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.

Howard Connor Photos | Digital Traditions
Howard Connor Photos | Digital Traditions

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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...
Howard Connor: Earliest Days | Digital Traditions

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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...
Landrum Family Photos | Digital Traditions
Landrum Family Photos | Digital Traditions

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Dr. Abner Landrum (1783-1856) was a major figure in the development and dissemination of the alkaline-glazed pottery tradition. In addition to being a newspaper editor and land speculator, he is...
Meaders Family Photos | Digital Traditions
Meaders Family Photos | Digital Traditions

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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...
Nola Harris Campbell Photos | Digital Traditions
Nola Harris Campbell Photos | Digital Traditions

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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...