Like George H. W. Bush, Charles G. Zug (known by most as Terry) attended high school at Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts, went to Yale, and served in the Navy. Unlike Bush, who then took to politics, became head of the CIA, and later won the Presidency, Terry returned to graduate school, earning a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1968, he took a job at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he taught in the Department of English and Folklore until he retired thirty-three years later.

The pottery community in North Carolina is very lucky he made those choices. 

North Carolina has had an unusually long association with pottery, and its current thriving position owes much to Terry, who died on January 19th, 2025, aged 85. His scholarship and advocacy combined to create enthusiasm within the ranks of potters, customers, collectors, and regional and state institutions that continue to this day.

Central to this endeavor was his book, Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina, published by UNC Press in 1986. Turners and Burners paid attention to an overlooked and still active pottery tradition within the US in ways that echoed the broader interest in global folk pottery traditions promulgated by Bernard Leach, Soetsu Yanagi, Shoji Hamada, and Michael Cardew. 

Terry tells the story, "Of the generations of ‘turners and burners’ whose creations are much admired for their strength and beauty. This book is an attempt to understand both the past and the present, the now largely vanished word of the folk potter and the continuing achievements of his descendants. From the middle of the eighteenth century through the second quarter of the twentieth century, folk potters in North Carolina produced thousands of pieces of earthenware and stoneware – sturdy, simple, indispensable forms like jars and jugs, milk crocks and butter churns, pitchers and dishes, ring jugs and flowerpots. Their wares were familiar and every day, not innovative or unusual, because they were shaped through generations of use for specific functions. The utilitarian forms were so commonplace and embedded in daily life that few individuals documented the craft. Turners and Burners chronicle these pottery traditions, with close attention to regional and temporal patterns and the major families involved. It explores in detail the traditional technologies used, from the foot-powered treadle wheels to the wood-fired groundhog kiln.”

Excellent chapters on Moravian earthenware, the salt glaze tradition of the Eastern Piedmont, and the alkaline glaze traditions of the Catawba Valley are followed by eloquent sections concerning clays, turning (as throwing is known here), glazing, and burning (firing). Descriptions of the culture of pottery making humanize the account, especially sections concerning his old friend, Catawba Valley potter Burlon Craig, who was encouraged to make face jugs and other whimsies at a time when the alkaline glaze tradition was in danger of extinction. The Art Ware era of North Carolina pottery in the early and mid-20th century is also engagingly documented, and a comprehensive “Index of North Carolina Potters” has been a boon to pottery collectors and enthusiasts. 

The thoroughness of his fieldwork and research, along with the quality of his writing about a regional American pottery tradition, not to mention its lasting impact on pottery making in North Carolina, places his book alongside Louise Alison Cort’s epic study of a Japanese regional tradition, Shigaraki: Potters’ Valley. As in many contemporary regional Japanese pottery communities, remnants of traditional practice, like using local clays and glaze materials, making simple, functional pots, and firing them in wood-burning kilns, continue to be aesthetically encouraged and economically viable in North Carolina.

In 1981, before Turners and Burners, Terry curated the first comprehensive exhibition of North Carolina pottery, “The Traditional Pottery of North Carolina,” at the Ackland Museum in Chapel Hill. Over the years, he donated several iconic pots made by 19th-century North Carolina potters Daniel Seagle, J.D. Craven, Solomon Loy, and others to museum collections across the state. He helped found the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove in 1998 and stepped in to become its interim director when the situation required it. He also helped establish the Catawba Valley Pottery & Antiques Festival in Hickory, North Carolina, which boosted the profile of the local alkaline glaze tradition and the Eastern Piedmont salt glaze tradition, as well as contemporary regional studio potters. These are not glamorous tasks but require a dogged commitment in the service of a craft that has undergone significant changes since the publication of Turners and Burners. Indeed, he welcomed newcomers into the fold, helping spread the word about the ever-changing face of the tradition, and traveled widely to craft shows, civic society functions, and folklore gatherings to advocate on behalf of the potters of North Carolina.

Terry was not alone in his advocacy and study of the history of North Carolina pottery: Daisy Wade Bridges, Nancy Sweezy, Quincy Scarborough, Linda Carnes-McNaughton, Steve Compton, me, and others have all made significant contributions to the field. Combined with occasional state-level support, public and mainstream television coverage, and the natural entrepreneurial savvy of potters themselves, it is not surprising that Jack Troy declared, “If North America has a 'pottery state' it must be North Carolina, as there is probably no other state with such a highly developed pottery consciousness.” It could be argued that contemporary Minnesota ranks up there with North Carolina thanks to Warren Mackenzie, the University of Minnesota, the Northern Clay Center, and the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. Either way, Terry was at the center of all that happened within the pottery community in North Carolina for the last fifty years, and he’ll be sorely missed.

Probity is in short supply these days. Honesty and decency, combined with public service, were embedded in Terry’s character, as were kindness and playfulness, especially with young children who adored him. Never one to seek the limelight, he possessed a genial shyness and a warm, patrician modesty based on fairness, sincerity, and tenacity.

A memorial/remembrance service for Terry is being planned for May 18, 2025, to be held at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, North Carolina. Everyone is invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, his family kindly requests that donations be made to the North Carolina Pottery Center in memory of Terry. https://www.ncpotterycenter.org