The Pottery Collection of MIT Professor Emeritus Frank H. Norton at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

Yesterday, my niece, nephew and myself debuted a new YouTube channel that we have created, where we will post videos that talk about eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century pottery that is (mostly) American-made. We posted two videos yesterday - we talked about pottery produced in Newburyport, Massachusetts, circa 1897-1908, as-well-as a collection of pottery that was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1971 from MIT Professor Emeritus Frank H. Norton (1896-1992), who was also a direct descendant of the famous nineteenth-century Frank B. Norton Pottery in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Although, it is also documented today that Frank H. Norton was also an accomplished potter having produced both decorative red earthenware and stoneware objects in the twentieth-century. To my knowledge: the Museum of Fine Arts owns the bulk of Norton's production that is known today; however, I was able to acquire two objects from Norton's granddaughter a few years ago on Cape Cod, which we discussed in one of the YouTube videos that we posted yesterday. Both of these unusual objects were reportedly made by Frank H. Norton, circa 1940's.

Nevertheless, I also acquired some other pottery from Frank H. Norton's granddaughter, which included a small vase made at the Merrimac Ceramic Company in Newburyport and another vase that was made at the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts. I was told that these objects were a part of Frank H. Norton's Collection that he did not donate to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1971.

The following object is a vase that would likely be generically attributed to New England or possibly Pennsylvania today from the nineteenth-century. But I was told by Norton's granddaughter that this vase was actually acquired by Frank H. Norton from the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody in 1928. The Museum of Fine Arts owns additional examples of Paige's production that had come from Norton, which also appear like nineteenth-century products, but they all date from the twentieth-century.

It is difficult to tell from the photos, but this vase also shows small traces of slip-decoration, which is a style of decoration that I do not believe has been tied to twentieth-century Peabody before. The use of slip-decoration in eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century Essex County, Massachusetts has been an ongoing research subject that I would like to better explain in the future.

Note: Here are links to the Professor Emeritus Frank H. Norton Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston - his collection spans a wide range of pottery, which includes ancient objects to twentieth-century production. But he definitely shows a special interest with the pottery that was produced along coastal Massachusetts in the late-nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. A number of the objects from Norton's collection are also currently on display at the museum.

1) Some of Frank H. Norton's Production Owned by the MFA in Boston

2) Frank H. Norton's Collection of Pottery at MFA in Boston

Moses Paige Pottery Vase - Peabody, Mass.

 20th Century Red Earthenware Vase

Reportedly Made at the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass
Acquired by MIT Professor Emeritus Frank H. Norton at the Moses Paige Pottery

Reportedly Purchased at the Pottery in 1928

F.H. Norton was a Direct Descendant of the Frank B. Norton Pottery in Worcester, Mass.

Circa 1928

Stands 8 1/4" Tall
See Article for More Information

Another View of the Vase

 View of the Interior

View of the Base

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...