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Brief description |
Earthenware jar with lid, Whitewater, 1845-1867. |
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Object name |
Jar |
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Date |
1845-1867 |
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Dimensions |
9 3/16"H x 5 ¾" base diam. |
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Materials and techniques |
Glazed wheel-thrown earthenware |
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Original location |
Whitewater, Walworth County, Wisconsin |
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Current location |
Kenosha, Kenosha County, Wisconsin |
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Description |
Ovoid earthenware jar with rolled rim and wide flat lip. Incised lines around collar and midsection. Flat turned lid with broad flat knob. Interior and exterior glazed yellow-orange. |
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History |
Earthenware potters in mid-nineteenth-century Wisconsin took advantage of the state's rich natural resources. They dug locally for their red and yellow clays, mixed glazes from lead mined in the southwest part of the state, and powered kilns with wood from nearby forests. Between 1845 and 1882, the city of Whitewater, Walworth County, Wisconsin was home to five potteries operated by both German immigrants and settlers from New York and New England. The Whitewater potteries supplied settlers in the region with a wide variety of utilitarian forms including jars, crocks, pots, and churns for food storage and preparation. By about 1867, the Whitewater potteries transitioned from the production of glazed utilitarian wares to unglazed flowerpots and vases.
An 1861 feature in the Whitewater Register describes the pottery works of Warren Cole and William Hunter: "Cole and Hunter own and occupy and run the large Whitewater pottery on James Street, directly in front of the south side of the R. R. passenger depot. This business employs from 15 to 20 hands and three heavy teams, uses horse power for grinding the clay, and consumes over 400 cords of wood and 250 loads of clay annually, besides about 15,000 lbs. of mineral for glazing their ware. The clay is procured entirely in town and within a few miles from here and costs about one dollar and a half per load; and the mineral is brought mostly from Grant County and costs $37 ½ per thousand. The manufactures of this establishment embrace all kinds of earthenware to the amount of 200,000 gallons, valued at about $14,000, annually." |
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Sources |
L. K. Hawes, "An Exhibit of the Business of the Village of Whitewater" Whitewater Register, April 26, 1861; Albert Clayton Beckwith, History of Walworth County, Wisconsin (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen and Co., 1912), p. 463; Kori Oberle, "Whitewater Pottery" in Kenneth Dearolf, Wisconsin Folk Pottery in the Collection of the Kenosha Public Museum (1986). |
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Related objects |
Two similar jars from the Kenosha Public Museum's collections are also documented in the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database (object #s 75-48 and 94.9): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,1276 and http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,1281 |
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Owner |
Kenosha Public Museum |
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Object # |
74-364 |
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Rights |
(c) 2007 by the Kenosha Public Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.kenosha.org/museum/ |
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Digital collection |
Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
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Digital identifier |
KPM051 |
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Digital format |
image/jpeg |
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Type |
Physical object |
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Keywords |
Ceramics; Pottery; Earthenware; Redware; Jar; Vessel (container); Container (receptacle); Furnishings and equipment; Food Processing Tools and Equipment |
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Date digitized |
2008-03-26 |
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Date modified |
2011-02-02 |
