The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur,
Delaware 19735
Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Wagner, J. Richard
Title: Adams Pottery research files
Dates: circa 1991-2000
Call No.: Col. 921
Acc. No.: 13x98
Quantity: 10 boxes (about 2.5 cubic
feet)
Location: 12 F-G 6
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
J. Richard Wagner and his wife Judith Wagner have
long been interested in ceramics and collectibles. He was a professor of international relations
from 1964 to 1981, and when he retired, he started a business selling
collectibles. Judith Wagner was a social
worker from 1963 to 1978; she works with her husband in the collectibles
business. The Wagners became interested
in Adams pottery in 1993 when they walked into a collectibles shop and fell in
love with some Adams plates decorated with birds. The two of them collaborated with David A.
Furniss of England in research on the Adams family pottery business. Furniss was a physician who wrote about
ceramics. His family used Adams pottery
every day. These three lovers of Adams
ware co-wrote the book Adams Ceramics:
Staffordshire Potters and Pots, 1779-1998 (Schiffer Publishing, 1999; held
by the Winterthur Library).
The Adams pottery company was located in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent,
Staffordshire, England. The Adams family
had been farmers in Staffordshire at least since 1307, but some members also
made pottery for local use. William
Adams I (1746-1805) began to make higher quality wares, including jasper,
basalt, and cream stoneware. His family
died out, and a cousin William Adams III (1772-1829) established the William
Adams & Sons pottery. The company
concentrated on the export trade for much of its existence. In 1966, the company was sold to Wedgwood,
which continued to use the Adams name until the 1990s.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Collection includes some of the research notes which
the Wagners and David Furness gathered for their book Adams Ceramics: Staffordshire Potters and Pots, 1779-1998 (Atlgen,
Penn.: Schiffer Publishing, 1999). Of
particular note are lists of registration marks and lists of souvenir wares
made by the Adams pottery. Some advertising
material, promotional brochures about various lines, copies of 19th
century bills of lading, copies of photographs made at the Adams pottery, a
complete run of Adams Notes (a small
periodical published by David Furniss about the Adams pottery), price lists,
and other information is included.
Beginning around 1908, the Adams company collaborated with the American
company JonRoth (John Roth & Co.) to produce souvenir plates, and
information about this collaboration is included.
Also found are “pulls,” the engraved transfer prints
which were used to decorate the ceramic dishes.
Some of these are flat, while others are in rolls. Rounding out the collection are cassette tapes
of interviews with Joscelin Adams, the last of the Adams master potters. The interviews were conducted in 1991.
ORGANIZATION
The folders are in alphabetical order, with the
exception of the legal size files in box 1.
Cassette tapes are in box 7. Pulls
are in boxes 8-10.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Gift of Judith and J. Richard Wagner.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Adams, Joscelin F. W., 1919-1991
Topics:
William Adams & Sons.
Advertisements – Pottery.
Staffordshire
pottery - History.
Additional authors:
Wagner, Judith.
Furness, David A.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 12
F-G 6
Box 1: (legal
size files)
Folder 1: Adams,
Benjamin: appraisal of factory contents, Jan. 30, 1822
Folders 2-3: Bills
of lading, 19th century
[copies, not originals]
Box 2:
Folder 1: Adams
& Co. bankruptcy, 1860/61 and 1892
Folder 2: Adams
closure: notice to retailers, 1987
Folder 3: Adams
factory: history
Folder 4: Adams
factory: letterheads and advertisements
Folder 5: Adams
factory: pattern numbers
Folders 6-8: Adams
factory: price lists
Folder 9: Adams
factory: price lists, 1960s
Folder 10: Adams
factory: product brochures
Folder 11: Adams
family
Folder 12: Adams
jasper and basalt wares
Folder 13: Adams
jasper ware: catalog (1904) and loose sheets (1925)
Box 3:
Folder 1: Adams,
Joscelin: collection
Folder 2: Adams,
Joscelin: collection: photos
Folder 3: Adams Notes, numbers 1-21 (1988-1994)
Folder 4: Adams
original border
Folder 5: Adams,
Percy: scrapbook, some photocopies
Folder 6: Adams
potteries: locations, dates, photos of factories and wares
Folder 7: Adams
pottery sites: maps and pictures
Folder 8: Adams
pottery sites: working notes
Folder 9: Adams
registration marks (and some Meir)
Folder 10: Adams
registration marks: working papers
Folder 11: Adams
to Wedgwood: invoices
Folder 12: Borders,
prints, chromos, small engraving and couple pulls
Folder 13: “A
Brief History of One of Staffordshire’s Earliest Potteries,” 1908
[about
Adams]
Folder 13: Cartographics
(firm): Tunstall sites
Box 4:
Folder 1: Country Life: articles
Folder 2: Engravers
note book, 1947-1949 (Engraving shop time book)
Folder 3: Factory
topography
Folder 4: Factory
topography: Adams sites (Stoke Centre)
Folder 5: Factory
topography: map of Stoke on Trent and Newcastle under Lyme
Folder 6: Greenfield
Pottery: sale notice, 1955 [copy]
Folder 7: JonRoth
(John Roth & Co.)
Folder 8: JonRoth/Adams:
copies of souvenir pulls
Folder 9: JonRoth:
engravings, listed by state (p. 4-32 only)
Folder 10: JonRoth:
history and engravings list
Folder 11: JonRoth:
history of engravings (what, when del, for whom, cost)
Folder 12: JonRoth:
lists of engravings at Adams factory
Folder 13: JonRoth:
numerical list of engravings – Adams and other patterns used
Folder 14: Laura
Ashley: coordination with sprig pattern
Folder 15: Londiniad:
verses about Adams pottery, 1866
Folder 16: London and Provincial Magazine: article
about potteries, 1910
Folder 17: Micratex
wares: promotional materials
Box 5:
Folder 1: National
Society of Pottery Workers’ Handbook of Agreements, 1926
Folder 2: Nurserywares
Folder 3: Parian
ware
Folder 4: Patterns:
Chinese Bird
Folder 5: Patterns:
Cries of London
Folder 6: Patterns:
Tokio
Folder 7: Patterns:
Willow (Spode/origins)
Folder 8: Portsmouth Oracle [New Hampshire], Nov.
25, 1815 [copy]
Folder 9: Potteries
and pottery: articles about
Folder 10: Pottery Gazette: articles, 1903, 1963,
1967
Folder 11: Priestly,
J. B.: extracts from English Journey
re Adams factory
Folder 12: Pulls
Folder 13: Pulls:
engravers pulls for badged wares
Folder 14: Scriven
papers, 1842 [about employment of children]
Folder 15: Shapes
Folder 16: Shards:
pictures
Box 6:
Folder 1: Souvenir
list
Folder 2: Stoke
Museum: Adams earthenware and bone china
Folder 3: Stoke
Museum: Adams: jasper ware and stoneware
Folder 4: Stoke
Museum: Adams: jasper ware: 1st period and 20th century
Folder 5: Stoke
Museum: Adams: stoneware (non-jasper), basalt and parian
Folder 6: Thomas
the Rhymer
Folder 7: Wheelock
& Co.
Box 7: 8 cassette tapes of
interviews with Joscelin F. W. Adams, the last of the master potters of the
Adams pottery company
Boxes 8-9: rolls of pulls (engraved designs for plates)
Box 10: flat pulls