Apple Butter Crock c. 1939

Fritz Boehmer rendered this apple butter crock in watercolor. The crock is decorated with apples, the letters 'OK,' and the word 'Ohio.' During Boehmer's lifetime, the decorative arts were beginning to enter museum collections. This interest reflected a growing nostalgia for pre-industrial, rural ways of life and the objects associated with them. We might think about this image, then, as a product of the Arts and Crafts movement. It romanticizes the agrarian past while also bringing design and craftsmanship to the forefront. Boehmer’s choice to highlight this utilitarian object raises questions about the shifting cultural values of the early 20th century. Apple butter production, like other forms of food preservation, would have been a communal activity. Ohio, with its rich agricultural history, represented an ideal of rural community to many at the turn of the century. By studying photographs, advertisements, and local historical society records, we can better understand this era and its complex relationship to both past and present.