Potteries of Trenton Society, New Jersey State Museum, and Trenton City Museum Present

Blue Plate Specials: Trenton’s Restaurant China

Saturday, March 8, 2008
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
New Jersey State Museum Auditorium
205 West State Street, Trenton NJ

Directions to the New Jersey State Museum

Program Schedule

Program Summary

Registration

The Potteries of Trenton Society in partnership with the New Jersey State Museum and The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, is pleased to announce a symposium on Saturday, March 8, entitled “Blue Plate Specials: Trenton’s Restaurant China.” The program has been organized in celebration of a significant gift of Trenton restaurant china to Ellarslie, currently featured in the exhibition Dining Out On Trenton: Maddock and Scammell China.

China made during the twentieth century for a variety of institutions, such as railroad dining cars, military mess halls, hotel restaurants, diners and cafeterias, has only recently become collectible. Although much of it is made abroad today, the U.S. was a significant producer of this material from the late 1800s to the late 1900s. Trenton was home to several of the most important producers of this material, including Greenwood China, Maddock China, and Scammell China. Speakers at this year’s symposium will explain the historical significance of this ware and describe a variety of ways to collect it.

Program Schedule

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Collectible Restaurant China

The Potteries of Trenton Society in partnership with the Friends of the New Jersey State Museum and Ellarslie, The Trenton City Museum, is pleased to announce a symposium on Saturday, March 8, entitled “Blue Plate Specials: Trenton’s Restaurant China.”

The program has been organized in celebration of a significant gift of Trenton restaurant china to Ellarslie. The collection is currently featured in the exhibition “Dining Out On Trenton: Maddock and Scammell China.”

China made during the twentieth century for a variety of institutions, such as railroad dining cars, military mess halls, hotel restaurants, diners and cafeterias, has only recently become collectible. Although much of it is made abroad today, the U.S. was a significant producer of this material from the late 1800s to the late 1900s. Trenton was home to several of the most important potteries, including Greenwood China, Maddock China, and Scammell China. Speakers at this year’s symposium will explain the historical significance of this ware and describe a variety of ways to collect it. This year’s program will feature three lectures in the morning and a catered lunch, followed by an introduction to the afternoon’s reception and exhibition viewing at Ellarslie.

Morning speakers include Stephen Harrison, who will present the keynote lecture as an overview of the history of restaurant china nationally. Mr. Harrison is curator of decorative art and design at the Cleveland Museum of Art and co-author of From Tabletop to TV Tray: China and Glass in America, 1880-1980.

He will be followed by Brenda Springsted, archaeologist with Richard Grubb, who will discuss the history and wares of Greenwood China Company in a talk entitled “Built to Last, Greenwood China 1868-1933.”

William Liebeknecht, archaeologist with Hunter Research Inc., will discuss “Maddock Pottery from Coast to Coast and All Points in Between: The View from a Waster Dump,” including a history of Maddock Pottery Company’s Lamberton Works and the recovery of ceramic sherds from the pottery’s waster dump. Many of the customers served by this pottery are revealed in these discarded materials.

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Following lunch, Brian Hill, Ellarslie’s director, will give a brief introduction to the exhibition of Larry Paul’s collection at Ellarslie and participants will depart for a reception and viewing of the exhibition.

In addition, the New Jersey State Museum has currently on view “Fancy Rockingham Pottery, The Modeller and Ceramics in Nineteenth-Century America.” A stoneware or earthenware product with mottled brown glaze, Rockingham was made in many U.S. potteries, including several significant New Jersey makers. The exhibition was organized by the University of Richmond Museums, Virginia, and is currently circulating to select museums. Diana Stradling, author of the catalog that accompanies the exhibition, will present a walk-through of the exhibition following the auditorium program on restaurant china. Symposium participants can take the walk-through and attend the reception at Ellarslie afterward.

The registration fee for the day includes the program, morning refreshments, lunch, the Rockingham walk-through, and the reception at Ellarslie. Advance registration must be received by February 22 in order to attend at the regular fee, which is $30.00 for members of POTS, the Friends of the New Jersey State Museum, and the Trenton Museum Society; $35.00 for non-members. Registrations made after February 22 or paid at the door will be $40.00. POTS takes checks or money orders only, no credit cards.

The New Jersey State Museum is a division of the NJ Department of State.
The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion is owned by the City of Trenton, Douglas H. Palmer, Mayor, maintained and operated by the Department of Recreation, Natural Resources & Culture, Division of Culture.

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