Ceramics museum sent reeling

EAST LIVERPOOL —Concerned about this week’s announcement that their funding will be cut for the Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, four people met Gov. Ted Strickland at the door of the Lou Holtz Museum seeking his attention.

Once known as the pottery capital of the world, East Liverpool also has been home to the Museum of Ceramics since 1980. The Museum of Ceramics is administered via the Ohio Historical Society, which is headquartered in Columbus. It is part of a statewide network of over five dozen museums, historical, archaeological and natural history sites.

Due to state budget deficits, the OHS Board of Trustees reportedly had to work with a 3 percent decrease in its 2009 budget, $2 million. The OHS announced Friday it will be laying off 26 employees across the state and reducing operating hours at several historic sites.

Included in the list of four sites that will be asked to be operated under other management agreements in the future is the Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool. The decision affects four employees, two of whom are full-time, who have reportedly been asked to work for only a few more weeks.

William Gray, treasurer of the East Liverpool Historical Society, said the group will hold its monthly meeting Tuesday to see what help it can possibly bring to the museum. Many of the pottery pieces on display at the museum are on permanent loan from the historical society.

If the museum is forced to close, the many pottery historians around the world who use the museum would lose a valuable resource. Jeff Hendrickson, the husband of museum director Sarah Vodrey, said his wife receives calls all the time from all over the world from people with an interest in the rich history of the area’s pottery.

The Ohio Valley China Collectors Convention is currently slated to hold its event at the museum this June.

Vodrey’s grandfather was a driving force in getting the museum started during the 1970s. A generation of area school children have toured the museum learning about the industry that many of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers worked in up and down the Ohio River.

The Museum of Ceramics is located at 400 E. Fifth St. in the historical post office building, which will be 100 years old next year.

The group met Strickland at the door as he entered the Lou Holtz Hall of Fame Museum and briefly explained the situation to him. When asked about the decision of the OHS to stop funding the Museum of Ceramics, Strickland said he knew the historical society was facing a “huge budget problem,” but he did not know any specifics affecting East Liverpool’s museum because he had only just learned about it.

djohnson@mojonews.com