My Old People Say

Drawing on the rich primary sources of company records and catalogues, existing factory buidlings and equipment, photographs and newspaper accounts, The Alberta Pottery Industry, 1912-1990 tells a fascinating story enriched by the memories of the people who worked in the plants. This study focuses on the economic and social impact of the industry, both locally and natonally. As a study of material history, it examines the outputs of the pottery industry, the plant processes, and the people who made and used those products. This book also traces the factors that affected the emergence, success, tribulations, and demise of pottery in Alberta in the context of the provinceOs economic history. At the same time it portrays the human interest in the pottery story: rivalry and espionage among those who founded the factories, the success and failures of the scientists who struggled to perfect the pottery materials and manufacturing processes, and the daily lives of the workers and entrepreneurs in the pottery industry. For those who know, collect, or use Medalta pottery, this book is a valuable source of information far beyond what has been available to date. It is a fine compliment to museum collections and exhibits and the heritage sites the pottery factories have become. Anne Hayward curated the travelling exhibition Medalta Ware for the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, and developed curatorial and interpretive materials for the Clay Products Interpretive Centre in Medicine Hat.