Records show that over 2,000 handicraft workers, the majority being women mat makers, earned money, clothing and food vouchers through their labors. For many families this earning prevented “seeing the bottom of the flour barrel” or running out of food for their families over the winter. On “Mat Day”, Friday of each week, finished goods came to the Mission and payments were made. When tags were available, the mats were tagged.

Then, on the same ships that carried the cod and other species of the catch, the mats came south.

The Great Depression of 1929 severely curtailed production although quality work continued into the thirties. Knighted in 1927, Sir Wilfred died in 1940.

This essay first appeared in the Northeast Auction sale catalogue for 16 August 2003.