Holding the Past

Holding the Past by Myrna Schkolne. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780895876430.

The William Herbert and Nancy Hunt Collection provides a foundation for understanding both earthenware figures and the long-gone events and people who impacted our world. The 547 pottery figures from the Hunt Collection illustrated in this book were made in Britain prior to 1840. Fashioned in an era before photography, these figures afford engaging three-dimensional glimpses of the people and happenings of those times. They are also important artifacts that hold the story of the past within their clay bodies. Britain then was the premier global force, and this small island nation influenced events that shaped our modern world. Exploring the figures within their historical context deepens our understanding of the social and political trajectories that forged national identities, that molded current beliefs, and that continue to determine our path to the future.