History
The following information is from an article, "From the Archives!! Our Beginnings!!", written by Barbara Baker-Dykens in the RHGNS Newsletter, February 1997.
Rug hooking has flourished in Nova Scotia for generations. According to our archives, Edna Withrow, from Ottawa, influenced rug hooking in Nova Scotia throughout the 50's, 60's and 70's. Through the Nova Scotia Department of Handcrafts, Mrs Withrow taught classes in several areas: Cape Breton, Halifax, the South Shore and the Annapolis Valley.
In October 1977, Joan Moshimer conducted a one day workshop entitled "Hooking and Shading Featuring Birds" in New Ross. One hundred and twenty craftspeople attended this workshop. Eager for more knowledge, craftspeople from the Valley and South Shore areas attended a rug school in Windham, Maine in 1977 and 1978.
It was at this time that Phyllis Best, Helen Giles and Lorraine Rand met with Doris Eaton and Nancy Wolff and decided that it was time to form a guild in Nova Scotia. At a meeting in the Forties on April 2, 1979 the motion to form the Rug Hooking Guild of Nova Scotia was passed unanimously.
The initial aims and purposes of the guild were "to hold rug camps and work shops and get information, requirements and qualifications regarding exhibitions, shows etc. Also to help groups to get information regarding teachers for specific topics."