We are a group interested in the potteries and stoneware companies that existed in the Midwest in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include, but are not limited to, the Fort Dodge Stoneware Company, Plymouth Stoneware Company of Fort Dodge, Western Stoneware Company (Plant 7), Red Wing Union Stoneware Company, Fort Dodge Pottery, Hartwell & Bower, and a host of others.

The relationships of the Iowa stoneware companies extended beyond the Iowa border to other companies which included the Western Stoneware Company of Illinois and Red Wing Union Stoneware Company of Minnesota. The true beginning of Iowa's large stoneware companies can be traced to Martin White's employment at the Burger and Harrington plants in New York.