[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 184 (Thursday, December 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING DANFORTH PEWTER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to celebrate the 
success of another Vermont business, Danforth Pewter, which this year 
celebrates 40 years of producing quality, hand-crafted pewter products. 
Danforth Pewter--owned and operated by Fred and Judi Danforth--opened 
for business in 1975 in Woodstock, VT. What started as a family 
business operating in a milk house in an old dairy barn has expanded to 
a workshop and flagship store in Middlebury and a network of retail 
stores in Burlington, Waterbury, and Woodstock, VT, and in Colonial 
Williamsburg, VA.
  This rich history of Danforth Pewter, however, dates back more than 
two-and-a-half centuries, when Thomas Danforth II opened his pewter 
shop in Middletown, CT in 1755. Generations of Danforths followed in 
the patriarch's footsteps until 1873. A century later, Fred Danforth 
and his wife, Judi, also an artist, rekindled the family tradition and, 
following in the footsteps of his great-great-great-great-great-
grandfather, reopened what is today a thriving business with a 
reputation for quality that extends far beyond the Green Mountains of 
Vermont. Fast forward to today, and the Danforth pewterer legacy lives 
on. Using the same techniques to cast pewter today as were originally 
used by Thomas Danforth II is an even greater testament to the 
longevity of fine craftsmanship and the quality of the goods produced 
at Danforth Pewter.
  Every time Marcelle and I visit Danforth Pewter, we are impressed by 
the time and effort that goes into each piece. We shared the quality of 
this craftsmanship in 2008 when we shared palm stones crafted at 
Danforth Pewter with other delegates at the 2008 National Convention. 
Whenever we are in Middlebury, Marcelle and I try to stop in the store 
and see what new pieces are available. Our home in Vermont is dotted 
with Danforth Pewter pieces, and many hold special memories for us. 
These pieces are part of what makes our house in Vermont truly our 
home.
  The Burlington Free Press recently ran an article highlighting the 
long history of Danforth Pewter, punctuated with images of some of the 
company's most historic pieces. I ask unanimous consent that this 
December 11, 2015, article entitled ``Inside the world of Danforth 
Pewter' '' be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Burlington Free Press, Dec. 11, 2015]

                  Inside the World of Danforth Pewter

                           (By Fred Danforth)

       In his wonderful book ``The Connecticut,'' Walter Hard 
     tells of the development of trade along the Connecticut River 
     by the American colonists. In one chapter he describes 
     itinerant peddlers with horse-drawn carts who were the first 
     to distribute the wares of the 18th-century artisans of the 
     Connecticut Valley.
       Some of the wares on those carts were most likely pewter 
     mugs and plates made by Thomas Danforth and his six sons in 
     the late 1700s and early 1800s.
       Thomas Danforth opened his pewter workshop in Middletown, 
     Connecticut, on the banks of the Connecticut River, in 1755 
     and his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons continued 
     crafting pewter in their respective workshops until 1873, 
     when the last of the early American Danforth pewterers died. 
     Some of the pewter pieces made by these Colonial and early 
     American Danforths have made their way into the Smithsonian, 
     the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Winterthur Museum in 
     Delaware, the DeWitt-Wallace Museum in Colonial Williamsburg, 
     and many other American museums.


                         Fred and Judi connect

       In the middle of the 20th century, Judi Danforth, who was 
     then Judi Whipple, also grew up on the shores of the 
     Connecticut River, in Claremont. New Hampshire. Fred 
     Danforth, whose father was the family genealogist, came to 
     Vermont from Ohio to attend Middlebury College. When Fred and 
     Judi met in Middlebury, they discovered that they not only 
     liked each other a lot, but they had a common interest in 
     pewter. Judi had studied silversmithing and pewtering at the 
     school for American Craftsmen in Rochester, New York, and was 
     determined to become a pewterer.
       Fred aspired to fine woodworking and knew that the four 
     pewter pieces on his family's mantle were made by his great-
     great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Danforth and his 
     family. With a little cajoling Fred shifted his creative 
     interest from wood to pewter. After a short apprenticeship in 
     the basic skills of pewtering and a brief stint working for 
     an entrepreneur in Nova Scotia, the two returned to Vermont 
     and found the perfect spot to follow their new passion in 
     Woodstock, and 102 years after the last of the early American 
     Danforths stopped working in pewter, the Danforth family 
     pewter trade came to life again, once more in the Connecticut 
     River Valley.
       Using the rampant lion from Thomas Danforth's touchmark on 
     their first sign, Fred and Judi Danforth opened their pewter 
     shop in Woodstock, Vermont in 1975.
       Fred says ``We were inspired by the burgeoning revival of 
     the American Crafts movement in Vermont in the 1970s. We were 
     brimming with design ideas and our goal was to make well-
     designed appealing functional pieces that people could use 
     every day and enjoy for generations.'' The shop in Woodstock 
     was in the milk house of an old dairy barn. The makeshift 
     showroom was in their living room in a tired 1789 farm house.


                            `Into the woods'

       After two years of successfully attracting both locals and 
     visiting tourists to their fledgling business, they decided 
     to move closer to friends in Addison County to begin raising 
     their family and to pursue a new approach to their business.
       ``We moved into the woods,'' Fred continues, ``some might 
     say back to the land, in Lincoln. This presented new 
     challenges for our business and we had to work hard to make 
     it succeed. In order to reach customers we began attending 
     more craft fairs and selectively selling our growing product 
     line to stores around Vermont including Frog Hollow. We 
     created our first touchmark based on the same rampant lion of 
     Thomas Danforth II.''
       ``And this was when Judi became a sculptor. She began 
     carving wax into a whimsical range of buttons in the shapes 
     of animals and flowers. They were immediately popular on the 
     craft fair circuit, not to mention on the sweaters of our two 
     beautiful young daughters.'' The business grew in new 
     directions as the couple went to trade shows and sold their 
     buttons and pins and then ornaments to stores all over the 
     country.


                          Expand to Middlebury

       By 1988, they had 12 employees and had outgrown the 
     workshop in the Danforths' barn in Lincoln. They built a new 
     facility next to Woody Jackson's Holy Cow in Middlebury. Soon 
     thereafter Judi's carving skill won them the license to make 
     Winnie the Pooh pewter for Walt Disney, which led to another 
     period of growth in a new direction.
       In the late 1990s, the company returned to its roots and 
     refocused its energies on Fred and Judi's original designs. 
     In 1997 Danforth Pewter was honored by the SBA when Fred and 
     Judi were the co-winners of the Vermont Small Business Person 
     of the Year Award.
       In 2006, the company took another big step, putting their 
     flagship retail store in Middlebury into the same building as 
     the workshop. One set of observation windows lets guests see 
     100-year-old lathes being used by skilled artisans to make 
     oil lamps, candlesticks, baby cups and other holloware. 
     Another set of windows gives a look into the casting shop 
     where visitors can see molten pewter being carefully poured 
     into some of the hundreds of vulcanized rubber molds the 
     company uses to make jewelry, holiday ornaments and 
     figurines.


                        Network of pewter stores

       Today, the company employs around 60 people, and the 
     network of Danforth Pewter stores has grown to include a 
     boutique on Middlebury's Main St; stores in Burlington, 
     Waterbury, Woodstock, and Williamsburg, Virginia; a holiday 
     kiosk in the University Mall in South Burlington in November 
     and December; and several retail events around New England. 
     The company also has a thriving online business at 
     www.danforthpewter.com, as well as a national wholesale 
     business. In addition, Danforth makes custom designs, such as 
     the bottle stoppers for one of Whistlepig Whiskey's high-end 
     offerings, and holiday ornaments for Life is Good.
       A lot has changed since Thomas Danforth II opened his 
     pewter workshop in 1755, but there are a lot of things that 
     he'd recognize if he walked into Danforth's Middlebury 
     workshop today. The process of casting pewter by pouring 
     molten pewter into a mold is a technique he used that's still 
     in use today.
       Hopefully, he'd also recognize a passion for good design 
     and for quality craftsmanship. And he'd certainly recognize 
     some of the pieces of Colonial-era and early American 
     Danforth pewter that are on display in each Danforth store, 
     including one or two that he made himself all the way back in 
     the 1700s.

                          ____________________