Jar, Smith & Day Pottery, Norwalk, 1843–1849, salt-glazed stoneware, cobalt enamel oxide, Albany slip interior. Decorated with cobalt flowers and cobalt highlights and an incised neck, this bulbous-shaped jar is a fine example of the types of wares produced by the short-lived partnership of Asa E. Smith and Noah S. Day. Asa E. Smith founded the Smith Pottery, later the Smith & Day Pottery, A.E. Smith & Sons, and A.E. Smith’s Sons’ Pottery Co., in 1825. The pottery crafted and sold a large variety of pottery including jars, jugs, bowls, plates, teapots and pitchers until it became insolvent in 1887. In 1888 the pottery was sold to the Norwalk Pottery Company. City of Norwalk.

NORWALK, CONN. — The Norwalk Historical Society (NHS) has several exhibitions that explore the city’s history on view at the society’s museum in the City Hall complex.

“Norwalk Collects: Unifying Four Historic Collections” celebrates the collections of the Norwalk Historical Society, the Norwalk-Village Green chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Lockwood Family Collection and the Norwalk Museum both as gifts to or long term agreements with the Norwalk Historical Society.

Also on view in “Eating Off the Landscape: The Farrington-Lockwood Dessert Service” is a French porcelain dessert service originally belonging to William Rogers Farrington (1831–1910). Both exhibits were organized for the NHS by guest curator Elizabeth Pratt Fox, a museum and historic site consultant.

“Norwalk Collects” gives the visitor a sense of who the collecting organizations were, why and what they collected. Of the approximately 5,900 nonarcheological objects in these collections, Fox chose 30, as well as photographs and archeological shards, that give the visitor a glimpse into the range of the collections.

The exhibition includes an Eighteenth Century high chest from Woodbury, a trade sign in the shape of spectacles, two rare needlework samplers made by boys, a redware bowl from the Smith Street Pottery and a painted World War I helmet. In addition, there is supporting material such as an illustrated Lockwood family tree, a photo frame “album” and a set of archeological discovery drawers. Photographs from the Norwalk History Room at the Norwalk Public Library are part of the supporting material.

In “Eating Off the Landscape,” visitors will note the service is decorated with English scenes and famous buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. The compotes, serving dishes and dessert plates descended into the Lockwood family of Norwalk through Farrington’s daughter, Mabel and her marriage to Manice deForest Lockwood Jr. Farrington was a china and glass dealer in France, England and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Family history records that the set was given to Farrington by the porcelain manufacturers in Limoges in appreciation of his business over many years. Each piece of the 25-piece dessert set is dated April 1, 1873, and bears Farrington’s initials. The service was given to the city of Norwalk by Lockwood.

“I hope that the visitor will be as charmed with the pieces as I was when I first discovered them in storage. Their beautifully painted landscapes and decorative border represent fine china painting at its best,” said Fox. Visitors can also play a guessing game of “Can You Find Me?” where the visitor will be given a hint about the building and asked to find the corresponding plate. They can also pick up a recipe card for pound cake, a dessert originating in Eighteenth Century England.

The Norwalk Historical Society Museum at City Hall is at 141 East Avenue. For more information, or 203-846-0525 or norwalkhistoricalsociety.org.

Doll, possibly German, circa 1850; papier-mâché, wood, cloth, paper, leather, various materials. “Peddler” dolls were quite popular in England during the Eighteenth–early Nineteenth Century. They were less of a toy and more of a collectible. They were meant to represent the “Notion Nannies,” female peddlers of small articles, who traveled through the streets. Having such a doll with a basket full of goods was a status symbol. This doll belonged to Julia Abigail Lockwood (1809–1897) and descended through the family to her namesake Julia Belden Lockwood (1881–1976). The doll is unusual for having a black doll in the basket. Lockwood Collection, City of Norwalk, bequest of Julia B. Lockwood.

Small compote depicting St Paul’s Cathedral, London; France, dated on verso April 1, 1873. The Anglican cathedral is designed in the English baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren to replace an earlier church destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1666. It sits on the highest point of the City of London and it barely survived The Blitz during World War II. Lockwood Collection, City of Norwalk, gift of Manice deForest Lockwood Jr.

Large French-made porcelain compote showing Tower of London, dated on verso April 1, 1873. Officially, Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle located in London. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, but it acquired its reputation as a forbidding prison much later. Lockwood Collection, City of Norwalk, gift of Manice deForest Lockwood Jr.

Zimri Moody, American (1741–1817), high chest of drawers; Woodbury, Conn., cherry, pine and tulip poplar. The inscription, “Zimri Moody made this April 27 1766,” was recently deciphered on the back of a drawer in this chest. He was born in Farmington in 1736 and his father was lost at sea before 1744. By 1760, Zimri and his brother Samuel were living in Woodbury. Why a chest made in Woodbury was acquired by the Lockwood family of Norwalk is unknown. According to family tradition, the chest was a gift from Eliphalet Lockwood to his bride, Susannah St John, shortly after their marriage and was saved when the British burned their house in 1779. Lockwood Collection, City of Norwalk, gift of Manice deForest Lockwood Jr.

The painted American helmet, circa 1915, belonged to Private First Class John W. Clarkin (1891–1957) who was a member of the 463 Casual Company, American Expeditionary Forces, 331st Supply Company in 1919. In his 1917 draft registration, Clark is listed as a stationary engineer at the Norwalk Tire and Rubber Company and was the main source of support for his two sisters. Painting helmets with charts and maps, country names and symbols of war did not happen on the battlefield, but rather during periods of occupation or after the war. Norwalk Historical Society, gift of John I. Clarkin.