[Nhcoll-l] Fish curation in early 20th century

Mon Nov 27 12:42:38 EST 2017

Lindsay,

The University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology fish and herp collections
also used these brown glaze stoneware crocks. Carl L Hubbs, ichthyologist
UMMZ 1920-1944 (collector of large numbers of fishes) purchased them to
house over-sized specimens, sometime in the 1930's.  (Many of these have
since been replaced by glass buckets or stainless steel tanks.)  I was
informed of this by Reeve M. Bailey, Curator Emeritus (my mentor in fish
collections curatorial technique) and who worked with CL Hubbs as a student
in the 30's and later as Curator of Fishes until his retirement in 1981.
Reeve referred to these as sauerkraut or pickle crocks and thought these
were purchased by the "truckload" directly from the manufacturer in
Zanesville OH. This made sense in that Zanesville is still know for its
stoneware and had a local market for its product with the farming
communities and German population of the US Midwest.

 The other crock style (or a lid type that may have been mistakenly
purchased)  found in UMMZ fish collections  was referred to as a "butter
churn."  Same brown glaze and style as those in your photo but the lid had
a hole in the middle...and  I can't remember how that was sealed, which was
one of my duties while managing the UMMZ collections: mix batches of
beeswax and petroleum jelly (50/50), remove the old beeswax sealant from
the edge of crock and lid, and  apply new mix to get a seal.  (Not my
favorite job.)

I have replaced these crocks with stainless steel tanks from two different
collections over the past thirty something years.  I suspect these were
used in many fish and herp collections throughout the US.

Thank you for bringing up an interesting history in museum curatorial
practice.

Lex

On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 7:02 AM, Bloch,Lindsay <lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu
> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
> I am seeking information on ceramic storage vessels used for housing fish
> specimens in the 20th century. Here at the Florida Museum we have a number
> of large stoneware crocks (see attached images) that were used for
> oversized specimens before large glass jars were widely available. The
> crocks came to us in the late 1970s with the collection of Ralph Yerger. He
> obtained his PhD from Cornell, and we have reason to believe that some of
> his initial collection may have originated there, including these vessels.
>
>
> Our crocks are similar in form to those used for food fermentation
> (pickles/sauerkraut/meat), with a water well in the rim that could produce
> an airlock. In the museum, they were sealed with beeswax to reduce
> evaporation. It is unclear whether they are repurposed fermentation crocks,
> or if they were made intentionally for museum curation. They are molded,
> using a buff/cream colored stoneware clay, with brown Albany Slip on the
> interior and exterior. The matching lids were wheel-thrown. They are
> 24” tall and 12” diameter. There are no maker's marks or capacity marks of
> any kind. Unfortunately, late 19th-early 20th century industrial pottery
> has not received much scholarly attention, so it is difficult to track
> down, especially without maker's marks.  
>
>
> I'm trying to learn where these vessels were produced, and whether they
> were widely used or a Cornell-centered idiosyncrasy. Given the history of
> pottery production and fermented foods, I'm currently thinking that the
> northeastern US is a likely origin, though the form has precursors in
> Europe, especially Germany. Please let me know if you have seen these or
> other similar ceramic vessels for housing museum collections. You may reach
> me off-list at lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu. Thanks for any help you can
> provide.
>
> Best,
> Lindsay
>
> Lindsay Bloch, Ph.D.
> Collections Manager
> Ceramic Technology Laboratory
> Florida Archaeological Collections
> Florida Museum of Natural History
> Dickinson Hall
> University of Florida
> Gainesville, FL 32611
> lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu
> (352) 273-1924
>
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-- 
*****************************************************
Alexandra M Snyder
Collections Manager-Fishes
Museum of Southwestern Biology MSC01-2020
University of New Mexico
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