The American cut glass industry

by Jane Shadel Spillman

This authoritative book presents new information about the late 19th- and early 20th-century cut glass industry in Corning, New York. The recent discovery of a mass of archival material relating to T. G. Hawkes and Company, including thousands of letters, has enabled the author to research business practices in the glass industry in more detail than ever before. Using this new information, together with her already considerable knowledge, Jane Shadel Spillman has produced the first book on American cut glass to go beyond the glass and examine the workings of the industry itself, including labor relations, sources of blanks, special orders for the White House, Hawkes's representation at the Paris world's fair in 1889, and communication between the cut glass industry and silver manufacturers such as Gorham and Tiffany. Competition and cooperation between the glass cutting firms are also highlighted, and considerable attention is paid to other companies, such as J. Hoare, H. P. Sinclaire,