Know Your America: Geography through Souvenir Pottery, Plates and the Rest
An example of a Rowland & Marsellus Co. Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition commemorative blue transferware plate, ca. 1909. The exposition was held in Seattle in 1909 and the face decoration depicts various Seattle and area landmarks.
From lovely plates and delicate pitchers to decorative trinket boxes and figural animals, souvenir pottery was proudly displayed in American homes for decades.
Today, many of the more interesting pieces—such as a plate honoring the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition or a ceramic dog labeled Wheatland, Wyoming—are the subject of renewed interest among the current generation of collectors.
America’s “golden age” of souvenir pottery began in the 1890s and extended through the 1930s. While numerous items were also produced in the years that followed, production costs and public demand generally reversed positions.
Ironically, the country’s first true romance with souvenir pottery was not linked to tourism but rather the simple appeal of interesting scenes. Early in the 19th century, England’s Josiah Wedgwood was successfully producing wares for the American market which depicted scenes of the Revolutionary war and historical sites.
By the 1820s, the entire Staffordshire pottery district of England was busy applying European and American scenes, or “views,” to their distinctive pottery. Blue-and-white transfers produced striking images for buyers who would not likely visit the actual sites themselves.
You don’t have to guess where this commemorative place hails from.
Landscapes and modes of transportation were sometimes featured, but a major focus was on specific buildings and other structures of note. Typically, such views appeared on plates or serving dishes, but they could also be found on mugs, spittoons, pitchers, creamers, trinket boxes and even chamber pots.
Most images were of a deep blue at first (in the earlier 1820s), but gradually, new and improved light blues were used over the next two decades. Still later, in the second half of the 19th century, potters were able to add multiple colors to a basic transfer for an even more striking image.
By the 1850s, such unique souvenir pottery was being proudly displayed in the homes of America’s more affluent people. The range of selected topics varied widely from the harbor of New York City to the hamlet of Vevay, Indiana. The scene of the “town” of Pittsburgh could be found along side another which highlighted the Deaf and Dumb Asylum of Hartford, Conn.
For some educated Americans, it might be relatively easy to recognize buildings of New York’s Crystal Palace if not, perhaps, the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, Ill. However, for the makers of such pottery in England, it could be much more of a problem.
A souvenir teacup & saucer depicting the Mt. Washington Cog Railway of New Hampshire. Multicolored transfer on both pieces, gold trim. Marked "Jonroth English Bone China.”
“If most (souvenir pottery) were copied from paintings or from portfolios of prints, all were equally strange to the Staffordshire potter,” noted Los Angeles County Museum curator Gregory Wilcox in “The Concise Encyclopedia of American Antiques.” The potter, therefore, could be forgiven, “if sometimes he mixed the tiles printed on his views.”
One of the first major connections between souvenir pottery and a specific event came with the
U.S. Centennial celebration of 1876 in Philadelphia. A number of that city’s own buildings appeared on items distributed to those who attended the event, including Independence Hall.
Those pottery souvenirs with historical views were particularly popular that special event. “Mementos of colonial and revolutionary days were discovered as if seen for the first time at the Centennial Exhibition . . . by people in great numbers,” Wilcox wrote.
By the time the Columbian Exposition arrived in 1893, Americans were totally fascinated with all manner of illustrated souvenir pottery. That same year the Jones, McDuffee, and Stratton Importing Company of Boston contracted the ever familiar Wed