Mildred Davis Keyser (1892-1950) was a revivalist potter in Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County, Pa. She produced Pennsylvania German-inspired redware from 1938 to 1949. Her daughter, June Adams, worked along with her mother beginning in 1942 and continued the operation until 1976, the year she moved to Florida.
Both mother and daughter got their start through taking a WPA adult education course at Amber High School taught by William Gleaves. Keyser started with a workshop in the family’s barn and eventually had an addition put onto their house, which served as a shop and studio. The operation was called Brookcroft Pottery and located on the Butler Pike just east of Plymouth Meeting.
Mildred Keyser, who also went by Mrs. C. Naaman Keyser, was involved with the start of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen in the late 1930s.
Keyser produced 33 booklets on Pennsylvania German traditional arts, titled as a “Home Craft Course” series. The first three volumes were on Pennsylvania German pottery and printed in 1943, reprinted in 1947. The booklets served as basic instructional manuals and are full of illustrated design motifs.
“The time was ripe in 1914 for a revival of Pennsylvania Dutch arts, but because of the strong feeling at the time against anything German in origin, Pennsylvania Dutch craftsmanship slipped into oblivion before its present momentum became evidenced,” wrote Mildred Keyser in her article, “Pennsylvania Dutch Pottery” in “The Pennsylvania Dutchman” Vol. 2, #1, pg. 7, speaking about the society-at-large-sentiment in America during the onset of World War I.
There were two large pine trees in the front yard of the Keyser property, which served as the inspirational source for her inscribed signature. Mildred signed work with a pine tree symbol next to the letter “K” and sometimes dated her work. June Adams signed her work with a pine tree symbol next to a lowercase letter “A” and sometimes “JK” or “JKA.”
The mother and daughter used hand-dug clay procured along North Lane near Conshohocken and also bought clay from the Keller Pottery in North Wales, Pa.
Mildred also taught adult education courses. Participants used the pine tree symbol and their own initials or name when signing work. Customers of Brookcroft Pottery included the Towpath House in New Hope, Pa., and an organization known as the Woman’s Exchange. Martin Eshelman of Oley, Pa., was also an early collector.
Keyser bisque fired, glazed, and then fired again in the traditional fashion. According to June Adams, they fired their work to 1,950 degrees fahrenheit and used a kerosene-fired kiln. June’s husband later converted the kiln to what she called “street gas.” The work was lead glazed.
Harry Haupt, a blacksmith who was involved with the Kutztown Folk Festival for nearly 50 years, made wrought-iron plate stands and wall brackets for Keyser’s shop.
Mildred’s potter’s wheel has been given to the Goschenhoppen Historians. The group owns the Red Men’s Hall in Green Lane, Pa. The former fraternal lodge was built in 1907. Today, it houses the group’s folklife museum, country store museum, and research library. Their annual folk festival takes place every summer at the Antes Plantation in Perkiomenville, Pa. June Adams demonstrated pottery at the first Goschenhoppen Folk Festivals (then in East Greenville, Pa.) during the late ’60s.
In 1996, June Adams described her mother as one of the originial “Buy American People.” Her interest was in reviving the Pennsylvania German craft of pottery in an age when society was replacing locally handcrafted work with foreign imports.
Mildred Keyser’s work was once exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in an American Craft exhibition and at the 1939 World’s Fair in the Pennsylvania Pavilion. An exhibit in 1996 at the Historical Society of Trappe and the Perkiomen Valley also included her work.
Mildred’s obituary was published in “The Pennsylvania Dutchman” Vol. 2, #10 (printed Oct. 15, 1950).