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Glass Industry in West Virginia
History of GlassAn Interdisciplinary Project of Cabell County
Schools and Marshall University’s June Harless Center
Session 2 – 11 April 2013
2
Outline• History of Glass– World
• Invention/Discovery• Early Uses• Spread of Glass Technology
– US• Jamestown• Pittsburgh
– West Virginia • Why glass in WV• Early WV glassmakers• WV Glass Labor
3
First Uses of Glass
• First use was as jewelry• Invention was probably accidental from mixing
wood ashes and sand• Invention likely around 3000 – 2000 BC in
Mesopotamia or Egypt
11 April 2013 Session 2
4
Early Glass Artifacts
11 April 2013 Session 2
Session 2 5
First Glass Containers
• Early glass was core formed by putting a stick in molten glass and shaping over a clay form
• Glass making spread to China around 500 BC
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Session 1 6
Egyptian glass
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Session 2 7
Sumerian glass bottle
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Session 1 8
Roman glass
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Session 2 9
Glass from Judea
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Session 2 10
Glass Blowing
• Glass bowing was developed around 100 BC, probably in Syria, and required much higher temperatures that molding
• Glass technology swept through Rome since glass vessels were stronger, lighter and easier to make than the ceramic containers it replaced
• Innovations in glass advanced in Rome more quickly than at any time in history, including today
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Session 2 11
Sargon Vase
• 750 BC
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Session 2 12
Roman Glass Innovations
• Excavations of Roman middens suggest that glass items were so inexpensive that they were discarded when they sustained even slight damage
• Some window glass was used in Rome but not widely since the Mediterranean climate didn’t need as much protection from the elements
• Following Roman occupation, window glass was common in Great Britain
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Session 2 13
• Replica Roman window glass
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Session 2 14
• Prior to the development of plate glass, small pieces of horn or parchment were used to let light in windows
• Glass balls were used as magnifying glass in Rome
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Session 2 15
Middle Ages
• There were few innovations in glass from 400 – 1400 AD
• Alexandria was the center of stained glass manufacturing around 1000 AD
• Damascus was a glass making center until the 1400 invasion by Timor when many glass craftsman escaped to Italy
11 April 2013
Session 2 16
Italian Glassmaking
• Italian glass innovations in the 1400s include millefiori and crystal
• Many advances in science and technology were tied to advances in Italian glass manufacturing during the Renaissance
• The Venetians guarded their glass blowing techniques so carefully that they moved their best artists to the island of Murano
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Session 2 17
Murano Crystal
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Session 2 18
Murano millefiori
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Session 2 19
Millefiori
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Session 2 20
Glassmaking in the US
• The first recorded production of glass in the US was in Jamestown in 1608 by a group of “Dutchmen”. Later, a group of Italian glassblowers were brought to Virginia
• Early US glass industries developed near forest areas since quantities of wood were required to fuel the glass furnaces. Later coal and eventually natural gas was used as a heat source.
11 April 2013
Session 2 21
Jamestown Glass
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Session 2 22
American Glass Pocket Flask
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Session 2 23
Glass in West Virginia
• In WV there is abundant coal and natural gas as an energy source
• Raw materials (silica, lime, metals) are readily available
• River transport allowed products to be shipped
• A capable labor force existed
11 April 2013
Session 2 244 April 2013
Session 2 25
Early WV Glass Manufacturing
• It is believed that the first glassmaking in what is now West Virginia was in Wellsburg as early as 1813
• The glass industry expanded along the Ohio River using immigrant labor and artists in the late 1800s
• Dean Six estimates that over 450 glass manufacturers have been in business in WV
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Session 2 26
Issac Duval Glass(possibly)
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Session 2 27
• By 1930, over 15% of all glass produced in the US came from West Virginia
• Michael Owens developed an economical glass blowing machine
• Libby-Owens-Ford started making automobile glass in Charleston from 1917
• William Blenko started WV operations in 1921 making European style art glass
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Session 2 28
WV Glass Labor
• Most glass workers were immigrants from Italy, Russia, Poland and Belgium
• Glass unions formed to protect workers• Tariffs on glass protected domestic market
share but slowed innovation
11 April 2013
Supporters