Chicagoland is home to a number of museums, but none quite like the American Toby Jug Museum. A strange combination of pop culture from the 18th century to the present, ceramics and history confront any visitor. The museum, at 910 Chicago Ave. in Evanston, Ill., opened on Nov. 12 and is a fascinating look at the past and present.
For the uninitiated, Toby jugs are ceramic mugs, originally intended for ale, with a face or a figure on one side. Although the creator is unknown, most historians date the first Toby jug at around 1750. The name comes from a figure which appeared on early jugs that was commonly known as "Toby." The museum's collection of original Toby jugs is extensive and shows the development of the art form from folk art to pop art.
The collection boasts more than 6,000 pieces which fill more than 90 cases in the basement gallery. The curator, Stephen M. Mullins, has amassed these mugs for more than 60 years, and the grand reopening on Nov. 12 marked the maturation of his dreams of owning a museum dedicated to the collectible ceramic pieces. Previously, part of the collection was housed across the street in the back of another establishment, but plans have been in the works for three years to give the Tobys a home of their own. Now they have just that.
At first, the American Toby Jug Museum can be a bit overwhelming and disorienting. After entering the museum via descending a staircase, one is confronted with row after row of faces staring out from mugs. Quickly, though, the eclectic mixture of types and sizes of mugs captures even the most skeptical visitor's attention. Sizes of jugs range from roughly the size of a thimble to nearly three feet tall, and the collection includes other ceramic pieces, including plates.
The character mugs - those mugs that feature figures other than the original Toby - fill most of the collection. There are animal mugs ranging from grasshoppers or monkeys and even fictional characters from the works of Shakespeare and Dickens. Some of the older mugs have fairly offensive racial images, such as the disgusting "Chinamen" mugs, but these only account for a small fraction of the total collection.
More interesting than the older mugs are those from the latter part of the 20th century. These contemporary images give the impression of an Andy Warhol exhibit. Many of the people featured on the mugs are pop icons, from Marilyn Monroe and James Dean to the entire cast of Star Trek. The museum even has iridescent representations of the Beatles with shiny gold mug handles. There are figurines of past presidents, M&Ms, Elizabeth Taylor and Mohandas Gandhi lining the cases in the museum.
These Toby and character mugs give a glimpse into the popular consciousness. In one part of the museum, you can find obscure local British politicians from the turn of the century and in another part you can see Ronald Reagan's face on a mug. The times may change, but it seems that these functional art forms will be around for a while.
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