Images(2)

Carpet Sample

Maker A. and M. Karagheusian

PeriodCirca 1950 - 1960

Place MadeFreehold, New Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumWool, cotton canvas tape, latex rubber

Dimensions18 × 26 in. (45.7 × 66 cm)

SignedGlued onto the back of the carpet sample is a label reading "GULISTAN CUSTOMTUFT INC. / Quality: C.N. - 28 / Custom Made For: / Surface yarns 100% fine carpet wool / Mothproof / Made in U.S.A. / MILLS - NEPTUNE CITY N.J. & FREEHOLD, N.J. / Subsidiary of A. & M. Karagheusian, Inc."

ClassificationsA. & M. Karagheusian Rug Mill Collection

Credit LineGift of Ben Augun, 2003

Object number2003.2.1

DescriptionA rectangular carpet sample in a medium blue and green twisted loop texture, appearing as narrow striping. The sample is tufted, not woven, onto a rubber backing with a latex rubber coating. The carpeting is hand-bound with wide off-white cotton canvas tape, sewn and glued onto the back with latex rubber.
Curatorial RemarksArshag and Miran Karagheusian emigrated from Turkey during the government's persecution of the Armenian people in the late 19th century. After living for a time in England, the brothers came to the United States and began a small carpet import business. In 1906, the brothers purchased the old Rothschild Shirt Factory complex on Jackson Street in Freehold, New Jersey. There they imported carpet looms from England and invited seasoned weavers from the British Isles to relocate to Freehold as their first employees. By 1928, with the introduction of the "Gulistan" line of high-quality carpeting, the company became the second largest privately-owned carpet company in the world. At its peak, over 1,700 men and women worked at the Rug Mill. The company produced carpeting for Radio City Music Hall in 1932 and the United States Supreme Court building in 1935, and for such notables as movie star Jean Harlow, who sent the company a lock of her famed platinum blonde hair to match a custom carpet, and Fred Astaire, who purchased Karagheusian-made carpeting for his office. During World War II, the factory converted to wartime production, weaving a type of cotton canvas material known as "duck," which was used for tank covers, gun covers, tents, and bags. After the war, union troubles and new technology, combined with an obsolete factory complex, resulted in management's decision to close the factory and relocate to Georgia. By 1961, the entire operation had moved South.NotesThis small sample represents the post-War technology that eventually spelled the end of traditional woven carpet manufacture, and ultimately contributed to the closing of the A. & M. Karagheusian Rug Mill in Freehold in 1961. Tufted carpeting, or "punch" as it was derisively called by experienced Mill weavers, used a machine (ranging from a small hand-held device to huge factory-sized equipment) which punched a needle through a plan rubber/latex sheet, forming a loop or pile on top and a running stitch below. The tufting methods was cheaper, required little in the way of skilled weaving knowledge, and produced more carpeting more quickly. Donor Ben Augun's wife was the niece of Andrew "Andy" Dale. Born in Philadelphia in 1912, Andy Dale's father John L. Dale emigrated from Scotland and was a weaver for many years in the Karaghuesian Rug Mill. Andy Dale worked as a designer for the Mill for many years. There were many instances of sons and daughters of Rug Mill employees finding good jobs in the factory in which their parents had worked for years. The Research and Design Department was the last department of the company to remain in Freehold, closing in 1962. Dale then worked as a traffic investigator for Monmouth County. Andrew Dale died in 1994 at the age of 82 and was interred in Maplewood Cemetery in Freehold.

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