Editorial
Museum of Ceramics: Love it or lose it
By Sarah Webster Vodrey (Historic Site Manager, The Museum of Ceramics)Article Photos
Fact Box
Alert: As of April 11, 2008, an Ohio Historical Society press release announced, among other things, that the funding allocated by the Ohio Historical Society to the Museum of Ceramics would be discontinued in the coming fiscal year. For the full text of the press release, visit www.ohiohistory.org. Our last day as an official, staffed site of the Ohio Historical Society is scheduled to be May 30, 2008, so do visit before then if you can. Between now and then we will keep our regular hours of 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.There are currently valiant efforts on the part of supporters near and far to find ways to keep our doors open after May 30, 2008. We have the nation’s largest public display of the award winning Lotus Ware porcelain, two dozen 1930’s paintings, and a W.P.A. mural. With thousands of ceramic items displayed on two floors, dozens of artifacts, and three dioramas with life size mannequins, most visitors need at least an hour and a half to enjoy it all. Do try to visit on or before May 30, 2008 (1-800-600-7180).
Though now only partially accessible for visitors using wheelchairs, we still have hope that no matter who is in charge of this site, we’ll soon be able to offer our visitors full access. The Museum of Ceramics has been open for 28 years this month, hosting thousands of visitors from more than 40 states and nearly 35 countries.
For additional information about the Museum past, present, and future, visit www.themuseumofceramics.org.
Why should anyone care about the Museum of Ceramics? Why bother visiting a building filled with a lot of old pottery? As the site’s Historic Site Manager for the past three-and-a-half years, permit me to offer my admittedly biased answers to such questions.
This area currently has a tangible and valuable cultural attraction to rival those found around the world: our own museum. Having visited dozens of museums on this continent and in Europe, I can honestly say that the Museum of Ceramics is a gem. It is every bit as interesting, educational, and valuable as any museum of its size anywhere else.
In recent years the Museum of Ceramics has brought visitors to this tri-state area from more than 40 states and almost 35 countries. It is among the main tourist attractions in the area. For those considering a move to the area, the Museum is a selling point. For those who have moved away, the Museum is a haven of their history and culture and inspires regular return visits. The Museum has hosted anniversary parties, history camps, school groups, community groups, and historical lecture series.
Descendants of potters hold their reunions here. Ceramics collectors visit individually and in larger groups for conventions, lectures, and guided tours. Although the museum is not currently designed or staffed as a research facility, hundreds of researchers and writers have sought and received our help over the decades.
The building is an architectural feast for the eyes inside and out, with Beaux Arts ornaments, a graceful exterior facade, high arched ceilings, and marble trim inside. Dozens of paintings on two levels illustrate the people and processes so important to the pottery industry of yesteryear. Original artifacts such as the Salt and Mear potter’s wheel give visitors of all ages the chance to actually touch history. Each of the thousands of items displayed was carefully chosen for its cultural, historic, or artistic significance. From 1840’s yellow ware and Rockingham to sturdy ironstone pieces of the 1880’s, visitors find much to enjoy. The most popular part of the collection is Lotus Ware porcelain, which won awards during the 1890’s.
The Museum of Ceramics is the place to visit to see the nation’s largest public display. For visitors with more modern tastes, 20th century pottery made by The Hall China Co. and The Homer Laughlin China Co. is a highlight. This may be the only museum in the nation where you can see a ceramic trophy celebrating the transcontinental flight of a carrier pigeon.
The exhibits at the Museum of Ceramics were designed to be thorough.
Negative facets of our history as well as positive ones are acknowledged.
Racism, labor turmoil, and child labor issues are all addressed here. The photographs of child pottery workers are poignant examples of this. The ‘good old days’ were not necessarily good for everyone.
Whether one visits the Museum of Ceramics with heavy or a happy heart, it is often the case that one leaves with lighter spirits. Every item on display tells a story. Real people made these things, toiling long hours in difficult working conditions. In spite of all their challenges, those diligent potters created thousands of objects that still fascinate, educate, and enlighten us even hundreds of years later. Problems, whether political, religious, artistic, historical, economic, or even personal, often become easier to bear after a visit to the museum. Knowledge of the past puts the present in perspective and can provide a better foundation to face the future.
Whatever you expect to find, you probably will. If you visit the Museum of Ceramics expecting to find just a bunch of old dishes, that is probably all you will see. If however you expect to learn, to discover, to enjoy, and to grow, then I can practically guarantee you will find what you expect. All three Ohio Historical Society staff members agree that every single day we are here we find new things to appreciate about the place and its exhibits.
Perhaps your last visit was decades ago. Perhaps you visited with your children during a school group tour. Perhaps you’ve never yet visited, but have always been proud that your community has this museum. Perhaps you visit often since you learn something new each time you come. Perhaps you yourself are a descendant or relative of potters, as is true of every staff person here. Perhaps you don’t even live in the area, but you love the museum enough that you visit every single time you can.
Our ceramics history and heritage is taken so much for granted that local visitors often tell me they have no potters in their families. Then in their next breath they change their minds and tell me of three or four people in their families who do fit that description.
No matter when you last visited, the time is now to make sure the Museum will still be here for you in the future. The Museum of Ceramics has asked little or nothing of its community and its supporters near and far in the first twenty eight years of its existence. Now the time has come for all of us who value what the Museum offers, and what it could offer in the future — a wonderful combination of history, art, science, architecture, and cultural resources — to join our energies and efforts for the common good. None of us is particularly powerful. No single person or group has the financial resources to save the museum. There is strength in numbers however. I believe that if enough of us choose to, we will together manage to help the Museum of Ceramics survive not just for another few decades but for even longer. This crisis could in fact be the beginning of a new life for the museum, and its role in the community. Let’s give future generations something to appreciate. Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the old post office building. Let us work together to ensure that we’ll be celebrating that event inside the Museum of Ceramics.
To learn more about how you can help, contact the Friends of the Museum at museumofceramicsfriends@comcast.net, or write to The Friends of the Museum, P.O. Box 60, East Liverpool, Ohio, 43920
Sincerely,
Sarah Webster Vodrey
Historic Site Manager, The Museum of Ceramics
400 East Fifth St.
E.Liverpool, Ohio 43920
1-800-600-7180
330-386-6001
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