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The Milwaukee Art Museum has transferred ownership of two 19th-century jars by David Drake to his descendants. An agreement allows the museum to display the vessels long-term. The transfer recognizes the family’s connection to Drake and the significance of objects he marked with his name and poems.
The Milwaukee Art Museum has returned two 19th-century stoneware jars by David Drake to his descendants through an ownership transfer agreement that allows the Wisconsin museum to keep the vessels on long-term display. The agreement changes who owns the works while preserving public access to jars that carry the name and writing of an enslaved Black potter.
The museum’s two vessels date to about 1840–50 and 1855. Drake, also known as Dave the Potter, incised his name and brief poems into some of his pottery. The jars are examples of his skill in making large stoneware works, as well as records of his authorship.
The transfer gives ownership to Drake’s descendants while permitting the museum to display the jars long-term. The source report did not specify the agreement’s duration, whether the objects will remain continuously on view, or whether other terms govern their care or display.
Yaba Baker, identified in the museum’s statement as Drake’s fourth great-grandson, said the agreement recognizes Drake as an ancestor whose “voice, expertise, and creativity” have endured. His remarks frame the transfer as a family recognition as well as a change in legal ownership.
Family Ownership, Museum Display
The arrangement separates ownership from long-term display: Drake’s descendants receive the jars, while the museum can continue presenting them to visitors. That structure makes the family’s relationship to the objects part of the public account of their history, while retaining access to works in a museum collection.
The inscriptions give the jars significance beyond their form and scale. Drake wrote his name and poems at a time when Black literacy was criminalized in the antebellum South. His marks connect the objects to an individual maker’s words and choices, rather than leaving them as anonymous examples of pottery.
The transfer also comes amid another reported return involving Drake’s work: a Virginia museum announced this week that it would return another vessel. The report does not provide that museum’s name or the terms of that arrangement, so the two developments cannot be assumed to follow the same process.
Drake and Edgefield Pottery
Drake was born into slavery around 1801 in the Carolinas. Records about his early life are limited. The report says that, as a late teenager, Harvey Drake and Abner Landrum brought him to work in their pottery business in Edgefield, South Carolina, a major center of ceramic production in the 19th-century American South.
Drake became known as a master potter who made particularly large works. He also learned to read and write despite legal restrictions and danger. South Carolina’s Negro Act of 1740 restricted literacy among enslaved and free African Americans and imposed severe penalties. The report describes Drake’s inscriptions and rhyming couplets as expressions of his expertise and agency under those conditions.
““For our family, this agreement is about more than the ownership of these two vessels. It is about recognizing David Drake as our ancestor whose voice, expertise, and creativity have endured for over 175 years.””
— Yaba Baker, Drake’s fourth great-grandson, in a statement on the return
Terms and Display Details
The report does not give the date the transfer took effect or the full terms of the agreement. It says the museum may display the jars long-term but does not specify how often they will be shown, how they will be cared for, or whether the agreement sets conditions for future display.
The Virginia museum’s reported return of another Drake vessel is also not detailed. Its identity, the recipient and the arrangement’s terms remain unspecified in the available report.
Long-Term Display at Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Art Museum can continue displaying the jars under the ownership transfer agreement. The report does not identify a forthcoming exhibition, a date when the agreement will take effect, or any planned public programming tied to the return.
Further details about the display arrangement, and about the separate Virginia return, would clarify how each institution plans to present Drake’s work and involve his descendants. No additional announcement or schedule was provided in the source report.
Key Questions
Which objects did the Milwaukee Art Museum return?
It transferred ownership of two 19th-century stoneware jars by David Drake, dated to about 1840–50 and 1855.
Who received ownership of the jars?
The recipients are Drake’s descendants. Yaba Baker, identified as Drake’s fourth great-grandson, spoke about the agreement in a statement.
Will the museum still display the jars?
Yes. The agreement allows the Milwaukee Art Museum to display the vessels long-term. The report does not give a display schedule or the agreement’s full terms.
Why are Drake’s inscriptions significant?
Drake incised his name and brief poems into pottery during a period when Black literacy was criminalized in the antebellum South. The inscriptions preserve evidence of his authorship and skill.
Is another David Drake vessel being returned?
A report said a Virginia museum announced the return of another vessel this week. The museum’s name and details of that transfer were not included in the source material.
Source: rss
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