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South Carolina, with its rich clay deposits, is the home to two different, but very important ceramic traditions - Catawba earthenware and alkaline-glazed stoneware. Before European contact in the 16th century, the Catawba Nation controlled much of what is now South Carolina and most of the North Carolina Piedmont. This tradition has continued through elder potters sharing their knowledge and skills with younger generations. While their techniques remain ancient, they have adapted their forms to changing markets. Kinship and community were also important in the development and diffusion of the alkaline-glazed stoneware tradition during the nineteenth century. Using European and African forms and labor the Edgefield, South Carolina, potteries produced containers used primarily for food preservation and preparation. As some potters migrated west and to other areas in the southeast, they spread the alkaline-glazed tradition into Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.

Content is provided by McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina.

For further information about any of the artists featured on Digital Traditions, send your questions and comments to hallagan@mailbox.sc.edu.

Resource Type
Boyd S. and Boyd R. Hilton Photos | Digital Traditions

Photo

Grades

  • Higher Education
Boyd S. and Boyd R. Hilton Photos | Digital Traditions
Episode 3
Boyd S. Hilton belonged to a family with deep roots in the Catawba Valley pottery tradition. John Wesley Hilton was the patriarch of a family tradition that spans several generations. Hilton’s father...
Meaders Family Photos | Digital Traditions Cleater Meaders on Shaping a Pitcher | Digital Traditions

Audio

Grades

  • Higher Education
Cleater Meaders on Shaping a Pitcher | Digital Traditions
Cleater James Meaders (d. 2003), Byron, Houston County. Interview recorded June 1981. The Meaders tradition began in 1893 with John Milton Meaders in the small White County town of Cleveland. Several...
Quillian Lanier Meaders on Cashing In & Making a Living

Audio

Grades

  • Higher Education
Quillian Lanier Meaders on Cashing In & Making a Living
Quillian Lanier Meaders (d. 1998), Cleveland, White County. Interview recorded June 1981. The Meaders tradition began in 1893 with John Milton Meaders in the small White County town of Cleveland...
Meaders Family Photos | Digital Traditions

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Grades

  • Higher Education
Meaders Family Photos | Digital Traditions
Arie Waldrop Meaders (d. 1989), Cleveland, White County. Interview recorded June 1981. Cleater James Meaders (d. 2003), Byron, Houston County. Interview recorded June 1981. Edwin Truitt Meaders...
Craven Pottery Photos | Digital Traditions

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Grades

  • Higher Education
Craven Pottery Photos | Digital Traditions
John V. Craven opened the original Craven Pottery in White County, Georgia in 1850. Several generations later, Billy Joe Craven (b. 1947) returned to the family tradition and established the current...
Nola Harris Campbell Photos | Digital Traditions

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Grades

  • Higher Education
Nola Harris Campbell Photos | Digital Traditions
By the age of 15, Nola Harris Campbell was well on her way to becoming a master potter. She learned how to make coil-formed pottery from another master potter, her sister-in-law Georgia Harris. Over...
Billy Henson Photos | Digital Traditions

Photo

Grades

  • Higher Education
Billy Henson Photos | Digital Traditions
Episode 9
A native of Lyman in Spartanburg County, Henson came from a long line of traditional potters. Both his grandfather, Jesse Vardry Henson, and his great-uncle, David Carr Henson, were folk potters in...
Dr. Charles Zug on Burlon Craig | Digital Traditions

Audio

Grades

  • Higher Education
Dr. Charles Zug on Burlon Craig | Digital Traditions
Dr. Charles Zug describes the chaos that occurs when Burlon Craig sells his pottery. Burlon Craig (1914-2002), Craig Pottery, Vale, Lincoln County, North Carolina. Craig is an example of the migration...
Burlon Craig Photos | Digital Traditions

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Grades

  • Higher Education
Burlon Craig Photos | Digital Traditions
Burlon Craig (1914-2002), Craig Pottery, Vale, Lincoln County, North Carolina. Craig is an example of the migration of the alkaline-glaze tradition that originated in the Edgefield District of South...
Walter Lee Cornelison Photos | Digital Traditions

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Grades

  • Higher Education
Walter Lee Cornelison Photos | Digital Traditions
Walter Lee Cornelison is a fifth-generation potter, turning wares in Bybee Pottery - Kentucky’s sole surviving traditional pottery. Cornelison turns on a wheel set up inside the old log pot shop while...
Walter Lee Cornelison: Family Origins | Digital Traditions

Audio

Grades

  • Higher Education
Walter Lee Cornelison: Family Origins | Digital Traditions
Bybee Pottery, Waco, Madison County. Interview recorded August 1981. Walter Lee Cornelison is a fifth-generation potter, turning wares in Bybee Pottery - Kentucky’s sole surviving traditional pottery...
Howard Connor: Earliest Days | Digital Traditions

Audio

Grades

  • Higher Education
Howard Connor: Earliest Days | Digital Traditions
Connor Pottery, Ashland, Benton County. Interview recorded in October 1981. Connor was born in Wickliffe, Kentucky, the son of journeyman potter Charles Tipton Connor. C. T. Connor established a...
Howard Connor: Learning to Turn | Digital Traditions

Audio

Grades

  • Higher Education
Howard Connor: Learning to Turn | Digital Traditions
Connor Pottery, Ashland, Benton County. Interview recorded in October 1981. Connor was born in Wickliffe, Kentucky, the son of journeyman potter Charles Tipton Connor. C. T. Connor established a...
Howard Connor Photos | Digital Traditions

Photo

Grades

  • Higher Education
Howard Connor Photos | Digital Traditions
Connor was born in Wickliffe, Kentucky, the son of journeyman potter Charles Tipton Connor. C. T. Connor established a pottery in Ashland, Mississippi in 1940, less than twenty miles from the...