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The Career, Research And Collection Of Frederick H. Norton
By Justin W. Thomas
While visiting a house in
East Sandwich, Mass., on Cape
Cod during Memorial Day
weekend in 2015, I purchased
some pottery from Henry
Bornhofft III. The pottery was
once owned by Frederick H.
Norton (1896-1986), a physi-
cist and ceramics professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in
Cambridge, Mass. But, Norton
was also a relative of the
famed Norton family of pot-
ters in New England. He was
also a potter himself.
Bornhofft said that Norton
was a friend of some mem-
bers of his family, and each
piece of pottery was marked
on the base with a number,
which corresponded with the
same number in a book
owned by Norton, identifying
the object and how it was
obtained.
One of the objects during
the visit really stood out to me.
I was told John Donovan made
an orange glazed vase at the
Moses Paige Pottery (1847/48-
1941) in Peabody, Mass., in the
1920s. I later learned that the
form of the lead glazed red
earthenware vase matched an
object in the collection of the
National Museum of American
History at the Smithsonian
Institute in Washington, D.C.,
which is prominently stamped,
“PEABODY POTTERY / 1736 /
MADE BY / J.J. DONOVOAN /
1930.”
However, while Norton’s
name may not be widely
known today, in addition to
leaving a legacy behind at
MIT, he made contributions at
the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, as a contributor to the
research of some well-known
author’s publications.
Frederick H. Norton
Born in Manchester near
Gloucester in Essex County,
Mass., on Oct. 23, 1896,
Frederick Harwood Norton
was a relative of the Norton
family
Bennington,
of potters
Vt.,
in
and
Worcester, Mass. His parents
were Charles and Frances
Norton, and he was the eldest
of six children. His father was
a graduate of MIT, successful
engineer, fellow to the
This is Frederick H. Norton
(1896-1986).
Courtesy of NASA.
The red earthenware flowerpot
reportedly made at Frank Lamson’s
(1859-1936) Exeter Pottery Works in
Exeter, N.H., was formerly owned by
Norton and possibly acquired new
from the pottery.
Antiques & Auction News — August 16, 2019 - - 11
The red earthenware vase (left) is attributed to and during John Donovan’s Matching red earthenware pitchers (left) from the Norton Collection at the MFA
employment at the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass. The vase was once and (right) from the Watkins Collection at the Smithsonian Institute. Both are
owned by Frederick Norton. The red earthenware vase (right) in a matching size stamped “PEABODY POTTERY / 1736 / MADE BY / J.J. DONOVOAN / 1930.” This ca. 1897-1908 Merrimac Pottery
and form is from the Lura Woodside Watkins Collection at the National Museum Courtesy of both Museum of Fine Arts Boston and National Museum of Company vase from Newburyport,
of American History at the Smithsonian Institute, stamped “PEABODY POTTERY American History at the Smithsonian Institute. Mass., was formerly owned by Norton.
/ 1736 / MADE BY / J.J. DONOVOAN / 1930.”
Courtesy of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian export porcelain, tiles and
Institute. vases from Chelsea Keramic
Art Works, Low Art Tile Works,
Dedham Pottery, Newcomb
Pottery, Marblehead Pottery,
Grueby Pottery, Merrimac
Pottery, Norton stoneware
from both Worcester and
Bennington, various other Three ca. late 1940s or early ’50s earthenware objects made by Frederick
stoneware makers, some New Norton at MIT now owned by the MFA Boston.
England red earthenware, Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
some Baltimore pottery and formed the Stahl Pottery England Potters and Their
many other objects. However, Preservation Society (SPPS). Wares.” That landmark book
some of the pottery Norton I have found that Norton was published in 1950 and
owned was also considered did not necessarily collect included Norton’s original
modern for the period. pottery for its aesthetic research into the 19th-century
Norton may have also vis- appeal. Rather, it was more Osborn family pottery in
ited Russell Stahl’s (1911-86) likely used for his research, Gonic, N.H.
pottery in Powder Valley, Pa., like an article he wrote for the Interestingly, Watkins also
My niece, Alexis, with two large hand-thrown pottery vases decorated with seeing that Stahl’s pottery is winter 1975/76 issue of Studio wrote about the Paige Pottery
African animals that were made by Frederick Norton, ca. 1940s. These vases represented in the collection Potter called “Clay: Why It Acts in “Early New England Potters
were likely made from the same terra-cotta clay that was reportedly developed he gifted to the MFA. Russell The Way It Does.” Norton por- and Their Wares.” This busi-
by Norton and described as “superior.” was the third generation of trayed the story as an attempt ness operated at the same
Stahls to produce red earth- to simplify and describe the location as the Osborns, who
American Academy of Arts and could visit some of the potter- enware on the family site, structure of clay and the rea- made red earthenware in
Sciences, and professor of ies still in existence, like the ceasing production altogether son why it acts the way it does Peabody from 1736 until the
industrial physics and direc- Dedham Pottery in Dedham, sometime about 1953. In fact, when used in a pottery body. 1850s. But she did not illus-
tor of the Division of Mass.; Frank Lamson’s (1859- more-than 1,000 pieces of His scholarship has been trate or mention that she
Industrial Cooperation and 1936) Exeter Pottery Works in Russell’s pottery were sold featured by other writers. owned two marked pieces
Research at MIT. Exeter, N.H.; and even the onsite by Maurer’s Auctions in Massachusetts author Lura made by John Donovan at the
Frederick H. Norton also Paige Pottery in Peabody, the summer of 1987. Living Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) business, now kept with her
graduated from MIT with a Mass. family members purchased cited Norton’s research collection at the National
degree in physics, and upon Among the objects that he much of the estate and throughout “Early New Continued on page 13
graduation in 1918 was hired gifted to the MFA Boston were
as the first technical employee four pieces of lead glazed red
at NASA Langley, an aeronauti- earthenware made at the
cal research facility in Paige Pottery: a vase, two jugs
Hampton, Va. He became Ed and a pitcher, three of which
Warner’s assistant and partner were marked by John
in technical projects, such as Donovan (1851-1931), and I IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE...
helping design Langley’s first believe that Norton acquired
wind tunnel. After Warner’s all of these objects brand new
departure in 1920 to become a from the pottery. “THE LAST LARGE
ESTATE AUCTION
professor of aeronautics at Overall, Norton gifted
MIT, Norton replaced him as more than 200 pieces of glass
the chief physicist. and pottery to the MFA Boston
While Norton was in 1971. The list is long:
employed in Virginia, he pre-Columbian pottery, Native
of the SUMMER”
authored more than 35 American pottery, Chinese “ITEMS FROM FREDERICK, MD - DAMASCUS, MD -
acclaimed
N a t i o n a l BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - MIDDLETOWN, MD - WALDORF, MD
A d v i s o r y - WESTMINSTER, MD - PLUS OTHER ESTATES”
Committee for AUCTION DATE:
Aeronautics
(NACA) technical SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2019
reports. His spe- STARTING AT 9:00 A.M.
cial interest was
the develop- DOORS OPEN FOR INSPECTION AT 8:00 A.M.
ment of record- LOCATION OF AUCTION:
ing instruments
for accurate THE FREDERICK FAIRGROUNDS
measurements (INDOORS - BUILDING #12) 797 EAST PATRICK STREET,
of aircrafts in
flight. But he left
HISTORIC FREDERICK, MARYLAND 21701
These are Norton’s original manuscripts and photograph
Langley in 1923,
for the Martin Crafts Pottery in Nashua, N.H., and the BECAUSE OF “ADVERTISING DEADLINES” THIS AD WILL BE VERY SHORT, PLEASE
changing his
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member of the
OVER 1,400 LOTS TO BE SOLD IN THIS ONE DAY AUCTION EVENT -
Department of 3 AUCTIONEERS SELLING AT ONCE.
Metallurgy at
MIT. Other fami- FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
ly members HOWARD B. PARZOW, AUCTIONEER
would also fol- 301-351-6544 E-MAIL HPARZOW@AOL.COM
low in the fami-
R045112
ly legacy at the
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arrived at MIT in for the 19th-century Osborn family pottery in Gonic, N.H., CALL US NOW, THIS WILL BE A HUGE AUCTION.
the 1920s is the was published in the February 1931 issue of “The
fact that he Magazine Antiques.”