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the history of itinerant glassworkers

Category: People (Page 2 of 2)

John Tilley’s wonderful mechanisms

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To be seen in a neat Sitting Room, at 141 Broadway: the wonderful mechanisms of fancy glass blower John Tilley. This early American broadside, ca. 1820, enumerates the delights New Yorkers could observe if they paid the 25-cent admission fee to Tilley’s glassmaking and scientific exhibition.

handbill describing the show of John Tilley

Wonderful Mechanism J. Tilley, Fancy Glass Blower, from London. New York: J. Robinson, 1820. Collection of the Rakow Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 163866.

John Tilley, originally from London, was the first known itinerant glassworker to bring his exhibition to the United States.1 Eighteenth-century Americans, influenced by their Puritan backgrounds, often shunned traveling entertainers and educators of any sort, some going so far as to outlaw circuses, traveling menageries, and acting troupes. Once those restrictions were lifted, Tilley and others found success touring cities along the East Coast.

Location

Tilley may have been the first glassworker to demonstrate in New York City, but he certainly wasn’t the last to make the city, and specifically Broadway, his home. Later artisans such as Lawrence Finn, W. Belzoni Davidson, and the Woodroffe brothers set up exhibitions in rented rooms and at museums including Barnum’s American Museum at the intersection of Broadway and Ann Street. Like it is today, the street was a center for entertainment.

Possible location of Tilley’s show circled on Broadway, New York, NY, 1821. Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division https://www.loc.gov/item/2006629796/
141 Broadway Street, New York, NY, 2019. Source: Google Maps

Even in 1820, New York City (then confined to Manhattan) was bustling. The city’s population had grown to more than 123,000 people, close to 30,000 more than just a decade before.2 William Cobbett, a British farmer, journalist, and politician who lived on a Long Island farm from 1817 until 1819, described the city as resembling “an English town, in point of manners and customs, much more than any other place that I have seen in America.”3 He comments on the low prices and high quality of everything from the food to the household furnishings available to residents.

On women’s fashions, he states, “The most gay promenades in and about London, and even the boxes of our licenced and degraded theatres, are, in point of female dresses, perfect beggary compared with the every day exhibition in the ‘Broad way’ of New York; where the very look of every creature you meet gives evidence of the existence of no taxation without representation.” Based on Cobbet’s description, it is easy to imagine crowds of well-dressed women and men patronizing Tilley’s exhibition.

Show highlights

Like many 19th-century itinerant glassworkers, John Tilley offered his audience a range of enticing entertainments. These included “Spinning and Reeling Hot Glass round a Wheel, with the astonishing velocity of a Mile in less than two minutes” and “Blowing Glass to different degrees of thinness and forming it into various Articles, such as Writing Pens, Smelling Bottles, &c. &c.”

In addition, Tilley explained scientific properties and principles using glass models such as a Cartesian diver and a “Hydro Pneumatic Fountain.” One curious demonstration involved Tilley blowing a “small Globe,” which he said would form “nearly” a vacuum and would fall to the floor “with apparent great weight.”

While John Tilley’s exhibition was “to be seen for a few Days only,” records of his shows and innovations are still available more than two centuries later.

A version of this post was originally published on the Corning Museum of Glass blog on December 19, 2016.

Curiosity highly gratified: 6 weird and wonderful things to see at an itinerant glassworker’s show

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Come one, come all, to see amazing feats of glassworking! For more than 300 years, talented, traveling glassworkers entertained and educated crowds on the art, science, and skill of glassmaking and the dizzying array of wonders that could be made of glass. Add in a dancing competition or a beauty pageant and the event was a guaranteed hit. Intrigued? Here are six weird and wonderful things you might have seen at an itinerant glassworker’s show.

1. Working glass steam engines

Functional steam engines made of glass were the stars of the 19th-century itinerant glassworker’s show. Made of hundreds of small pieces, these dazzling engines fascinated audiences. They were both a feat of glassmaking and a method of demonstrating how steam power functioned during a time when real steam engines powered machinery and many modes of transportation. Soon after the first engines became popular, every traveling glassworking troupe had at least one of their own.

Glass Exhibition Featuring Spinning Wheel and Glass Steam Engine, 1904. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 131372.
The Great Double Working Glass Steam Engine Fairy Queen!, 1861. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 45696.
This is the earliest-known photographic image of a glass steam engine. The engine may be the Fairy Queen, and the man may be a member of one of the many Bohemian Troupes traveling the United States. Glass steam engine on display, 1861. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 137821.

These glass engines were not simple models, but colorful, inventive delights. Their names alone conjure a sense of whimsy: the Fairy Queen, Excelsior, Queen of Beauty, the Australasia, the Crystal Gem. Troupes gave prizes to those who composed the best poems about their engines, and fans did not disappoint. Here are a few lines from a poem by William Somers:

When will wonders cease, we may justly enquire,
When we see a Glass Engine, complete and entire…
Incredulity starts, in most utter surprise,
We can hardly believe the plain sight of our eyes…
The steam from the boilers sends life to the heart,
And life it goes bounding throughout every part.

Video of a glass steam engine in motion.

Several contemporary artists have been inspired by the glass steam engines and their makers, including Bandhu Dunham. His kinetic sculptures series includes The Crystal Gem, seen in motion here. Collection of The Corning Museum of Glass.

2. Glass thread spun at thousands of yards per minute

Today the word “fiberglass” brings to mind insulation, boats, and bathtubs. It’s manufactured in large quantities and used in all sorts of practical applications. But for many hundreds of years glass fibers were an integral part of itinerant glassworkers’ shows. As early as the 1600s, one glassworker advertised that he could spin “10,000 yards of glass in less than half an hour.” A century or two later, glassworkers were claiming they could spin a pound of glass into millions of yards of thread at the rate of thousands of yards a minute. The end result was “infinitely finer than silk and equally as elastic and flexible.”

Mr. Hermann demonstrates flameworking. The wheel on the left is for spinning glass fibers. Curiosity Highly Gratified Mr. Hermann, Artist in Glass. Hull, England: T. Topping, 1814. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 112177.
A glassworker, possibly Mrs. F.A. Owen, holds up spun glass. You can see the wheel used to make the fibers to the left. Glass Exhibition Featuring Spinning Wheel and Glass Steam Engine, 1904. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 131372.
F.A. Owen spins glass on a much larger wheel. Behind him is a dress and other items made from spun glass fibers. Pamphlet Advertising Glass Blowing Exhibition, 1904. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 131361.

Itinerant glassworkers made this glass thread using a special spinning wheel. Some went a step farther and wove the threads into neckties, bonnets, shawls, and dresses. One bonnet was so famous it went on its own tour of post offices across the United States.

This spun glass bonnet, made by F.A. Owen, was exhibited in U.S. post offices for all to see. Spun Glass Bonnet!, 1884. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 131369.
Spun glass was also used to make this dress for Princess Eulalia of Spain. Glassmakers at Libbey Glass Co. wove the spun glass with silk to form the fabric of this nearly 14 lb dress. The Famous Glass Dress Royal Robe of Princess Eulalia, 1893. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 134150.

3. Scientific experiments

The earliest known itinerant glassworkers incorporated scientific experiments like Cartesian divers into their demonstrations. Often, they would describe the movement of the “divers” as magical – the glass figures would supposedly respond to the commands of the glassworker (rather than to the pressure applied to the top of the glass tube). One glassworker claimed the figures in his glass container would obey commands in four different languages!

This early itinerant glassworker claimed the figures in his Cartesian diver bottle responded to his commands, rather than to the pressure he is applying to the top of the container. Dieser Hollaendische porcellain-glass-blaser, 1670? Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 112252.
John Backman flameworks a ship with a steam engine on one side and a Cartesian diver on the other. John T. Backman Flameworking Glass Ship, McCroskey Studio, 1930s. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 152150.
S. Owen styled himself as a professor and featured many scientific experiments and displays in his exhibition. He also gave lectures on natural philosophy. Science and Art Prof. Owen, O. Dickinson, 1850. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 142780.

By the mid-1800s, audiences were hungry for scientific knowledge, and some glassworkers centered their entire shows around science and natural philosophy. Professor S. Owen gave a lecture on natural philosophy, all while demonstrating the “action of water in vacuum” with a philosopher’s hammer, the “principle on which thunder is produced” using vacuum bulbs, and the “elasticity of the air” with balloons. Other popular experiments included pulse glass circulators, cryophorus deception glasses, and hydro-pneumatic fountains.

gif of glass cartesian diver in use

Glass Cartesian diver. Source: Kathryn Wieczorek.

4. The celebrated Glassoblowoprestitwistidigitator

He’s positively supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Actually, this title was used by at least two different glassworkers in the 1800s: William Woodroffe and W. Jerome Earl. It’s uncertain what these men did to merit this mouthful of a title, but it certainly sounds exciting.

William Woodroffe, one of the Woodroffe brothers, used this title while a member of Madam Nora’s troupe. The Glass Blower, Alfred Seabury, vol XXI, no. 6894. New York: 1889. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 112113.
W. Jerome Earl was another glassworker who claimed the Glassoblowoprestitwistigitator title. He was a member of Madam Reith’s troupe. Second and Positively Last Week of Madam J. Reith’s Troupe of Bohemian and American Glass Blowers. Jeremy S. Clark, 1881. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 45698.

5. Ships, trains, fire engines, and … skeletons?

Beyond glass steam engines, itinerant glassworkers built all sorts of models and machines from glass. Just a few examples include: models of famous ships, well-known monuments and bridges, and carriages pulled by teams of horses.

A glassworker, likely William Allen, adds details to a flameworked ship. Madame Nora’s Original Troupe of Glassblowers, 1876? Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 132079.
Charles Mapel flameworking before onlookers, 1940. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 152161.

Scott, a British glassworker, displayed a “beautiful Hydraulic Skeleton, in Glass, which is kept in continual motion by itself, showing how the blood passes through the different channels of the human frame.” It was so spectacular that it was “patronized by the Royal Family, and every Family of distinction in England.”

Illustration of a glass engine in the shape of an old-fashioned fire engine

The Columbia, a hand fire engine, could shoot water 15 feet into the distance. CMGL 112113.

The Woodroffe brothers displayed a steam-powered glass train that ran around a track “eight feet in diameter.” The train carried two cars and a coal car and was able to move at a speed of six miles per hour. The Woodroffes called it “one of the wonders of the nineteenth century.”

Madam Nora’s Original Troupe of Glass Blowers, Glass Spinners, and Glass Workers promoted the Columbia, a glass hand fire engine that reportedly spouted a stream of water 15 feet into the distance. It’s one of the few models and machines that has survived until today — you can see Columbia (and the glass steam engine Excelsior) in the Lightner Museum.

6. Beautiful babies, homely men, and talented dancers

During the 1800s, many glassworking troupes added other entertainments to their shows. These included everything from lectures and dances to competitions with glass prizes. The homeliest man and the best male dancer won Turkish pipes at one show in Massachusetts, and troupes led by the Woodroffe brothers gave prizes to the “best comic singer,” “best jig dancer,” “best lady dancer,” and the “handsomest lady,” among others.

Glassworkers gave prizes to audience members who were particularly homely, handsome, good dancers, and good singers. Last Night of the Glass Blowers! Taunton, Massachusetts: Gazette Press, 1860. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 112187.
Dances were a popular way to engage audience members after the glassworking show. Great Bohemian Troupe of Fancy Glass Blowers, A. M. Lunt. Boston: A. M. Lunt, 1869. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 61257.
Bizarrely enough, baby beauty shows were another popular event associated with several glassworking acts. Second and Positively Last Week of Woodroffe’s Original Bohemian Glass Blowers! Utica, New York: Grove & Bailey, 1881. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 151258.

Perhaps the oddest add-on was the baby beauty pageant or, as one advertisement put it, the “Grand Carnival of Croesus and Contest of Infantile Beauty.” Both the Woodroffes and Madam Nora’s troupe held these competitions at their shows and gave cases of their best glass to the winners and runners up.

These are only a few of the curiosities audiences could see when they attended an itinerant glassworker show. Learn more about their shows, their lives, and the world around them on this site. Keep up with new posts by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.

A version of this post was originally published on the Corning Museum of Glass blog on September 15, 2017.

What is an itinerant glassworker?

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An itinerant glassworker was a lampworker (or flameworker) who traveled from town to town performing for audiences, much like a member of a circus or a traveling theater troupe.

For more than 300 years, itinerant glassworkers entertained and educated crowds on the art, science, and skill of glassmaking, and the dizzying array of wonders that could be made of glass. These artisans contributed to a tradition that lives on today in flameworking demonstrations at museums, studios, and other attractions.

Itinerant glassworkers, likely Mrs. and Mr. F.A. Owen, stand behind a table covered in lampworked glass.

Glass Exhibition Featuring Spinning Wheel and Glass Steam Engine, 1904. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 131372.

Shows

A typical itinerant glassworker show included three main elements:

  1. Demonstrations of lampworking techniques such as glassblowing, spinning, and working.
  2. Showpieces such as elaborate glass models and scientific experiments.
  3. Displays of glass objects that audiences could purchase or were given with the price of admission.

Additional entertainments included lectures, live music, dancing, and competitions for glass prizes.

Timeline

Here is a rough timeline of the history of itinerant glassworkers:

1670s-1800s: Earliest known performers

handbill with text and two images of itinerant glassworkers blowing glass and using a cartesian diver

Dieser Hollaendische porcellain-glass-blaser, 1670? Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 112252.

As early as the 1670s, itinerant glassworkers performed in Europe. There are few records for this period; most are from the United Kingdom. These early artisans established the blueprint for itinerant glassworker shows going forward. They performed for royalty and tavern-goers alike, and positioned themselves as entertainment suitable for all audiences. Most demonstrated solo, and they typically offered practical items for sale alongside more fanciful objects. They did not list admission prices on their handbills or in newspaper advertisements, so it is unclear whether onlookers had to pay to watch their demonstrations.

1800s-1830s: Glassworkers demonstrate in Europe

handbill with text describing a glassworking demonstration. the handbill also has an illustration of an itinerant glassworker lampworking in front of a table covered in objects; he is surrounded by onlookers.

Scott’s Splendid Glass Working Exhibition in Miniature. United Kingdom: 1830. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 138463.

Based on surviving evidence, the number of itinerant performers and the popularity of their shows increased, especially in the United Kingdom. Glassworkers demonstrated in large towns like London, Glasgow, and Bath. They also traveled through the countryside visiting small towns and villages. Several first-hand accounts from audience members survive from this period, documenting the public’s fascination with the art of glass. These glassworkers created models based on famous landmarks and scenes that their audiences would have recognized. Some offered custom gifts such as the likeness of any dog in glass.

1810s-1850s: Glassworkers come to North America

handbill describing an itinerant glassworker show

Exhibition of Fancy Glass Working and Spinning United States Hotel, Private Entrance : Mr. Finn. Augusta, Georgia: 1840-1843. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 164968.

Eighteenth-century Americans, influenced by their Puritan backgrounds, often shunned traveling entertainers and educators of any sort, some going so far as to outlaw circuses, traveling menageries, and acting troupes. Once those restrictions were lifted, entertainers found success touring cities along the East Coast. The earliest known performance in the United States by an itinerant glassworker was in New York City in 1819. More European and American-born glassworkers followed, touring large cities like Washington, D.C., Boston, and New Orleans, as well as small villages and towns. Glassworkers continued to tour in Europe as well.

1840s-1890s: The rise of troupes and the glass steam engine

Illustration of a steam engine made of glass

The Great Double Working Glass Steam Engine Fairy Queen!, 1861. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 45696.

The Woodroffe brothers, three of the best-known glassworkers of this period, helped to establish new traditions in the trade with the formation of glassworking troupes and the popularization of glass steam engines. This was the heyday for itinerant glassworkers all over the world. Their shows were well-attended attractions in towns, at world’s fairs, in circuses, and in museums, and they traveled to places like South Africa, Indonesia, and Tasmania. This was also the time in which women-led troupes traveled in their highest numbers, including those of Madam Nora, Madam Anderson, and Madam J. Reith.

1900s-1930s: The advent of mass entertainment

a black and white photo with an itinerant glassworker in a white coat and beret seated and flameworking at a table. on the table are a cartesian diver, a glass steam engine, and several other small models

John T. Backman Flameworking Glass Ship, McCroskey Studio, 1930s. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 152150.

With the increased availability of entertainment technology such as phonographs, radio, movies, and later, television, as well as faster and cheaper transportation, potential audiences had more options for how to spend their leisure time. Because of this, itinerant performers of all types were forced to adapt. Many still went on tour, but others began to rely more heavily on appearances alongside other attractions. Some formed troupes with other types of entertainers or created dime museums. This was the beginning of the end for those lampworkers who could survive by leading a truly itinerant lifestyle.

1940s-1970s: From performers to artists

nona and john deakin demonstrate lampworking in their shop in sarasota florida

Nona and John Deakin Flameworking, Robert H. Ford, August 26, 1946, Larry Williams Collection. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 152152.

Most of the remaining performers grew roots, and the itinerant lifestyle all but died out. Families of flameworkers opened shops or contracted with attractions like Disney World. Other glassworkers demonstrated at museums like the Corning Museum of Glass or stayed close to home. With the advent of the Studio glass movement, many flameworkers distanced themselves from the itinerant tradition. They began to establish themselves as members of the fine arts/crafts world and didn’t want to be associated with glassworkers who demonstrated flameworking at state fairs and shopping malls, making what they saw as kitsch or low-quality glasswork.

1950s-today: New performers

jen kuhn flameworker demonstrating at the corning museum of glass

Jen Kuhn demonstrates flameworking at the Corning Museum of Glass. Collection of The Corning Museum of Glass.

The tradition of glass demonstrations continues in museums, at studios, and with mobile hotshop programs like GlassLab and GlassBarge (both projects of the Corning Museum of Glass). Flameworkers are eager to learn more about the history of their craft, and a new generation of flameworkers are inspired by their itinerant predecessors. Some create models inspired by glass steam engines, while others find innovative ways to make flameworking more mobile. Still others recognize the value of this part of lampworking history and document it through articles, exhibitions, book chapters, and websites. A new awareness of itinerant glassworkers and their legacy is emerging.

Learn more about itinerant glassworkers, their shows, and the world around them on this site. Keep up with new posts by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.

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