Have you ever heard of the Saturday Evening Girls and Paul Revere Pottery? The Saturday Evening Girls were a group of teens and young women who met as part of a reading and social group. The intention was to “Americanize” young immigrant girls in Boston in 1899. The group met to discuss literature, write, and attend events as a way for them to assimilate them into their new society. Two of the women leaders of the group, Edith Guerrier and Edith Brown, while on vacation in Europe dreamed up the idea of teaching the girls pottery skills. This would allow them to make a living doing something artistic, as the idea of women in business was not plausible for most of these girls who came from rural European families.
In 1907, Edith Brown began teaching pottery classes to the girls. A philanthropist friend of the two women, Helen Osborne Storrow purchased a building to be used for pottery making. Due to the building’s proximity to the Old North Church where Paul Revere had hung his lantern signaling the coming of the Redcoats, the location was named the Paul Revere Pottery.
From 1908 until 1942, the group continued to turn out pottery. A new location was found in 1915, and the Paul Revere Pottery moved to Brighton on the west side of Boston. Items turned out by the girls were generally marked with S.E.G., often with the girls name or initials and sometimes with Paul Revere Pottery marked as well. The Saturday Evening Girls continued to meet until 1969, by which time most had passed away or moved location. One of the more talented and famous painters of pottery was Sara Galner. She worked at the pottery for over 10 years eventually becoming manager of the Washington DC store.
UMass Boston has a collection of photographs from the Saturday Evening Girls and Paul Revere Pottery.
Read more:
The Saturday Evening Girls Make Pottery History, New England Historical Society
Social Reform, Design and Craft at the Turn of the 20th Century: The Saturday Evening Girls, The Paul Revere Pottery and Clara Ford, thehenryford.org.
Paul Revere Pottery of the Saturday Evening Girls’ Club, thewadsworth.org.
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