Bennett Pottery Company Records
name: label: Creator
content: Bennett, Edwin, 1818-1908 (potter)
label: Creator
content: Edwin Bennett Pottery Company
label: Former owner
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Ceramics and Glass
label: Names
content: Bennett, Edwin Huston
label: Names
content: Bennett, James
place: label: Place
content: Baltimore (Md.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Pottery
label: Topic
content: Fires -- Maryland -- Baltimore
label: Topic
content: Disasters
label: Topic
content: Potters
label: Topic
content: Ceramics manufacturing
label: Topic
content: Artisans
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Mrs. Portia M. Filbert, 1986, March.
creator: label: Creator
content: Bennett, Edwin, 1818-1908 (potter)
label: Creator
content: Edwin Bennett Pottery Company
setName: label: See more items in
content: Bennett Pottery Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents the activities of the Bennett Pottery Company.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Edwin Bennett, 1818 1908, was the founder of the Edwin Bennett Pottery Company, Baltimore, Maryland, which operated between 1846 and 1936

He was born in Newhall, Derbyshire, England, where he worked as a potter before coming to the United States in 1841 to join his brother, James Bennett, also a potter, in East Liverpool, Ohio.

In order to have access to the railroads, which at that time did not extend beyond the Alleghany Mountains, he decided to move east, first to Pittsburgh and then to Baltimore, Maryland where he built a factory in 1846.

Among the first wares produced were those for utilitarian purposes, such as pitchers, mugs, plates, spittoons, etc.  These were primarily yellow wares, referred to by Bennett as "caneware".  Mention is also made, and examples are extant, of Rockingham & ironstone wares.  One popular model was a "Rebekah at the Well" teapot which was produced in 1851.

Bennett continued to experiment with clay bodies and glazes for many years as his notebooks indicate.  The company's general line of merchandise expanded to include decorated porcelain tableware, parlor and banquet lamps, clock cases and other items.  Bennett also hired skilled potters who produced artistic wares which were shown at various state exhibitions.

The company received awards from the Maryland Institute in 1854 and 1856, and later at the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876 and the Columbia Exposition of 1893.

Examples of Bennett pottery are in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Two fires, one in 1864 and the other in 1906, destroyed many of the company's records, but advertisements and other materials that were salvaged, give evidence of the growth of the company.  Along with its subsidiaries, it became one of the largest suppliers in the United States of hotel kitchen and tableware, chemical containers, public restroom fixtures and roofing tiles.
 
Edwin Bennett was a charter member of the United States Potters Association having aided in its formation in 1875.  In 1903 he was honored by the association as America's oldest living potter.

His son, Edwin Huston Bennett, became president of the company in 1890 but Bennett remained active in it until his death in 1908.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Cubic feet (9 boxes, 2 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1844-1981
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Ceramics and Glass (Division of Cultural and Community Life), 5/19/1986.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0213
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Divided into 8 series: (1) Biographical, (2) Correspondence, (3) Bennett Pottery Co., (4) Catalogs, advertisements, stationary, etc., (5) Photographs, (6) Notebooks of formulae and receipts, (7)Printed Material, (8) Ledgers of the Seven Clay Co. (a subsidiary of Bennett Pottery Company).
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by  NMAH Staff, 2003
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 19th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1900-1950
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Early Bennett family histories, Edwin Bennett's autobiography, correspondence, 1914-1981, Bennett Pottery Company records, photographs, notebooks of clay and glaze formulae and other miscellaneous items, 1844-1981.
label: Scope and Contents note
content: Includes 3 photographs related to the Baltimore fire, 1903-1905.