Great American Glass

During this on-going exhibition, visitors will see a lavish display of glass items produced in the 1920s and 1930s, selected from the Museum's Jabe Tarter and Paul Miller collection. The exhibiton is evidence of the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the glass makers of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. This exhibition, curated by James Measell, historian at the Fenton Art Glass Company, focuses on pieces from the second quarter of the twentieth century, a period known as "between the wars".

During this era, American glass companies created an extraordinary variety of products, ranging from expensive art glass to inexpensive glassware for everyday household use. Handmade glassware was especially popular in the 1920s, and the firms making such products used traditional pressing and blowing techniques, equipment, and tools. In the 1930s, manufacturers came to rely on automatic machines to produce great quantities of utilitarian glassware. Original glass-making tools and machines are featured in this exhibition.