Missionaries, Artisans, and Transatlantic Exchange: Production and Distribution of Moravian Pottery in Pennsylvania and the Danish (U.S.) Virgin Islands

Abstract

The international mission network created in the 18th century by the evangelical Protestant group known as the Unity of Brethren, or Moravians, sustained a consistent set of beliefs and daily practices across widely scattered communities The spiritual unity among the dispersed but cohesive communities in the Moravian Atlantic missions was achieved through the circulated written accounts of each mission’s activities Material culture contributed to the communal approach adopted by the Moravians because the trades practiced in the North American and European communities funded mission work. This included potters who manufactured a slip-decorated, red earthenware, and the Moravian records document that these products were sent from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to the Danish Caribbean mission The identification of fragments of this Moravian ware at six sites in the Virgin Islands demonstrates material aspects of this transatlantic community, as Moravian missionary ventures represented an intertwined web of religious belief and economics.