A Peak at Rug Hooking History & It’s Start

Today we are going to step back in time a bit and take a look at our Rug Hooking History. W. Cushing and Co. has been in Maine since 1879, Edward Sands Frost even longer. It is fun to see how we have progressed but in some cases just moved the business less than 20 miles!

In an upcoming issue of the ATHA magazine, a full article based on the history of W. Cushing and Co will be published. Please see the article for the full story complete with photos. It was wonderful to compile the history as I co-curated an exhibit on Rug Hooking in Southern Maine for the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk. A wonderful museum with great exhibits, a unique setting and yes, the gift shop does not disappoint! https://brickstoremuseum.org/

Today Let's talk about Edward Sands Frost (1843 to 1894)

Edward Sands Frost of Biddeford, Maine was a tin peddler who created zinc stencils to transfer a design for a rug onto a piece of burlap until poor health forced him to sell his business in 1876, using over 750 zinc plates. While this is not ES Frost, this is what a Maine Pedlar look liked. Can you imagine buying your rug hooking supplies this way?

While watching his wife hook a rug, decided that he could draw a better design. Others saw his work and ordered his drawn designs. In 1870 he initiated the idea of using stencils to duplicate and color his patterns. Thus introducing hooked-rug patterns on burlap. By 1876 with his health failing, he retired to Pasadena, California and had produced more than 200 designs.

Frost’s patterns included a wide variety of natural objects along with geometric patterns. As commercial rug designs supplanted traditional hooked rugs, traditional hand rug hooked rugs became valuable antiques, and were the most popular item in Ipswich antiques dealer Ralph Warren Burnham’s shop in Ipswich, Mass. (Ralph Burnham will be a series of blog posts as he is my hero!)

Pictured below are original ES Frost Stencils, wonderful and fun. . .we still print these patterns today!

Frost utilized the use of “trade cards” to advertise his products beyond his Maine Tin Pedlar route.  The trade cards were dropped at Grange Halls, places of worship or where woman would gather. Look at how small they were because printing was expensive, especially in color.

See Frost #60 Trade Card with two hooked rugs!

Two Frost #60's hooked!

Interesting enough, although not proven, catalogs containing Frost Patterns appeared in Ohio and the Midwest under the name Ross Patterns.  The speculation being E.S. Frost had franchised out his patterns.

E.S. Frost patterns were produced by Ralph Burnham and then the Henry Ford Museum purchased them and for many years sold them and taught rug hooking there.  When the product was no longer profitable for the museum, Joan Moshimer purchased the patterns and put them under her “Treasury of Rugs”; where they still exist today.

W. Cushing and Co., 17 miles from where Edward Sands Frost first started producing rug hooking patterns, still prints the majority of his patterns to this day. https://dev.wcushing.com/product-category/patterns-kits/e-s-frost/

About 20 years ago, several of the original stencils were found in a storage unit in New England. A local Museum has possession of them.  The stencils still print to this day. It was amazing to see the stencils and actually see them print as they did in the late 1800's!

If you have hooked a Frost pattern, please share them with us. . .orders@wcushing.com, would love to do another blog post with hooked Frost rugs!

Here are the links to the YouTube Tour of the Exhibit at The Brick Store Museum which closed on December 23rd.