The Pittsburgh Glass Journal was published for three years, 1988/89 to 1990/91, by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Early American Glass Club. Under its editor, Thomas A. Crawford, Jr. it covered a wide range of glass topics, many not found in other glass publications. Apparently the journal's financial situation, which was always uncertain, necessitated its closure after publishing its final issue in May 1991.
Most of the journal's articles relate to topics discussed by guest lecturers. The editor usually provided excellent background material related to these lectures, each concisely and clearly written, accompanied by brief but useful bibliographies. Of particular interest are issues that are concerned with early- and middle-period cut glass as indicated in the following list of topics that are featured in individual issues:
Vol. 1 (1988/89): Neoclassicism; Eclecticism; Naturalism; the Aesthetic Movement; Random Patterns; Continental (European) Design; Fancy (Art) Glass; the Brilliant Cut Fashion (Period); and Art Nouveau.
Vol. 2 (1989/90): Glass Beverage Containers; Medicine and Cosmetic Containers; Scientific Ware; the Flat Glass Industry; Inexpensive Tableware; Luxury Glass Tableware; Lighting Devices; Decorative Glass Products; and Glass As Art.
Vol. 3 (1990/91): Whitall Tatum & Company; the Union Flint Glass Works; the Old Virginia Flint Glass Works; Bakewell's Flint Glass Works; the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company; Amelung's New Bremen Glass Manufactury; the Richies, the Sweeney's, and Wheeling's Glass Industry; Colonial Glass (Wistar and Stiegel); the Fort Pitt Glass Factory; and Thomas Cains.
Of particular interest is the aforementioned Old Virginia Flint Glass works of Wellsburg, WV which was discussed in detail in a "special symposium edition" of the Journal for October 1990 (There was also a regular issue for Oct 1990). The cut-glass activity at the glassworks, which was briefly under the direction of Isaac Duval, was managed by the immigrant glasscutter Thomas O'Brien. A handsome two-part punch bowl is pictured in this issue. The bowl is cut in a combination of block-variation and outsized bullseyes -- a pattern that is similar to Hawkes's modern Vernay pattern. The special edition also provides considerable "raw material" about O'Brien.
Unfortunately, because the information concerning O'Brien and the Old Virginia Flint Glass Works was published after the publication of WHEELING GLASS, 1829-1939 this publication, edited by G. I. Reilly (1994), which summarizes the activities of several glasshouses in the Wheeling, WV area, only briefly refers to Isaac Duval and mentions Thomas O'Brien not at all. The Wheeling publication does, however, provided what little we know about other middle-period cut-glass activity along the Ohio River, including an account of the company Hobbs, Brockunier by Spillman, Measell and McClusky. It is illustrated, but the photographs are only of fair quality. Those of us who have long wondered about the cut-glass output of Hobbs, Brockunier, as well as the Gillinders at their Franklin Flint Glass Works in the East, find an answer in this chapter's conclusion, reprinted here (and undoubtedly written by J. S. Spillman). The "stylishly cut patterns" referred to in this quotation are slight variations on the familiar Strawberry Diamond & Fan pattern.
The production of cut and engraved glass was appartently phased out by the mid-1880s, in spite of the three stylishly cut patterns shown in 1876 [at the Philadelphia Exposition], it is likely that the minor lines of cutting and engraving maintained perhaps for prestige, were but a small part of the company's business. Similarly, the Franklin Flint Glass Works in Philadelphia owned by the Gillinders was a company famous for its pressed glass in the 1870s and 1880s, but it was also one which demonstrated cutting and engraving at the Philadelphia Centennial, exhibiting several elaborately engraved pieces. For both of these firms, cutting and engraving were probably techniques done more the "show" than for financial reasons. If this were not the case, more identifiable examples of Hobbs [and Gillinder] cut and engraved glass would probably be in existence today [Emphasis added].
Updated 25 Aug 2007