A label on the back of the rug reads, 'In Golden Rule Gratitude to Coolidge'. It was intended as a gift to the United States, and was formally presented to President Calvin Coolidge on December 4, 1925. In the early 1920s, as a token of appreciation for Near East Relief having protected them, four hundred orphaned girls wove a carpet over the course of 18 months. An orphanage run by Near East Relief in Ghazir, Lebanon, housed many such orphans. One hundred thousand orphans were assisted by Near East Relief, an American-led relief organization.

Its most recent public display was in November 2014 at the White House Visitors' Center as part of the exhibition 'Thank you to the United States: Three Gifts to Presidents in Gratitude for American Generosity Abroad'.ĭue to the Armenian genocide, thousands of orphans and refugees were resettled in the Middle East and placed in orphanages throughout the region. It was returned by the Coolidge family to the White House in 1982.

The carpet took eighteen months to make and was eventually shipped to the United States where it was given to President Calvin Coolidge as a gift in 1925.

The Armenian Orphan Rug, also known as the Ghazir Orphans' Rug, is an Armenian styled carpet woven by orphans of the Armenian genocide in Ghazir, Lebanon. The Armenian Orphan Rug, also known as the Ghazir Orphans' Rug