Mississippi

During the 1970s, Mississippi could only claim three active traditional potteries. Like in Alabama, potters moved into Mississippi from nearby Georgia and the Carolinas in the nineteenth century. Potters also came from the Midwest and emigrants arrived from Britain and Germany. These shared traditions produced regional variations in potteries throughout the state. Mississippi potters went on to influence the development of pottery traditions in Texas. Although alkaline-glaze pottery was preferred for many years, most potters slowly adopted Albany slip.

In the early 1980s, pottery in eastern Mississippi was produced primarily by members of the Stewart family. A third generation potter, Bill Stewart still made the same Albany slip jars, jugs, and crocks that his father and grandfather produced. Bill’s grandfather, Homer Wade Stewart, established one of the first potteries in Winston County in 1888. Another potter, Howard Conner, worked near the Tennessee state line. Several members of the Mississippi pottery community have passed away, including Howard Conner and Gerald Stewart. Two members of the Stewart family, Frank and his son Keith, are the only potters turning traditional pieces in Mississippi today.