The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Marion J. Nelson

Title:               Art pottery papers

Dates:             1960-2000

Call No.:         Col. 708

Acc. No.:         02x174

Quantity:        6 cu. ft.

Location:        15 G 1-4

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Marion John Nelson was an art history professor and a collector of art pottery.  He received his degrees from the University of Minnesota, where he also taught.  Dr. Nelson’s chief interests were Scandinavian art, the arts and crafts of Scandinavian immigrants in the United States, and American art pottery.  He wrote or contributed to more than a dozen books, and was curator of more than fifty art and pottery exhibits.  Books which he edited or wrote include Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition; Art Pottery of the Midwest; and Norwegian-American Wood Carving of the Upper Midwest. 

 

Although other writers and lecturers about art pottery tried to make a clear distinction between art pottery and industrial art ware, Dr. Nelson did not.  He believed that the distinction between the two was based on artistic merit, and since he considered merit a matter of individual judgment, he thought it was difficult to make a clear separation between art pottery and industrial art ware.  Dr. Nelson was noted for giving aesthetic evaluations of art pottery, that is, he was able to tell his audience (either readers of his books or audiences at his lectures) why art pottery had appeal and what made a piece good.

 

Dr. Nelson was made a knight in the Royal Order of St. Olaf, an honor conferred by King Olav V of Norway.  He served as director of Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.  Dr. Nelson’s wife Lila joined him in collecting art pottery and worked with him in researching potteries in Ohio.  Dr. Nelson died in September 2000.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection includes Dr. Nelson’s notes and photographs from his years of research and exhibition curatorship.  There is an emphasis on potteries located in the Midwest.  Also included are Dr. Nelson’s correspondence with collectors and scholars, including Paul Evans, whose papers are at Winterthur (Col. 598), and newsletters from collectors’ groups, including the Ceramic Arts Studio Collectors, the Red Wing Collector’s Society, and the Haeger Pottery Collectors Association.  Many of the photos and slides are identified, but unfortunately, there are a number which are not. 

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

The papers are divided into five series: I. Notes and photos about individual potteries; II. Dr. Nelson’s writings; III. Correspondence; IV. Other files; and V. Note cards, photographs and negatives. 

 

 

PROVENANCE

           

Gift of Lila (Mrs. Marion J.) Nelson.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Evans, Paul, 1937-

 

Topics:

            Haeger Potteries.

            Ceramic Arts Studio.

            Red Wing Potteries.

 

            Pottery – United States – Arts and Crafts Movement.

            Art pottery, American.

            Pottery – Ohio.

            Commercial catalogs – Pottery, American.

 

                        Black-and-white photographs.

                        Color photographs.

                        Correspondence.

                        Commercial catalogs.

                        Collectors.

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 15 G 1-4

 

 

Series I: Notes and photos about individual potteries

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          Abingdon Pottery (Abingdon, Illinois)

 

Folder 2:          Arc-en-Ciel

 

Folder 3:          Arkansas pottery

                        [note: Niloak in separate folder]

 

Folder 4:          Auburn Pottery (Cincinnati)

 

Folder 5:          Avon (Cincinnati)

 

Folder 6:          Barberton

 

Folder 7:          Bennett, Edwin

 

Folder 8:          Brown County (Indiana) – pottery

 

Folder 9:          Brush-McCoy

 

Folder 10:        Buffalo Pottery

 

Folder 11:        Cambridge Art Pottery

 

Folder 12:        Cincinnati Art Pottery

 

Folder 13:        Cliftwood Pottery

 

Folder 14:        Cowen

 

Folder 15:        Craven Art Pottery

 

Folder 16:        Dedham

 

Folder 17:        Dickota

 

Folder 18:        Durant

 

Folder 19:        Ephraim Faience Art Pottery

 

Folder 20:        Florentine Pottery

 

Folder 21:        Frankoma Art Pottery

 

Folder 22:        Fraunfelter China Co.

 

Folder 23:        Fulper

 

Folder 24:        Geijsbeek, Samuel

 

Folder 25:        Goodwin, John

 

Folder 26:        Grueby

 

Folder 27:        Haeger Potteries: articles and miscellaneous

 

Folder 28:        Haeger Potteries: correspondence

 

Folder 29:        Haeger Potteries: pictures and photos

 

Folder 30:        Haeger Potteries: The HPCA News

 

Folder 31:        Haeger Potteries: draft of paper by Paradis or Nelson

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1:          Haeger Potteries: catalogs

 

Folder 2:          Haeger Potteries: shape book [photocopy]

 

Folder  3:         Hampshire Pottery

 

Folder 4:          Harker Pottery

 

Folder 5:          Indiana pottery: Muncie and others

 

Folder 6:          Iowa State University Pottery

 

Folder 7:          Jervis Pottery

 

Folder 8:          Jugtown pottery

 

Folder 9:          Knowles-Taylor-Knowles

 

Folder 10:        Laselle Brothers

 

Folder 11:        Long, W. A.

 

Folder 12:        Lotus Ware

 

Folder 13:        Lower Sioux Pottery

 

Folder 14:        Marblehead Pottery

 

Folder 15:        Markham Pottery

 

Folder 16:        McLaughlin, M. Louisa

 

Folder 17:        McNicol, D. E., Jr.

 

Folder 18:        Minnesota Art Pottery Association

 

 

Box 3:

 

Folder 1:          Minneapolis Arts and Crafts Society

 

Folder 2:          Minnesota pottery

 

Folder 3:          Minnesota pottery: Red Wing

 

Folder 4:          Minnesota pottery: Red Wing Collector’s Society, Inc., Newsletter

 

Folder 5:          Moorcroft, W. R.

 

Folder 6:          Morgan, Matt

 

Folder 7:          Newcomb Pottery

 

Folder 8:          Newell Pottery

 

Folder 9:          Niloak

 

Folder 10:        Norse Pottery

 

Folder 11:        North Dakota, University of

 

Folder 12:        North Dakota potteries: photocopies of materials from UND Special Collections

 

Folder 13:        North Dakota Pottery Collectors Society

 

Folder 14:        Ohr, George

 

 

Box 4:

 

Folder 1:          Overbeck Pottery

 

Folder 2:          Owen China Co.

 

Folder 3:          Owens Pottery (J. B. Owens Pottery Co.)

 

Folder 4:          Paul Revere Pottery

 

Folder 5:          Pauline Pottery

 

Folder 6:          Peters & Reed Pottery Co.

 

Folders 7-8:     Pewabic Pottery

 

Folder 9:          Pewabic Pottery: life of Mary Chase Perry

           

Folder 10:        Pewabic Pottery: photos

 

Folder 11:        Pisgah Forest Pottery

 

Folder 12:        Radford Pottery Co.

 

Folder 13:        Robineau, Adelaide Alsop

 

 

Box 5:

 

Folder 1:          Rookwood Pottery: pre-Rookwood and early Rookwood

 

Folder 2:         Rookwood Pottery: 1893

 

Folder 3:          Rookwood Pottery: pre-1900

 

Folder 4:          Rookwood Pottery: pre-1900: Artus van Briggle (1888), John D. Wareham (1899), Japanese influence

 

Folder 5:          Rookwood Pottery: 1900-1910

 

Folder 6:          Rookwood Pottery: 1911-1920

 

Folder 7:          Rookwood Pottery: 1921-1930

 

Folder 8:          Rookwood Pottery: 1931-1950

 

Folder 9:          Rookwood Pottery: 1951-1970

 

Folder 10:        Rookwood Pottery: Norse Room (Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh)

 

Folder 11:        Rookwood Pottery: pieces in foreign collections

 

Folder 12:        Rosemeade Pottery

 

Folder 13:        Roseville Pottery

 

Folder 14:        Roseville Pottery: photos

 

 

Box 6:

 

Folder 1:          Shawsheen Ware

 

Folder 2:          Teco Pottery

 

Folder 3:          Tiffany

 

Folder 4:          Upjohn, C. B.

 

Folder 5:          Van Briggle

 

Folder 6:          Vance (later Avon)

 

Folder 7:          Volkmar

 

Folder 8:          Weller

 

Folder 9:          Weller: photos

 

Folder 10:        Wheatley, T. J.

 

Folder 11:        Wheeling

 

Folder 12:        Zanesville Potteries

 

 

Series II: Dr. Nelson’s writings

 

Box 6:

 

Folder 13:        “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: bibliography

 

Folder 14:        “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: draft

 

Folder 15:        “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: illustrations

 

Folder 16:        “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: text

 

 

Box 7:

 

Folder 1:          “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: text: draft

 

Folder 2:          “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: text: first carbon

 

Folder 3:          “The Commercial Art Pottery of Ohio”: text: second carbon

 

Folder 4:          “The Geography of American Art Pottery” [by Nelson?]

 

Folder 5:          “Indigenous Characteristics in American Art Pottery,” by Nelson, with correspondence about article

 

Folder 6:          Pottery lecture

 

Folder 7:          Resume of presentation for the art session of SASS, 1984

 

Folder 8:          Review of Decorative Art in Modern Interiors [reviewed by Nelson]

 

Folder 9:          “Scandinavian Romanticism in American Decorative Art,” by Nelson

 

 

Series III: Correspondence

 

Box 7:

 

Folder 10:        Correspondence, 1960-1962

 

Folder 11:        Correspondence, 1963

 

Folder 12:        Correspondence, 1964

 

Folder 13:        Correspondence, 1965

 

Folder 14:        Correspondence, 1966

 

Folder 15:        Correspondence, 1967

 

 

Box 8:

 

Folder 1:          Correspondence, 1968

 

Folder 2:          Correspondence, 1969

 

Folder 3:          Correspondence, 1972-1974

 

Folder 4:          Correspondence, 1974-1979  

 

Folder 5:          Correspondence, 1980s-1990s

 

Folder 6:          Blasberg, Robert: correspondence and articles

 

Folder 7:          Evans, Paul: correspondence (with copies of Charles Binns’ correspondence)

 

Folder 8:          Gifford, David: correspondence

 

Folder 9:          Mohr, Richard: correspondence

 

 

Series IV: Other files

 

Box 8:

 

Folder 10:        Aesthetic movement in America

 

Folder 11:        American art pottery: articles about, and general information

 

Folder 12:        American art pottery: articles by Charles Binns, 1916-1918

 

Folder 13:        American art pottery: sales notices, auction catalogs

 

Folder 14:        American art pottery: women involved

 

Folder 15:        American Art Pottery Association

 

Folder 16:        Art Deco pottery

 

Folder 17:        Art nouveau in America

 

Folder 18:        Art nouveau in American ceramics

 

 

Box 9:

 

Folder 1:          Art pottery: damage and restoration (photos)

 

Folder 2:          Art pottery: unidentified

 

Folder 3:          Art pottery: values

 

Folder 4:          Arts and crafts movement, American

 

Folder 5:          Bindesboll, Thorvald (Danish)

 

Folder 6:          Ceramic Arts Studio: preparation for lecture

 

Folders 7-8:     CAS Collector (Ceramic Arts Studio Collectors newsletter)

 

Folder 9:          Crystalline glazes         

 

Folder 10:        Decorative arts exhibit, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1964-1965

 

Folder 11:        Exhibit: Art Pottery of the Midwest

 

Folder 12:        Exhibition themes

 

Folder 13:        Foreign art pottery: France

 

Folder 14:        Foreign pottery: England, Denmark

 

Folder 15:        Foreign pottery: general

 

Folder 16:        Furniture, American: Cincinnati

 

 

Box 10:

 

Folder 1:          Gifts: index to photos

 

Folders 2-3:     Midwest art pottery exhibit at University of Minnesota, fall 1988

 

Folder 4:          Midwest art pottery exhibit at University of Minnesota, fall 1988: loan agreements

 

Folder 5:          Museums of pottery

 

Folder 6:          Negatives

 

Folder 7:          Ohio clay industry before 1910

 

Folder 8:          Photos: pieces form miscellaneous potteries outside Ohio

 

Folder 9:          Photos: several potteries on one photo

 

Folder 10:        Pottery: general

 

Folder 11:        Studio pottery

 

Folder 12:        Tile industry

 

 

Box 11:

 

Folder 1:          “Two Decades of Newcomb Pottery,” exhibition catalog, 1963

 

Folder 2:          plaque: certificate of appreciation given to Dr. Nelson by the Ceramic Arts Studio Collectors Association and the Wisconsin Pottery Association, 1998

 

 

 

Series V: Note cards, photos, and negatives

 

           

Box 12:           Rookwood Pottery: note and photos

 

Box 13:           Rookwood Pottery: notes

 

Box 14:           notes on various potteries

 

Box 15:           notes on potteries: arranged by state and country

 

Box 16:           notes on potteries: arranged by state, plus additional notes

 

Box 17:           notes on Weller and potteries located in Zanesville, Ohio

 

Box 18:           notes on Roseville and other potteries

 

Box 19:           miscellaneous note cards

 

Box 20:           Slides: Ceramic Art Society and foreign pottery

 

Box 21:           Slides: many illustrating different glazes

 

Box 22:           Slides: Ceramic Art Studio lecture and unidentified

 

Box 23:           Slides: unidentified

 

Box 24:           Slides: unidentified

 

Box 25:           Slides: various potteries

 

Boxes 26-30:  Photographs and negatives (some identified, some not)