UF-IOOF Ingrain Woven Carpet with Odd Fellows Symbols
c.1890
apx. 62”x66”
Found in Pennsylvania
$1800

This piece was originally meant to be a carpet—now it’s art for the wall. Comprised of just two colors, red and black, this carpet is rich with the symbols of the International Order of Odd Fellows. The IOOF was officially founded in Baltimore in 1819 with the charge to “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan”. This fraternal organization, and later its sister organization for women, the Rebekahs, have gone on to perform many kinds of charitable work, including establishing cemeteries and orphanages. Symbolic of the “Three Link Fraternity”—friendship, love and truth, are the linked rings with the letters F,L, and T inside. A heart in hand symbolizes charity. The staff on an open book symbolizes the authority of the word of God, and the all-seeing eye represents an ever-present God. A sheaf of arrows represents the weapons of a war against vice. A tent symbolizes an encampment (the three superior degrees of the IOOF are called encampment degrees). Among symbols of the Rebekahs specifically are the beehive, representing the results of a united effort; the dove, representing living peaceably; and the moon and seven stars, representing the value of regularity in work. The broken column, as seen in the middle of this piece, was a Victorian symbol of untimely death or the loss of the head of a household—we have not been able to find evidence that this is a more specific Odd Fellows symbol. However, one may speculate that the prominent use of the broken column on this piece is related to the death of the man regarded to be the founder of the Rebekahs, politician Schuyler Colfax, in 1885. This incredible piece of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs memorabilia is in excellent condition and has been professionally hand washed by Betsey.