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

Mon Nov 27 15:52:09 EST 2017

Hi All,

Thanks for all the responses to my request. Given Lex's fabulous information, I was able to hone my Googling, and came up with a journal note from 1900 that promotes the use of these jars.

For those interested:

A Sealing Stone Jar for Zoological Laboratories
Author(s): J. B. Johnston
Source: The American Naturalist, Vol. 34, No. 408 (Dec., 1900), pp. 969-970
Published by: The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of Naturalists

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I'm still curious to hear anecdotes about these jars, so keep those coming. Thanks so much!

Best,

Lindsay

________________________________
From: amsnyder210 at gmail.com <amsnyder210 at gmail.com> on behalf of Alexandra Snyder <amsnyder at unm.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2017 12:42:38 PM
To: Bloch,Lindsay
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Fish curation in early 20th century

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numbers of fishes) purchased them to house over-sized specimens, sometime in the 1930's.  (Many of these have since been replaced by glass buckets or stainless steel tanks.)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<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu>
(352) 273-1924<tel:(352)%20273-1924>
[cid:9106AD15-1792-4CDE-BFA6-69B4B6DAB57A at flmnh.ufl.edu][cid:81E8A561-B102-4D25-BD13-5EC8D9A23856 at flmnh.ufl.edu]

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Alexandra M Snyder
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University of New Mexico
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