What Is the Future for American Glass?

Adams & Company, Child’s Plate, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1885–90 — Adams & Company, *Child’s Plate*, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1885–90. Pressed glass. The Corning Museum of Glass, N.Y, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman H. Smeltzer, inv. no. 89.4.91. Image courtesy the Corning Museum of Glass, N.Y.

Following the genesis of glass collecting in the 19th century, and in the wake of the heyday of classification and publishing in the mid-20th century, the field of American glass is prime for a 21st-century reboot. Kelly Conway, Curator of American glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, introduces key foundational work established by collectors, dealers, scholars, and museums that has defined the field for over a century. Conway also envisions a framework for expanding beyond this traditional approach and reinventing the story of American glass.

This lecture is the keynote for the 2019 Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium, “Stories in American Glass: New Scholarship, New Perspectives,” which takes place on Friday, March 29, 9:00 am–4:00 pm.