Carpet bag

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A carpet bag is a traveling bag made of carpet, commonly from an oriental rug, ranging in size from a small purse to a large duffel bag. They probably have ancient origins, as old as carpets themselves, as any carpet remnant can be transformed into sturdy and tough luggage, in its most primitive form, by folding a carpet in half and sewing up the sides - internal frames, latches, handles, buttons etc.. increased its utility. Carpets are usually of a tight weave and last a long time under the tramping of feet, dirt and water, thus they also stand up well to the rigors of travel luggage. Older carpets that were no longer beautiful or useful household items could be re-purposed as useful and often good looking luggage.

Such bags were popular in the United States and Europe during the 19th century, but probably can be found historically wherever carpets were used. They are still made to this day, typically as women's decorative small luggage and purses, although typically no longer out of old carpets.

The carpetbaggers of the Reconstruction era were given their name from this type of luggage which they carried.

From the Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886 "The old-fashioned carpet bag (Fig. 1) is still unsurpassed by any, where rough wear is the principal thing to be studied. Such a bag, if constructed of good Brussels carpeting and unquestionable workmanship, will last a lifetime, provided always that a substantial frame is used."

Carpet bags sometimes also served the dual use as a "railway rug", a common item in the 19th century to keep warm in drafty and unheated rail-cars. The rug could either be opened as a blanket, or latched up on the sides as a dual purpose traveling bag. From Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879): "..my railway-rug, which, being also in the form of a bag, made me a double castle for cold nights."