Museum Of Connecticut Glass

Hopes To Be Depository For A Shard Of History

By Nancy K. Crevier

Dick Baker of Newtown has been collecting glass since he was a youngster growing up in Westport. His home is a museum of antique bottles, from the most petite ink bottles crafted in 17th Century England to gallon sized jugs that sit upon the floor. The bottles of all shapes and colors mingle with other glassware that he and his wife, Louise, collect, several pieces of which they bring to shows around the region.

“I don’t buy a piece for how valuable it is,” said Mr Baker. “I buy it because I like it.” What he likes about collectible bottles varies somewhat, but usually he is taken by the imprinted design, or something on the remnant of a label, or even the shape of the bottle itself. The value in collecting them, he said, is in what can be learned about the past.

“It’s history!” exclaimed Mr Baker. “You start collecting and you get more involved,” he said.

 A retired design/development/research engineer for Perkin Elmer, Mr Baker was always a history buff, he said, and came from a family of collectors. Collecting glass is a hobby that began when he and a few friends dug up the dumping area of an old farm house and found bottles and glassware that had been tossed away years and years before.

“That first piece I collected was just a plain, clear medicine or elixir bottle,” he said. It was the beginning of his fascination with the glass industry of the 18th and 19th centuries in Connecticut, and the start of his glass and bottle collection that now numbers in the hundreds. “I have a few favorite items, but I like it all. Each piece has a story. You wonder, ‘Who had this piece? What were they like?’” said Mr Baker.

It is the desire to preserve the history of the Connecticut glass industry that has led Mr Baker, a member of the Southern Connecticut Antique Bottle & Glass Club, to become a board member for Connecticut’s only glass museum, currently under development in Coventry.

“In 2000, our glass club was looking for a place for a bottle show, and Noel Tomas offered us the space at the Museum of Connecticut Glass. I was so impressed, that I joined the board,” said Mr Baker.

Now, he is hoping to generate interest in others who love history and antiques, to support the renovation of the two buildings that make up the museum, founded by Mr Tomas in 1994.

The museum is housed in the former residence of Captain John Turner, who was an operator of the Coventry Glass Factory in the mid-1800s, at the intersection of Route 44 and North River Road in Coventry. The house and a barn on the property, both listed as being in the National Register’s National Historic Glass Factory District, are in the trust of the Museum of Connecticut Glass.

Currently, said Mr Baker, only a very small collection of bottles and glass shards are on display in the museum, and the museum is open only by appointment, until renovations can be completed.

“I estimate a need of over $3 million for the house and barn renovations,” said Mr Tomas. He is actively courting interest from a school of engineering to develop the plan, which he hopes will include a glass furnace fired by green sources only.

“It will be unique, if we can do that,” said Mr Tomas. “If we can get that off the ground, we will have set an experimental path that can be replicated by others,” he said. He envisions the glass furnace in a new building to be constructed adjacent to the barn, the educational center, and that a glass blower on site will make the museum “an active museum” that will draw interest from all around the region.

Once he is able to get the assistance of an engineering school on board, the second phase will be to approach private companies for funding. “We would hope we can get this moving within a five year period,” said Mr Tomas. “If we can get the excitement going, we can draw more interest.”

A National Leader In The Glass Making Industry

It is important to preserve the history of the Connecticut glass industry, said Mr Baker, which was once a vital and thriving industry in the state.

“There were quite a few glass companies in the 1700s and 1800s, employing anywhere from 20 to 100 workers at each one,” he said. The glass bottles are distinctive to collectors, with each company creating its own molds for bottles. Some, such as the Pitkins Glassworks of East Hartford (now Manchester), and Willington Glass Company in West Willington were known for their green glass; flint glass, opal, and colored ware was made by Meriden Flint Glass company of west Meriden, as did the Wallingford Glass Company.

Other glass companies that produced products during the 18th and 19th Centuries included the John Mather Glassworks in East Hartford; the Glastenbury Glass Factory Company; Fort Trumbull Glass Works; and Westford Glass Company of Ashford/Westford.

“Connecticut was one of the leaders of 19th Century glass making in the country,” said Mr Tomas. The state legislator actually gave to the Pitkins family — and this was the only time they have, Mr Tomas said — a monopoly for a ten-year period to make glass.

“The family had contributed significantly to the Revolution, with donations of cotton and other supplies,” he explained. Pitkins went on to become one of the most successful glass makers in the state, and examples of Pitkins glassware is some of the most valuable found at glass shows today.

It was after that ten year period that other glass manufacturers sprang up around the state. There was a lot of competition between them, said Mr Tomas, and for some, internal conflict led to the demise of the company.

The other reason that glass companies faltered in Connecticut was the lack of an adequate fuel source.

“A lot of companies moved out west, where coal was readily available to fire the furnaces,” said Mr Baker. Very little glass is made in the area now, he added. “I think that Fenton, in Virginia, may be the only one left,” he said.

Glass collectors enjoy the sleuthing it takes to determine where and when a bottle or piece of glassware was made, said Mr Baker. It is possible to identify a bottle’s origin based on the particular mold design, although at times the originator of the mold may have taken it to another glass company for production when they were not able to fill an order.

“Records kept by the companies show where the mold had been sent,” explained Mr Baker, “but it is still considered a piece by the company that designed the mold, even if the bottles were made elsewhere.”

Still, he noted, there are so many examples of bottles and glassware that were manufactured during that time, the origin of a great many bottles remains a mystery. “You only know a small bit. There’s no such thing as an ‘expert’ who knows everything,” he said.

Mr Baker envisions a time when the brick Turner house will be home to a large collection of glassware from around the state. Several of the board members, including himself, will donate private collections for exhibition when the renovations are completed.

“We’re trying to teach the public about this industry in Connecticut,” said Mr Baker.

He and Mr Tomas are hopeful that The Museum of Connecticut Glass will be eligible for grants, and that private donors and venture capitalists will find it a cause worth supporting. Right now, the members collect deposit bottles and cans from Coventry residents, making just enough by cashing them in to cover the costs of insurance and basic maintenance.

Currently, small groups are welcome to tour the museum by appointment. Contact Noel Tomas at 860-633-2944. To make a tax deductible donation, visit www.GlassMuseum.org.