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"An Ancient Industry in a Modern Age": The Growth and Struggles of the American Pottery Industry, 1870-2015

Vincent, Stephanie M.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5622-0091
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1459462213

Abstract Details

2016, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History.
This dissertation is the first attempt to write the history of the commercial pottery industry in the United States. I argue that in the face of outside threats and government indifference, American producers occasionally discarded their competitive instincts and instead sought cooperation with one another to ensure the survival of the industry as a whole. Starting with the establishment of the three largest industrial producers (the Homer Laughlin China Company in Ohio and West Virginia, the Onondaga Pottery/Syracuse China in New York, and Shenango China in Pennsylvania), the first chapter looks at the early successes of these companies through dynamic leadership, innovative product design, and favorable market conditions as well as the establishment of a tradition of trade association. Chapters two and three outline the two major threats to the industry: the proliferation of low-cost imported and non-ceramic china and an American trade and tariff policy that disregarded the needs of small handicraft industries starting in the late 1930s. As foreign product flooded the country, American potters turned to a number of strategies to survive, many of which put competitors in the unique position of banding together to ease a threat bigger than their rivalry. Chapter four examines various marketing strategies employed by potters to carve out a place in a crowded market. Chapter five grapples with issues of labor by looking at the history of unionization in the potteries and positing whether it helped or hurt the workers of a declining industry. The final chapter deals with management’s strategies to improve relations with their workers and communities through public relations and social responsibility while also noting the steps these companies took to keep an eye on one another. An epilogue traces the final decline of a large portion of the industry over the past forty years while paying special attention to Homer Laughlin as the final plant to survive. The actions of this small handicraft industry can better shed light on understandings of business history by forcing a rethinking of notions of management’s relations with the government, their employees and each other; of the timeline of American deindustrialization; and of how competition affects small specialized industries compared with large corporations who also work with earth-based materials.
Kenneth Bindas, PhD (Advisor)
Clarence Wunderlin, PhD (Committee Member)
Gregory Wilson, PhD (Committee Member)
Jennifer Wiggins Johnson, PhD (Committee Member)
Janis Crowther, PhD (Committee Member)
463 p.
American History; History; Labor Relations; Marketing; Modern History
pottery; dinnerware; ceramics; Homer Laughlin; Shenango China; Syracuse China; business history; imports; tariff; labor; marketing; public relations; New York; Pennsylvania; Ohio; West Virginia

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Vincent, S. M. (2016). "An Ancient Industry in a Modern Age": The Growth and Struggles of the American Pottery Industry, 1870-2015 [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1459462213

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Vincent, Stephanie. "An Ancient Industry in a Modern Age": The Growth and Struggles of the American Pottery Industry, 1870-2015. 2016. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1459462213.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Vincent, Stephanie. ""An Ancient Industry in a Modern Age": The Growth and Struggles of the American Pottery Industry, 1870-2015." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1459462213

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1459462213
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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.