This book is the result of more than fifteen years of research. The study has been carried on, partly in libraries and town records, partly by conferences with descendants of potters and others familiar with their history, and partly by actual digging on the sites of potteries. The excavation method has proved most successful in showing what our New England potters were making at an early period now almost unrepresented by surviving specimens.

Written by an experienced antiquarian, this book explores the history of utilitarian pottery production in New York State, beginning with the Dutch in Manhattan. The subject matter ranges across the entire state, from Long Island and the Mohawk and Hudson valleys, to the St. Lawrence, Lake Erie, and the Southern Tier. This completely revised and updated edition of a highly praised 1970 book brings our knowledge of New York State potters and potteries to the present, incorporating extensive research in specific localities and information from excavations that have been carried out in recent years. The author discusses the types of wares that were made in New York potteries and suggests why the industry flourished. A general introduction to pottery types and methods of glazing and firing orient the reader in what was an important industry in early New York State. Supplemented by dozens of photographs and line drawings, this book contains the only existing lists of marks used by New York potters, as well as an appendix listing more than 1,400 of the state’s individual craftsmen, including the communities in which they worked, their active dates, and the types of ware they produced. The book will be valuable for ceramists, collectors, antiquarians, and those interested in the social, cultural, and economic history of New York State.

Includes Part 1A: Books and Part 1B: Pamphlets, Serials and Contributions to Periodicals

"Red earthenware production in South Amesbury (Merrimacport), Massachusetts dates to the eighteenth century, supplying households in the small corner of northeastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, and probably other spots in New England, with everyday utilitarian wares. This multi-generational family business lasted for more than 100 years, making it one of the longest standing potteries in New England. The most famous of those employed in South Amesbury was William Pecker, who operated a pottery during the circa 1791-1820 period. It is not widely known that Pecker was one of New England's earliest potters to product red earthenware and stoneware, perhaps only the second business to accomplish this feat in New England after the Parker Pottery in Charlestown, Mass. in the 1740s. This book is the first of its kind to explore South Amesbury's pottery production, the aesthetic appeal of these wares, and closely examine the stoneware manufactured by William Pecker." - Back cover.