Recent archaeological investigations in the Atlanta area have produced various examples of hand-crafted utilitarian ceramic wares referred to generally as "folk pottery." These differ from machine-made ceramics (commonly called "industrial ware") in that they were individually hand thrown on a nonmechanized wheel and not mass produced. These utilitarian forms, designed to serve the needs of the home, were used for churning, pickling, mixing, and preserving foodstuffs as well as for storage of liquids such as syrup, vinegar, cider, and whiskey. In an effort to identify locally made folk pottery and separate it from imported ceramic pieces, a special research project was organized and conducted during the summer of 1977 by folklorist John Burrison and the authors, then archaeologists at Georgia State University. The specific purposes of the project were to identify and obtain examples of the variety of folk ceramics (especially alkaline glazed wares) used in the Atlanta area during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; to determine the popularity of particular vessel forms, recognizing trends in styles of form that lasted over a certain period; and to study individual Atlanta potters in order to understand better any contemporary attitudes that may have helped determine the finished products.
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