| | Abstract: | The Cowan Pottery Studio was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1912 by R. Guy Cowan, an artist and craftsman from a family of East Liverpool, Ohio, potters. Cowan began his own ceramic production business, in which he designed his own factories and invented production hardware. In the early 1920s, Cowan moved his studio first to Lakewood, Ohio, and then to Rocky River, Ohio, a suburb to the west of Cleveland. Obtaining the financial backing of prominent Clevelanders, Cowan hired artists such as Viktor Schreckengost, Richard D. Hummel, Edward and Thelma Winter, and Paul Bogatay, and his company began producing pottery for sale in a national market. In the early 1930s, production slowed and then stopped in the depressed economy. The company went bankrupt in 1932. The collection consists of a written history, catalogue, sales brochure, catalogs of Waylande Gregory, an artist who worked in the Cowan Pottery Studio, and newspaper clippings. | |
