| Object ID |
1989.70 |
| Object Name |
Flask |
| Dimensions |
H-7 inches |
| Early Date |
1810 |
| Late Date |
1817 |
| Made By |
Vermont Glass Factory |
| Description |
Although the first glass furnaces were built in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, glass was not manufactured on a large scale in this country until the War of 1812, when restrictions on English imports prompted the development of American window, bottle, and flint-glass tableware manufacture. The Vermont Glass Factory, founded in Salisbury, Vermont in 1810, was one of the more than 40 glasshouses established in America between 1808 and 1814.
The Vermont Glass Factory, with a State charter granting it a monopoly in glass production for 12 years and exemption from taxes, appeared destined for success. By 1810, there was a growing demand for window glass and bottles, in particular, as Vermont grew rapidly and the natural resources essential for glass production were close at hand. Situated on the shores of Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, the Vermont Glass Factory was surrounded by sand, a major ingredient of glass, as well as by wood used for fueling the furnaces. This company, which made window glass, had easy access to a market as it was located near the main highway in western Vermont where freight wagons provided transportation to Middlebury, Rutland, and Windsor. The Literary and Philosophical Repertory in Middlebury noted in 1813: "Should the glass produced at the [Vermont Glass] factory prove as good as it now promises to be, the inhabitants of Vermont will derive incalculable benefits from the establishment." Because the future of the glassworks looked so promising, a branch glasshouse specializing in the production of various articles, including botles, opened in East Middlebury soon after 1813. However, as fate would have it, the Vermont Glass Factory soon failed. Severe financial problems and a fire at the window glassworks in 1815 forced the branch factory to close in 1816, and the window glassworks to close in 1817.
Of particular interest is the laboratory glass illustrated here which is thought to have been custom-made for the chemistry department of Middlebury College where Henry R. Schoolcraft, superintendant of the Vermont Glass Factory from 1813 to 1815, was a student. |
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