Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes this desk set produced by Boston and Sandwich Glass Company. The problems involved in pressing glass were summarized by a glassmaker in 1849: "If an overplus of metal [glass] be gathered, it thickens the article throughout; but if too little, it

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes glass of H.W. Stiegel, produced by the American Flint Glass Manufactory of Henry William Stiegel. Stiegel opened a glasshouse in Manheim, Pa., in 1764. He was originally a manufacturer of window and bottle glass, but his main interest was fine lead

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes the Morgan Vase. The Victorian sense of "good taste" emphasized ornate works. Some glassmakers met this demand by creating dramatic color effects. Several American factories produced Peachblow glass, which had a surface that shaded from

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Glass Window Blinds designed by Elias Hungerford. Hungerford received a patent for these glass window blinds in 1866. They were designed, he said, "to give light which enters the room any desired tint to correspond with the color of wall paper

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes the Lily-pad Pitcher, produced by Lancaster Glass Works. The glass that was used to make this pitcher was also employed in the manufacture of windows because the brilliant, deep aquamarine color would not have been noticeable in thinly blown sheets

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes this electric cut glass lamp. Six lamps in this style are known, and all of them are cut in the same pattern. The manufacturer has not been positively identified. One of these lamps was purchased in Chicago in the late 1930s or early 1940s, and

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Flask with Mold produced by Stebbins and Stebbins. The manufacture and decoration of hand-blown tableware was a slow and costly process. Glassmakers soon sought ways to speed production and to decorate their wares more inexpensively. One way to do

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Cut and Gilded Vase produced by William Leighton. This cut and gilded vase, blown from four layers of glass (colorless, red, green, and opaque white), is very Bohemian in appearance. However, it was made at the New England Glass Company. William

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Blue Aurene Vase, designed by Frederick Carder. Aurene glass was one of the earliest color effects created by Frederick Carder for Steuben Glass Works. It was first made as an iridescent gold-colored glass, but by 1904 Carder had developed blue

This display of glass produced in America in the 18th and 19th centuries includes useful objects made in the 1700s, fancy art glass of the late 19th century, and glass for windows, lighting devices, and storage jars.

On June 23, 1972, Corning suffered a major natural disaster. Tropical Storm Agnes inflicted three days of incessant rain on western New York and Pennsylvania. Corning's normally peaceful Chemung River became a torrent. The river overflowed its dikes, and downtown Corning was inundated. At the

These blinds led to the arrival of glassmaking in Corning. Elias Hungerford, who patented the blinds in 1866, looked for a glass factory that would make them. He persuaded the owner of the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works to move to Corning, where both land and labor were less expensive. The original

Jane Shadel Spillman, curator of American Glass, discusses Louis Comfort Tiffany's blown glass showcased in "Tiffany Treasures: Favrile Glass from Special Collections"- on view at The Corning Museum of Glass November 1, 2009- October 31, 2010.

Mt. Washington and its successor, the Pairpoint Corporation, was one of America's longest-running luxury glass companies (1837-1957), one that rivaled its better known contemporaries, Tiffany and Steuben. It constantly reinvented and re-invigorated its business through creativity in texture,

On June 23, 1972, Corning, New York and the surrounding communities were devastated by a major flood, as a result of the tropical storm Agnes. At The Corning Museum of Glass, hundreds of objects were broken, more than half of the Library's materials were saturated with flood water, and the