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Article: Ingrain carpets.
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- January 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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During the nineteenth century ingrain carpets were among the most common and affordable types of floor coverings in America.(1) These colorful, flat-surfaced, woven woolen rugs appear in many portraits and genre paintings (see Pls. II, VI, IX, XII). In 1876 a writer referring primarily to ingrain claimed that carpeting had
found its way into every dwelling, from farm house to brown-stone front...it has within the last twenty years also invaded schoolhouses, churches, counting rooms, railroad cars, courthouses, and public buildings of the people. Its use is now universal.(2)
Ingrain was woven in strips of various widths that were seamed together to create ...