'Pottery Towns' looks back on a once-thriving industry

Readers seeking more information are directed to a list of reference sources.
By THERESA M. HEGEL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
"Images of America: Ohio Valley Pottery Towns" by Pamela Lee Gray (Arcadia, $19.99)
Pamela Lee Gray gives us the dish about pottery in her book "Ohio Valley Pottery Towns," part of Arcadia's "Images of America" series.
Through photos, illustrations and maps, this pictorial history outlines the rise and fall of the pottery industry in the upper Ohio Valley.
Gray, who has a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Southern California, teaches at Indiana University Purdue University at Fort Wayne. Her grandfather and mother were born in East Palestine, and her family has lived in the Ohio Valley for six generations.
In her introduction, Gray explains that "the natural resources of the Ohio River Valley provided a perfect location for the creation of the American crockery industry." The resources she mentions are the clay and salt deposits of western Pennsylvania.
Gray also notes that the book is not a complete listing of the potteries that sprang up in the Ohio Valley because the number and names of the companies were in almost constant flux. She adds that "works were bought and sold numerous times, sometimes in a matter of months. Business partners merged and boards of directors overlapped." Frequent factory fires have also reduced many company records to ashes.
First chapter
She begins with a short chapter on potters and their trade. With more information, this could have been an interesting and instructive section. However, Gray does not adequately define the lists of terms, techniques and processes she describes. The photos and drawings she includes, though helpful, are not enough to explain the intricacies and evolution of the potter's trade.
The bulk of the book is devoted to photos depicting several pottery towns in their heyday. It contains chapters on the potteries in East Liverpool, Wellsville and East Palestine.
Gray notes that East Liverpool calls itself "The Crockery City." In the latter half of the 19th century, the Columbiana County city boasted more than 200 potteries running concurrently.
Other sites she focuses on are Chester and Newell in West Virginia and the Beaver area of Pennsylvania. The Homer Laughlin China Company in Newell is known for its Fiestaware, a colorful line of crockery that was introduced in 1935 and stopped production in 1973. In 1986, the company launched "New Fiesta," which uses lead-free glazes. New glazes are unveiled each year; in 2002, the company introduced a plum color for the crockery.
Near the end of the book, Gray briefly discusses the future of the pottery industry in the Ohio Valley region, mentioning some of the reasons it has slowed and also listing some of the pottery factories still in operation.
A choppy read
All the text in Gray's book, with the exception of the introduction, is in the form of captions, which sometimes makes for a choppy read. "Ohio Valley Pottery Towns" is a valuable collection of archival materials, and as Gray rightly notes, "photographs open a precious historical window into the bustling valley." However, the photos are not enough.
The book may pique the interest of local history buffs and pottery aficionados, but it will not satisfy their craving for knowledge on the subject. To that end, it is helpful that Gray includes a section on the sources, such as The Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool and other area museums, libraries and historical societies, she employed to compile the book.
It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but in the case of "Ohio Valley Pottery Towns," those thousand words might have been useful.
hegel@vindy.com