Silk Stocking Mats: Hooked Mats Of The Grenfell Mission. Paula Laverty. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005; 92 colour illustrations + 198 pages.; ISBN 0-7735-2506-8; $44.95 (paper).
Paula Laverty, curator of three major Grenfell mat exhibitions, has successfully translated these exhibits into a sumptuously illustrated new book. With 92 fullcolour illustrations, as well as numerous black and white images of the workers and related ephemera, Silk Stocking Mats: Hooked Mats of the Grenfell Mission is a

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delightful read, bringing the rich history of the Grenfell Industrial to life. Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (18651940), an evangelical medical doctor from London, England, founded the Grenfell Mission in 1892 in Labrador and Newfoundland. He did not believe in simply handing out charity. Instead, following in the footsteps of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he intended to use the crafts for the economic and personal betterment of Labrador and Newfoundland's women. In 1906 the Grenfell Industrial was formed to carry out this mission. Jessie Luther was employed to start a weaving industry; however, by 1908 Luther recognized that an indigenous craft existed, mat hooking. She introduced the images that would become synonymous with Grenfell mats: fish, dogs, seals, ducks, bears, ships and gulls. Soon mat bundles, including patterns marked on brin (burlap) and hooking materials (ranging from cotton to the famous silk stockings), were sent home for women to complete. Mat hookers received up to $20 a year for their work, a remarkable sum considering that families earned less than $500 a year. Mat hooking became a "bonanza" for the Industrial, resulting in sales outlets in New York, Toronto and London, and revenues exceeding $63,000 in 1929. Despite two World Wars Grenfell mats remained popular. Ironically, mat hooking became stigmatized only when Labrador and Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949 and government assistance became available.
Laverty's book is nicely laid out in two parts, the first providing a history and timeline, and the second focusing on the mats. Her footnotes are informative and reflect the vast amount of primary research that she has completed. There is a romantic tone to the entire book. While this romanticization works well stylistically, there are several moments in the text when it marginalizes problematic issues surrounding the Grenfell Industrial. For example, when Dr. Grenfell arrived in 1892, 1,700 Inuit lived in Labrador. While

these indigenous peoples served as popular motifs on the mats, the reader is left wondering if they were active participants in the making of the mats. The colonial nature of Dr. Grenfell's Mission is explained as being one of self-sacrifice: "English gentlemen were intent on conquering the undiscovered world and carried with them a passion for bettering the human condition, especially in remote areas" (3). This is a troubling assertion, particularly when coupled with the lack of agency given to the women who hooked the rugs. They were, and remain, anonymous, and their efforts are collectively credited to Grenfell. Although Laverty's notes and bibliography reveal an extensive list of interviews with mat hookers, she does not name them in the body of the text, thus reinforcing this silence. Despite these criticisms the fact remains that Silk Stocking Mats: Hooked Mats of the Grenfell Mission is an important contribution to the growing field of Canadian craft history. Laverty, and McGill-Queen's University Press, must be commended for this book, and hopefully next we can look forward to a rigorous critical examination of the socio-political issues it raises.
Sandra Alfoldy NSCAD University

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