Copyright Notice: This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

July 14, 1852 - June 26, 1935

O. L. Bachelder at the potter's wheel, created by Umann, Doris. Image courtesy of Western Carolina Hunter Library Digital Collections.
O. L. Bachelder at the potter's wheel, created by Umann, Doris. Image courtesy of WCU Digital Collections.

Oscar Louis Bachelder, master potter, was born in Menasha, Wisconsin, the son of Hannah Tipley Bodwell (or Bothwell) and Calvin B. Bachelder. He came from many generations of potters on 

Vase by Bachelder. Courtesy of WCU Digital Collections.
Vase by Bachelder. Courtesy of WCU Digital Collections.

both sides, and his father worked in the noted potteries at Bennington, Vt. Bachelder moved from Wisconsin to North Carolina in 1911 and established the Omar Khayyám Pottery at Luther, west of Asheville. Initially, he made such practical pieces as jugs, churns, and crocks, but later he switched to artistically designed work, explaining: "I wanted to create beauty unmarred by the hand of commerce." An advertising card that he distributed asserted: "Each article has merit and individuality. No replicas. O. L. Bachelder, artist."

In 1919 he won the Logan Prize awarded by the Chicago Art Institute, where his pottery was displayed. Bachelder's work was also exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Buffalo, and Paris.

Called "a dreamer, philosopher, artist, and lover of nature," Bachelder died in 1935 at the age of eighty-two, survived by his widow, Mrs. Pink Bachelder.

References:

Antiques Journal, September 1974.

Asheville Citizen, 23 Dec. 1928, 27 Oct. 1929, 26 June 1935.

Additional Resources:

Oscar Louis Bachelder in the Western Carolina University Digital Collections: http://wcudigitalcollection.cdmhost.com/cdm/search/searchterm/Bachelder

North Carolina Pottery Collection at the Mint Museum: http://ncpottery.mintmuseum.org/nc-pottery/nc-potters/detail/500055/Oscar-Louis-Bachelder

Image Credits:

O. L. Bachelder at the potter's wheel, created by Umann, Doris. Image courtesy of Western Carolina Hunter Library Digital Collections. Available from http://wcudigitalcollection.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4008coll2/id/2580/rec/2 (accessed February 13, 2013).

Vase by Bachelder. Courtesy of WCU Digital Collections. Available from http://wcudigitalcollection.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4008coll2/id/3575/rec/7 (accessed February 13, 2013).

Citation

Conway, Robert O. "Bachelder, Oscar Louis." NCpedia. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on February 26th, 2025. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/bachelder-oscar-louis.