“Pottery: An Historical Sketch Read before the Women’s Art Society of Montreal” February 20, 1917

I do not know what the title of my paper may suggest to your minds & I hope no one will be disappointed if I state that I have no intention of talking to you platters and porringers of our grandmothers however interesting these may be. I have chosen to deal with pottery in a broader sense & to show that the proper understanding of such a subject involves a study of the history of the world; of the customs, manners & philosophies of peoples. We learn of the interchange of ideas brought about by peaceful trade & invading armies & finally, I hope, will come to the conclusion that the study of pottery need not be a dull or narrow one after all. But with such a vast field to select from I can only draw a skeleton picture, a caricature may be & leave a more detailed account to the specialist, whose knowledge is much greater than my own.

As a mere historical record pottery is invaluable for from it we may gather all sorts of suggestions regarding the people who used it: the home life, the forms of religious belief, the costumes, furniture, often trough inscriptions, something of the language itself. In its earliest stage pottery was of course exceedingly crude but, as there gradually arose a desire for decoration, rough designs were scratched on the clay or painted on the body, and finally the discovery of glazing offered new possibilities to the artist potter. Though it is still a matter of conjecture where glazing first originated, we may suppose its accidental discovery occurred in several centers independently: such as in Crete, in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia….