Pitchers; Glassware; Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.); United States -- Centennial celebrations, etc.
At once useful and beautiful, glass has been a popular storage vessel for many cultures since 1500 B.C.. During the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the United States celebrated its 100th birthday. Many Americans saw rich cut glass or...
Glass painting and staining; Xylophone; Senegal; Africa, West; Art, West African
Reverse glass painting is a unique art. First an image is drawn on one side of a piece of glass, then painted layer by layer onto the glass. For example, the gold polka dot design on this woman's dress appears to be on top of the red background. To...
Glass painting and staining; Painting on glass; Senegal; Senegal -- Social life and customs; Kora (Musical instrument); Musical instruments
This contemporary Senegalese painting was created with a very interesting and time-consuming technique called reverse glass painting. First, an image is drawn or simply conceptualized on one side of a piece of glass. It is then painted layer by...
Glass making was first documented in Egypt around 1500 B.C. and the technique of blowing glass was created during the 1st Century B.C. During the Roman Empire many forms of glass were created, usually as vases and various sized bottles to hold...
A container for sugar and one for cream make up this Depression Glass creamer set. The term "Depression Glass" refers to American-manufactured transparent glassware made between the 1920s through 1945, encompassing the years of the Great...
Punch bowls; Bowls (Tableware); Little Red Riding Hood (Tale)
Children of the turn of the century played with toy dishes just as they do today! For special parties, nothing could beat this set with a molded "Fairytale" pattern of Little Red Riding Hood. Other punch sets imitated "real" cut...
This hand painted Easter egg is about 125 years old. Made from glass, it is hollow like a balloon. Glass companies blew molten glass into egg shapes and then painted them. A favorite family member might have given other family members a keepsake...
Glass making was first documented in Egypt around 1500 B.C. and the technique of blowing glass was created during the 1st Century B.C. During the Roman Empire many forms of glass were created, usually as vases and various sized bottles to hold...
This picture of a young boy with his toy soldier was made around 1860 when ambrotype photographs were popular. The image is on the back of a piece of glass sandwiched with another glass behind it. The back glass is coated with a black substance...
Marbles (Game); Marbles (Game objects); Polar Bear; 19th Century
In 1846 Elias Greiner Vetters Sohn invented special scissors in Lauscha, Germany that allowed glass blowers to form rounded glass pieces used in children’s toys as eyes. Not long after, artisans began making a wide variety of marbles including...
Radio; Radio -- History; Radio -- History -- 20th Century
During the radio boom of the 1920s, many people got involved in either buying radios or building their own. Broadcast radio was introduced in late 1920 when Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania station KDKA and a handful of other commercial broadcast stations...
Pewter; Tankards; Tableware; United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Plates (Tableware)
Pewter was a popular material for dishes until the mid 1800s when glass and pottery became more preferred. Pewter dishes were common in Colonial America, but England kept tight control of the import of the raw tin needed for making pewter, so most...
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931; Light bulbs; Electricity -- History
Thomas Alva Edison did not invent the light bulb, but he did make electric lighting for the home possible. This replica of Edison’s 1879 light bulb used a carbonized filament inside the glass bulb. The bulb produced light for forty hours which...
Often called “putting food up,” many American households stored fresh meats, vegetables and fruits in glass jars for later use. This 1920s Conservo canner allowed more food to be finished at once saving one from additional time in a steaming...
Thermometers; Scientific apparatus and instruments; Temperature measurements
This is a “termometro lento” or “slow thermometer.” It was invented by Galileo Galilei in the 17th century. This is a modern reproduction that demonstrates the principles Galileo discovered. The little glass globes go up and down as the...
The magic lantern is an early version of a slide or movie projector. Beginning in the 1670s through the early 1900s, these projectors turned a small picture painted on glass into a larger image. Using an oil lamp and a wall or white sheet, the...
Cork craft; Carving (Decorative arts); China; China -- Social life and customs; Art -- China; 1980s
Chinese cork sculptures are a century old tradition that is still practiced today. Using small instruments, artists hand carve tiny slivers of cork into spectacular works of art. Hours of concentration create elaborate scenes, like this garden with...
The Sciopticon or magic lantern is an early version of a slide and movie projector. Beginning in the 1670s through the early 1900s, these projectors turned a small picture painted on glass into a larger image. Using an oil lamp and a wall or white...
Sand in Art; Souvenirs (Keepsakes); Yellowstone National Park; 20th century; Sand; Sand craft; Nature craft
This glass container of multi-colored sand came from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and dates from the early 20th century. Possibly a souvenir from a western trip, it measures 3 ½ inches in diameter. Sand art, painting and sculpting using...
China; China -- Social life and customs; Crickets; Insect cages
Cricket Culture in China encompasses a 2000 year history of both singing and fighting insects and can be divided into three eras. Before the Tang Dynasty (500 BC - 618 AD), people appreciated the cricket's melodic chirping in its natural habitat....
