A red stripe
Subtitle: Finnish American rag rug tradition and ethnic continuity
By: Yvonne R. Lockwood.
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: East Lansing, Mich
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
ISBN-13: 9780870138645
Subjects: Rag rugs -- Michigan -- Upper Peninsula; Hand weaving -- Michigan -- Upper Peninsula; Finnish Americans -- Michigan -- Upper Peninsula -- History
Description: Finnish American Rag Rugs is about rag rug culture and the role of rag weaving in Finnish America. In a larger sense, it is also a study of how a craft can persist over centuries, reinforcing the culture, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values of an immigrant group that retains a strong sense of its ethnic identity. Finnish American Rag Rugs provides a history of Finnish immigration to and settlement in Michigan's Upper Peninsula alongside an examination of the tradition of rag weaving in the United States and the Nordic region. Although many other immigrants have a tradition of making rag rugs, Finnish Americans are one of the few groups to have maintained the culture of rag weaving since their immigration. In the process of studying this one activity of one ethnic group, the author uncovers new information about both the history of a ubiquitous form of fiber art and the beliefs and values of an understudied ethnic group. Illustrated with more than 200 color photos, Finnish American Rag Rugs is both informative and beautiful.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.