Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery

Shajuan LindseyLindsay Raikes

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• Overview

– The art of making pottery existed during the American pioneer days. Techniques have changed over the years, but the concept has remained the same. “Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln to induce reactions that lead to

permanent changes, including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape.”1

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery#Background

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• Questions

– HISTORY• What are some of the key points to the origin

of pottery in the American pioneer days?• What kinds of pottery objects did pioneers

make?• How has the process of pottery changed over

time?

– ECONOMICS • How was pottery sold or traded? • How much did pottery cost?• Did potters work full-time?• How did a potter learn his trade?

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• Standard Indicators

– This inquiry project connects to Indiana Social Studies Standards, such as:• Standard 4 Economics, Indicator K.4.2: Identify and

describe different kinds of jobs that people do and the tools or equipment used in these jobs. 2

• Standard 1 History, Indicator 2.1.2: Explain changes in daily life in the community over time using maps, photographs, news stories, Web sites or video images (Individuals, Society, and Culture). 2

• Standard 4 Economics, Indicator 2.4.3: Explain that a price is what people pay when they buy a good or service and what people receive when they sell a good or service. 2

2http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/PrintLibrary/index.shtml#social_studies

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• What are some of the key points to the origin of pottery in the

American pioneer days?– “The householders of early America imported the outfittings of their tables from the

kilns of England, the fine potteries of France, and later, from the Orient. Little native pottery, made by isolated potters, was turned out until after the middle of the eighteenth century. But the early part of the nineteenth brought more interest in home manufactured earthenware.

– The early potters were unable to find clays of the quality used in making the famous wares of England. A clay bed was discovered at Huntington, Long Island, and a pottery was established which operated from pre-Revolutionary days until 1904… About the year 1800 gray stoneware, frequently decorated with blue, was produced…Common brick clay furnished the basis for redware. It was fired at a low temperature, was lead-glazed, and decorated in colored slip. Gray stoneware was harder than the redware and also more expensive. Connecticut, the birthplace of the bean-pot, led in the production of pottery and earthenware was made in great quantities from 1771 until 1850. Potteries were working in Norwich as early as 1796. The one at Bean Hill was well known, and later, about 1836, the Norwich Pottery Works were established. The clay was brought in schooners from New Jersey and Long Island, and the products were distributed to country stores by wagons. The business was abandoned in 1895, and, today, not a trace of the industry remains. Norwich had a pottery in 1780; Hartford in 1790; Stoningham in 1798.

– Massachusetts boasts of having one of the earliest of New England potters. John Pride of Salem, who was producing pottery in 1641. There were potteriesat Danvers, Charlestown, Weston, and Ashfield. An unusual ware, having an almost black glaze, was produced in Peabody.”3

3http://www.oldandsold.com/articles01/article954.shtml

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• History Cont’d.

– “It is believed that the earliest pottery wares were hand-built and fired in bonfires. Firing times were short but the peak-temperatures achieved in the fire could be high, perhaps in the region of 900 degrees Celsius, and were reached very quickly. Clays tempered with sand, grit, crushed shell or crushed pottery were often used to make bonfire-fired ceramics, because they provided an open body texture that allows water and other volatile components of the clay to escape freely.”4

– “In the main, early bonfire-fired wares were made with rounded bottoms, to avoid sharp angles that might be susceptible to cracking. The earliest intentionally constructed kilns were pit-kilns or trench-kilns; holes dug in the ground and covered with fuel. Holes in the ground provided insulation and resulted in better control over firing.” 4

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery#History

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• What kinds of pottery objects did pioneers

make?

– “Pitchers, crocks, mixing-bowls, jars, jugs, pie-plates, and bean-pots were made in deep red shades with added decorative splashes… New England potters were expert with but two kinds of pottery, redware and stoneware. Country stores sold redware crocks, jars, churns, pitchers, mugs, bottles, cups, milk-pans, pie-plates, inkstands, butter and pickle pots, teapots, vases, sugar bowls, plates, and plattersin fact, all of the commodities of this sort which the ingenuity of the Yankee potter contrived for household use.”3

3 http://www.oldandsold.com/articles01/article954.shtml

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• Objects Cont’d.

– There are several different purposes to each of the pottery containers. One of the main uses was for storage of food, liquids, and dry goods.

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• How has the process of pottery

changed over time?

– Early pioneers used to hand craft different types of stoneware, and they fired (hardened) them using bonfires. Today, potters use electric-powered potter’s wheels to shape different objects. They can now decorate and glaze these objects before firing them in a kiln.

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery•How was pottery sold or traded?

– “Potters sold to country stores on contract and exchanged smaller lots with neighbors for goods and services.”55http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/village_tour.html?S=L-28

•Did potters work full-time?

– “Some worked full-time as potters while others farmed for a living and only worked at the trade part-time to supplement their farm incomes.” 5

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery

5

http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/village_tour.html?S

=L-28

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• How much did pottery cost?

– “Common red ware was relatively inexpensive. Some items sold for only a few cents, while larger red ware pieces cost more. Keep in mind that monetary values were different in the 19th century than they are today.”5

5

http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/village_to

ur.html?S=L-28

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery•How did a potter learn his trade?

– “Boys learned to be potters by working with an experienced potter. A potter usually began as a apprentice. Sometimes a boy learned from his father. If he apprenticed with someone else, the boy usually lived with the master potter and became a part of his family, trading his labor for food, clothing, and practical education in the “arts and mysteries” of the potter trade. “5

5http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/village_tour.html?S=L-28

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• What kind of expressive arts activities

could be integrated with this inquiry project?

– ART (Do with 2-3)• Like the pioneers, students could use their hands to

make their own clay pots. They could watch this video before doing the craft to learn proper technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=artKpYlr1Js&feature=related

– ART (Do with K-1)• If actual pottery materials are not available for the

students to work with, they could paint/draw examples of pioneer pottery they have learned about.

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery• What kind of expressive arts

activities could be integrated with this inquiry project? (cont’d.)

– MUSIC & MOVEMENT• Students can create and sing a song about the

different types of pottery they have learned about.

Pioneer PotteryPioneer Pottery•Resources

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery#Background– http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/

PrintLibrary/index.shtml#social_studies– http://www.oldandsold.com/articles01/

article954.shtml– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery#History– http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/village_tour.html?

S=L-28– www.pottery-magic.com/pottery/topics/

more_pottery.htm– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=artKpYlr1Js&featu

re=related