This is another preview from Chapter 8 of Volume I of my forthcoming two-volume, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts.
"...While some early twentieth century institutions and authors frequently categorized various types of New England slip decorated red earthenware in regional headings like "Connecticut decorated ware," modern ceramic historians and material culture researchers have increasingly recognized how fluid and interconnected early New England pottery traditions were.
For example, given the massive output of red earthenware kilns in Massachusetts coastal towns like Danvers, Salem, and Peabody, where thriving multi-generational families (many of which were Quakers) operated continuously from the eighteenth century onward—re-examining some foundational attributions highlights how common it was for early collectors to group some regional New England red earthenware under a single blanket state attribution before specific kiln sites, local account books, archaeological evidence or waste-pile excavations were fully documented.
This may be true of two slip decorated red earthenware jars from the Albert Hastings Pitkin (1815-1917) Collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. One is decorated in slip script with the initials, “DH,” while the other is adorned with “HA.” The “DH” jar was also painted as part of the Index of American Design for the Smithsonian Institute.
These pieces were first featured in John Spargo’s (1876-1966) 1926 landmark book, Early American Pottery and China, and are published again in my book, A City on the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area.
Spargo broadly attributed the jars to "Connecticut"—hypothesizing a Hartford-area origin, potentially linked to makers such as Hervey Brooks (1779-1873) of Goshen. However, in light of new evidence presented in this chapter regarding late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware manufactured in the Danvers and Salem area, a Massachusetts origin deserves consideration. Even so, direct documentation supporting this shift remains sparse, though Volume II of this book presents a diverse range of slip decorated red earthenware pans recovered in Salem that may share a related aesthetic tradition."
Note: For more information about the Hartford book - here is a link to the book: https://historicbeverly.net/product/a-city-on-the-river-the-early-red-earthenware-of-the-hartford-connecticut-area/.
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