The Beeson Collection of Wedgwood: Creating an American Narrative

Dwight (1903-1985) and Lucille (1905-2001) Beeson were collectors of the ceramics manufactured by the English company, Wedgwood. The Beesons themselves were both bom and raised in the rural South of the United States. Mr. Beeson’s job, as an executive for an insurance company, brought the couple to Birmingham, Alabama, where they were based until their deaths. It was after accruing a significant fortune that the Beesons turned their attention to collecting. In choosing Wedgwood as the focus of their purchasing activities, the Beesons were selecting a commodity which held a confirmed status as goods of taste and distinction. Their collecting began in an ad hoc fashion, where little attention was paid to quality or age; however, as they progressed the couple were introduced to the methodologies of collecting. They began to acquire the connoisseurs taste, and through their introduction to authoritative texts written on Wedgwood, exhibitions of Wedgwood material both in England and in America, and their association with numerous American collectors, they began to alter and transform their own acquisitions creating what became the finest collection of Wedgwood in the United States. The Beesons, while engaged with the history of the objects they collected, were equally motivated by the new narratives which they constructed for these objects. They became signals which communicated their own class and status, transforming the couple from provincial, Southern ‘country folk’ to urbane, erudite connoisseurs able to pass judgment on matters of taste. Within the setting of the Beeson’s suburban home, where these objects were displayed until the 1970s, the collection communicated to visitors that this couple were engaged in discerning and sophisticated pursuits. By the mid 1960s the Beesons had made the decision to donate their collection to their local museum, and towards this end, increased the quality of their purchases. The collection was donated to the Birmingham Museum of Art in 1978, and in this role played a part in transforming the image of the community. Just as the collection had served the Beesons, these objects were now being utilised in creating an image of Birmingham as a city defined by culture. In this way, this collection can tell us about the relevance of consumer objects in the process of identity formation and about the vital role such collections had in defining a prosperous post World War Two America. The Beesons envisioned themselves as the custodians of culture and saw their wealth as an opportunity to transform and define their communities.