JPHS Meetings

Erik Nordberg to Discuss the History of Ball Clay Mining at the Paris-Henry County Heritage Center

The Jackson Purchase Historical Society (JPHS) will meet on Saturday September 10 at 10:30 am at the Paris-Henry County Heritage Center, 614 N. Poplar Street, Paris, Tennessee. Our speaker will be Erik Nordberg who will share his research into the history of ball clay mining in west Tennessee and the Jackson Purchase region. 

Those attending should comply with current state and local public health guidelines for gatherings. The meeting room is large and will allow ample social distancing. Masks will be available for those who wish one. The Society continues to monitor the regional public health situation and may make appropriate adjustments. 

The program will also be available via ZOOM for those unable to attend in person.   

Register in advance to attend via ZOOM at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAufuirqTorGtcJ8sFKUQViKvtY4pRMa4bi

Our program will deal with an important industry that is focused in the Jackson Purchase, crossing state and county lines historically. The upper Mississippi River region overlies extensive ancient deposits of sedimentary clay, some worked as early as 800CE by native peoples. Pioneer settlers exploited these deposits for brickmaking and earthenware, including butter urns and whiskey jugs. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that valuable deposits of ball clay were confirmed in the western counties of Tennessee and Kentucky. Ball clays imported from England had fueled a pottery and tile industry in the eastern United States and industrial cities of the eastern Ohio Valley. Because of its ability to fire a very brilliant white, ball clays were also important in the production of sinks, tubs, and toilets.

Ball clay was first shipped in economic quantities from an open pit mine in Henry County, Tennessee, in October, 1894. Distance from eastern potteries, poor transportation infrastructures, and a lack of scientific analysis of regional clays initially hampered development.  Nordberg’s research documents the work of Tennessee’s State Geological Survey to encourage additional mining and manufacturing industries through systematic study and publication about these world-class ball clay resources. Although initial hope to establish pottery and other ceramic industries in the immediate region did not materialize, ball clay production has continued to expand in response to new markets and applications.  

“One of our goals in organizing our programs is to cover the full spectrum of history in our region. Too often we equate history with politics or military activity when all the experiences of human life are part of history — being both shaped by history and then shaping how society develops, said JPHS President Bill Mulligan. “Erik Nordberg’s presentation gets us into the basic economics of our region. While historically it has been primarily agricultural, there has been, and is, a great deal of industrial activity in our area that historians have not devoted as much attention to as is warranted. I am also especially happy that Erik can share his research with us. I have known Eric for many years and his work in mining history and industrial archaeology has brought a lot of new information to light. I’m glad he has found his way to our region and joins the community of historians studying its multifaceted past,” Mulligan concluded. 

Erik Nordberg is Dean of the Paul Meek Library at the University of Tennessee at Martin. An archivist by training, Nordberg is former director of the Walter Reuther labor archives at Wayne State University and holds a PhD in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology from Michigan Technological University. He is a past president of the Mining History Association and currently serves on the board of the Society for Industrial Archaeology. 

The Paris-Henry County Heritage Center has had its headquarters at Historic Cavitt Place for more than thirty years. Now serving as museum and cultural center, Cavitt Place was built by prominent family man, businessman, and philanthropist O.C. Barton as residence, and is named for his wife Tilly Cavitt. The Italian Revival-style mansion now known as The Heritage Center replaced their large Queen Anne Victorian home that burned. The new home’s design was commissioned to a prominent Atlanta architect and was completed in 1916. Poplar Street and Dunlap Street still have many of the original homes and the properties are well maintained for the most part. Historic Poplar Street is one of the grand streets of Paris. 

Articles are welcome for the 2023 Journal and can be sent to the editor, Jim Humphreys, at jhumphreys@murraystate.edu. The editor would also welcome inquiries about topics, books for review, or offers to review a book. Copies of the Journal are available from the Jackson Purchase Historical Society, PO Box 531, Murray, KY 42071. The cost is $15.90 including postage and sales tax. Anyone interested in Jackson Purchase history is welcome to join the JPHS.