Saturday Evening Girls Marks

Paul Revere Pottery (1907-1942The Paul Revere Pottery was formed in Boston in 1907, by Edith Guerrier, the librarian for the Public Library’s Reading Rooms in the North End, and Edith Brown, a children’s book illustrator along with Mrs. James Storrow, who provided financial support. As an activity for the members of a club known as the Saturday Evening Girls. They organized the pottery to provide training and employment for the girls of the club. Early on, an English pottery chemist formerly with the Merrimac Pottery, was engaged to teach the girls glaze formulas and firing the kiln. The group expanded rapidly and in 1915, Mrs. Storrow financed a pottery designed by Edith Brown and build in Brighton, MA. Around 1925, the markings of the pottery were changed from S.E.G. to P.R.P. or the Paul Revere Seal. The product consisted mainly of cereal sets and other utilitarian forms plainly glazed in a variety of colors of decorated with juvenile motifs of chicks, rabbits, ducks, landscapes and flowers always designed by Edith Brown. Upon special order, names, initials or mottos could be incorporated into the designs. Plain and decorated vases were also offered. It was a successful social and artistic experiment but not a profitable business, as thousands of dollars were required to subsidize it. In 1932, Edith Brown died, and the pottery was closed in 1942.