Schreckengost Archival Material to go to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art

Foundation to donate dinnerware documents

Better Homes and Gardens cover, June 1939, showing Viktor's Bermuda dinnerware design, made for American Limoges, in the background

Papers that document the role of Viktor Schreckengost in the emergence of modern American dinnerware will find a new, permanent home at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Correspondence, advertisements and articles from newspapers and trade journals, photographs, and other archival material will become accessible to researchers and collectors at the Archives.

"This is exciting because these documents fill in many gaps for dinnerware experts," explains Foundation archivist Craig Bara. "They chart the re-emergence of the Sebring potteries out of Depression failures and Viktor’s considerable contribution to that effort. They also show the relationships between some of these companies."

Viktor Schreckengost revolutionized the dinnerware industry by making full sets of quality dinnerware, previously a luxury reserved for the upper classes, accessible and appealing to middle-class America. Expert Jo Cunningham (author of The Best of Collectible Dinnerware) agrees that Viktor’s contributions to modern American dinnerware are as important as those of Russel Wright and others better known in the field. However, Viktor’s contributions are largely undocumented, and his name is not well known among collectors. A comprehensive list of his many dinnerware designs has never been published. Finally, his considerable role in keeping the pottery industry afloat during the Depression has been all but unknown.

"Sebring was devastated during the Depression," explains Craig, who is also the author of Images of America: Sebring, Ohio. "All the potteries closed. Sebring was known on this side of the Mississippi as the world’s largest manufacturer of china and then it was nothing. In early 1930s' correspondence in our files, you see where pottery owners asked Viktor to help them out. Then you see them get back up and running, in part due to Viktor’s assistance in retooling the production lines and coming up with new designs. He helped bring back the industry back to life, and we have documentation showing that."

Chip Nowacek, Executive Director of the Foundation, describes the donation of these materials as an outgrowth both of the National Centennial Exhibition and the Smithsonian Archives’ recent visit to the Schreckengost archives. "When we invited the Smithsonian Archives to participate in the Exhibition series, they expressed interest but needed materials for display, and they do not exhibit anything that’s not in their permanent collection. Normally we would not just give something away. But we had been talking about donating some materials anyway, and hey, this is the Smithsonian. What better place for Viktor’s work to be documented?"

Craig is in the process of preparing the abstract and list of documents for the Smithsonian donation. In addition, all documents will be scanned electronically so that copies remain with the Schreckengost archives.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes magazine advertisement, showing one of Viktor's dinnerware designs

Trade show display. Sign on table credits Viktor with the dinnerware design.