The CCS oral history archive collects materials, memories and life stories of those – artisans and non-artisans – who were directly involved in the evolution of ceramic techniques and manufacturing activities throughout the twentieth century. The audio and video sources stored there, in analog and / or digital format, collect the testimonies of potters, terracotta workers, master craftsmen and women, and ceramic colour technicians, from different periods and working teams.
Team 1982-1984
Francesco Alberti, Gian Bruno Ravenni and Giovanni Contini produced a series of video and audio interviews entitled “Names, gestures, stories: Seven centuries of ceramic production in Montelupo”, commissioned by the Castoro di Alberti company. This is the first concrete document to collect the direct testimonies of the potters and their activity from the post-war period until the 1970s.
Team 1984-2003
Gabriele Migliori, Alessio Ferrari and Fausto Berti, on behalf of the Ceramics Museum of Montelupo, collected sources thereby recovering knowledge of the manufacturing activities in the region with particular attention to the ceramic sector; expanding the research towards the wood sector , frames, glass etc.
Team 2003-2019
Composed of personnel of the Vittoriano Bitossi Foundation – Marina Vignozzi Paszkowski and Elisabetta Daini – and by the staff inside the Ceramic Center – Paolo Pinelli, Gabriele Migliori, Francesca Martelli, Ambra Garosi and Sara Chiarito – this team continues to collect testimonies going back to 1982.
The oral history archive provides for a continuous and progressive increase in audio and video materials. It has as its purpose the dissemination, both historical and technical, of this practical, theoretical and cultural knowledge, which today, more than ever, risks disappearing forever.