This is an elongated oval section of a clip rug that indicates the process of making this type of rug. The center is golden brown with spots of dark brown and is encircled with a complete ring of dark brown and a partial ring of rust and gray tweed. Accessions .0003-.0008 are samples showing the process of making clip rugs.

Indiana, Hamilton County, Westfield. The donor's mother, Hilda Whitton Lease, was the daughter of English immigrants from Beverly, Yorkshire. Beaumont Sharp Whitton and his wife, Ellen Luden Whitton, emigrated from Yorkshire about 1873 with their first child so that Beaumont, a stoneworker, could work on the Indiana State Capitol. A clip rug of this type was probably brought with them. The donor, Dr. Hilda L. Jay, remembers that "Grandmother had a small clip rug that was always at the bottom of the staircase. Then when I traveled in Great Britain I discovered similar rugs in their museums and . . . could show Mom how to make them. Result: many rugs. Several of hers are in the Smithsonian and at least one is in the American Museum in Bath, England. " Further communication from the donor clarified that she "saw a rug-making demonstration in L. S. Ayres department store in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, in which the double cords were being used to knot short pieces of yarn. It struck [her] that this would work with fabric clips and result in a rug something like grandmother's. This adventure started my Mom on making clip rugs and she never quit until her fingers gave out. . . . I believe grandmother used either knitting needles or crochet hooks to create the web into which the clips were knotted." The family also still has several rugs.