Globalization Community Study
by: Debra Troyanos
The History and Art of Sandwich Glass-Making
Deming Jarves founded the Boston & Sandwich Glass Factory in 1825, and it led the world in the manufacture of glass during the early 19th century. Previous to this glass dishes and objects were considered something only for the wealthy, but now became available to the middle classes. Sandwich made some of the finest glass pieces and was one of the better known glass houses between 1830-1860.
Sandwich, the oldest town town on Cape Cod (founded in 1637), was a small town whose industry was mostly farming and fishing at that time. It had a shallow harbor with easy access to major waterways for transportation of supplies and products. It also had rich supplies of timber to fuel the glass furnaces, and was located only 50 miles from Boston.
Early items produced at the factory were tumblers, whale oil lamps, cruets, jugs and bottles. They produced free-blown wares, hand-cut items and mold pressed pattern glass. The glass works primarily made lead-based glass, and was known for its use of color. Jarves received several patents for his improvements in glass mold designs and pressing techniques. One of the first items easily and cheaply pressed was the cup plate. It was the custom in the early 19th century to drink tea from a saucer. The cup plate became the coaster for the tea cup. The cup plates are still collected to this day. (See photo below.)
At its height in 1870, the factory employed around 500 men, women, and children, in the various processes of glass making and decoration, and produced over 6,000 tons of glass daily. After the Civil War, glassmaking became more competitive, and the company began to struggle. To compete globally, the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company changed its production line to more finely blown, delicate and engraved glassware to appeal to an upscale clientele.
EnvironmentalIssues
This nineteenth-century print shows seven smokestacks at work at the Sandwich glass factory.
When Jarvis purchased the land for the factory, he purchased the surrounding 20,000 acres of forest so that the company would not have to pay for wood to burn in the furnaces. This industrial factory was built along the Scusset River and Old Harbor Creek and its tributaries. Even the salt marsh hay and grasses could be used for packing material. The trauma and environmental impact to the salt marsh, wildlife, sealife, and ocean were not known, as they are today.
After the Civil War, the glass industry changed in Sandwich and New England. The coal country of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia had a cheap and ready supply of fuel for the Midwestern glass. These companies were able to produce cheaper pressed tableware in soda-lime glass, thereby squeezing out the New England pressed glass competition. Sandwich converted from wood to coal furnaces in 1836 to keep up.The main global impact factor is the production of CO2 due to the burning of fossil fuels in the heating of the furnace.
By the 1920s, after several failed attempts to revive or reinvent the Sandwich Glass Factory, the entire glass industry in Sandwich had come to an end. The factory buildings were slowly torn down and dismantled. By 1944, there was barely a trace of a factory building near the marsh. The traces of the glass company that did remain were in the form of glass fragments on the shoreline, or the ultimate site for sea glass. Serious glass collectors, tourists and artisans sought these small treasures in the marshes and on the beaches. Jewelry designers polished the glass fragments to look like jewels and designed settings for them for sale. Today, a stunningly beautiful (and protected) salt marsh exists there today, with a boardwalk that leads out to the ocean, where wildlife and sea life thrive. (See photo below). So it has a happy ending for the environment.
Community
The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company was very prosperous. The company continued to grow and expand during the 19th century, creating an entire community around the factory, both fueling and depending on the factory's business. The community incorporated all of the factory buildings, the workers' houses, the mercantile buildings, and other support buildings.
Still today, tourists come to the town of Sandwich to visit the Sandwich Glass Museum, exhibits nearly 6,000 pieces of art glass, and this tourism helps local restaurants, inns, antique shops, and other town businesses.
Social Issues
The company took care of their workers, and even built houses for them close to the factory. The men only worked four days a week and were off from Friday to Monday, which was an extremely rare working condition in those days. Most employees started working there as young boys and left as old men.
In the early 1850s, Deming Jarves, owner of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, had a steam propeller ship built to carry the factory’s freight, in protest against exorbitant freight rates charged by the Cape Cod Branch Railroad.
As is common in a town with one main industry, during to the company’s success, the community around the factory continued to thrive. The final years of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company saw a number of economic and labor problems. However in 1887, the glass workers union called for a national strike. In sympathy, the Sandwich workers also went on strike. This event ultimately forced the company to extinquish the furnaces in 1888. The closure of the company caused a severe economic depression, forcing people to leave Sandwich or turn to other professions or jobs.
Global Beginnings
The making of Sandwich Glass required reaching out further than the local community for products as well as employees.
Beach sand is too impure to make glass, which requires pure quartz silica. The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company shipped in pure silica supplies first from New Jersey, New York and the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts.
Jarves hired the most skilled artisans of the time from all over the world. English and Irish glassmakers were considered the foremost craftsmen during the early 19th century. Nicholas Lutz, originally from France, came to the company in the 1870s and brought new styles to production including threaded ware and paperweights. Master artists even traveled to Venice to study the glass there in order to replicate it in America.
Sandwich glass was shipped and collected around the globe back then, and that continues to this day.
Sandwich Glass Today
The Sandwich Glass Museum exhibits pieces of Sandwich glass and historical information and declares in its mission statement that it does so “with particular emphasis on the unique contribution of the glass industry to the local community, the region, the nation, and the world”. In my opinion, that is “globalization” at its best! The Museum contains one of the largest collections of Sandwich glass in the US. In addition to providing a comprehensive portrait of the glass-making industry through artifacts, equipment, old photographs and records. The dazzling display of glass is displayed to optimal effect along banks of sunny windows through which sun illuminates the glass, lighting up the Museum. Each year since 1993, Sandwich Glass museum creates a limited edition glass ornament for sale to help fund its programs. They can be found online at: http://www.sandwichglassmuseum.org
by: Debra Troyanos
The History and Art of Sandwich Glass-Making
Deming Jarves founded the Boston & Sandwich Glass Factory in 1825, and it led the world in the manufacture of glass during the early 19th century. Previous to this glass dishes and objects were considered something only for the wealthy, but now became available to the middle classes. Sandwich made some of the finest glass pieces and was one of the better known glass houses between 1830-1860.
Sandwich, the oldest town town on Cape Cod (founded in 1637), was a small town whose industry was mostly farming and fishing at that time. It had a shallow harbor with easy access to major waterways for transportation of supplies and products. It also had rich supplies of timber to fuel the glass furnaces, and was located only 50 miles from Boston.
Early items produced at the factory were tumblers, whale oil lamps, cruets, jugs and bottles. They produced free-blown wares, hand-cut items and mold pressed pattern glass. The glass works primarily made lead-based glass, and was known for its use of color. Jarves received several patents for his improvements in glass mold designs and pressing techniques. One of the first items easily and cheaply pressed was the cup plate. It was the custom in the early 19th century to drink tea from a saucer. The cup plate became the coaster for the tea cup. The cup plates are still collected to this day. (See photo below.)
At its height in 1870, the factory employed around 500 men, women, and children, in the various processes of glass making and decoration, and produced over 6,000 tons of glass daily. After the Civil War, glassmaking became more competitive, and the company began to struggle. To compete globally, the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company changed its production line to more finely blown, delicate and engraved glassware to appeal to an upscale clientele.
EnvironmentalIssues
This nineteenth-century print shows seven smokestacks at work at the Sandwich glass factory.
When Jarvis purchased the land for the factory, he purchased the surrounding 20,000 acres of forest so that the company would not have to pay for wood to burn in the furnaces. This industrial factory was built along the Scusset River and Old Harbor Creek and its tributaries. Even the salt marsh hay and grasses could be used for packing material. The trauma and environmental impact to the salt marsh, wildlife, sealife, and ocean were not known, as they are today.
After the Civil War, the glass industry changed in Sandwich and New England. The coal country of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia had a cheap and ready supply of fuel for the Midwestern glass. These companies were able to produce cheaper pressed tableware in soda-lime glass, thereby squeezing out the New England pressed glass competition. Sandwich converted from wood to coal furnaces in 1836 to keep up.The main global impact factor is the production of CO2 due to the burning of fossil fuels in the heating of the furnace.
By the 1920s, after several failed attempts to revive or reinvent the Sandwich Glass Factory, the entire glass industry in Sandwich had come to an end. The factory buildings were slowly torn down and dismantled. By 1944, there was barely a trace of a factory building near the marsh. The traces of the glass company that did remain were in the form of glass fragments on the shoreline, or the ultimate site for sea glass. Serious glass collectors, tourists and artisans sought these small treasures in the marshes and on the beaches. Jewelry designers polished the glass fragments to look like jewels and designed settings for them for sale. Today, a stunningly beautiful (and protected) salt marsh exists there today, with a boardwalk that leads out to the ocean, where wildlife and sea life thrive. (See photo below). So it has a happy ending for the environment.
Community
The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company was very prosperous. The company continued to grow and expand during the 19th century, creating an entire community around the factory, both fueling and depending on the factory's business. The community incorporated all of the factory buildings, the workers' houses, the mercantile buildings, and other support buildings.
Still today, tourists come to the town of Sandwich to visit the Sandwich Glass Museum, exhibits nearly 6,000 pieces of art glass, and this tourism helps local restaurants, inns, antique shops, and other town businesses.
Social Issues
The company took care of their workers, and even built houses for them close to the factory. The men only worked four days a week and were off from Friday to Monday, which was an extremely rare working condition in those days. Most employees started working there as young boys and left as old men.
In the early 1850s, Deming Jarves, owner of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, had a steam propeller ship built to carry the factory’s freight, in protest against exorbitant freight rates charged by the Cape Cod Branch Railroad.
As is common in a town with one main industry, during to the company’s success, the community around the factory continued to thrive. The final years of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company saw a number of economic and labor problems. However in 1887, the glass workers union called for a national strike. In sympathy, the Sandwich workers also went on strike. This event ultimately forced the company to extinquish the furnaces in 1888. The closure of the company caused a severe economic depression, forcing people to leave Sandwich or turn to other professions or jobs.
Global Beginnings
The making of Sandwich Glass required reaching out further than the local community for products as well as employees.
Beach sand is too impure to make glass, which requires pure quartz silica. The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company shipped in pure silica supplies first from New Jersey, New York and the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts.
Jarves hired the most skilled artisans of the time from all over the world. English and Irish glassmakers were considered the foremost craftsmen during the early 19th century. Nicholas Lutz, originally from France, came to the company in the 1870s and brought new styles to production including threaded ware and paperweights. Master artists even traveled to Venice to study the glass there in order to replicate it in America.
Sandwich glass was shipped and collected around the globe back then, and that continues to this day.
Sandwich Glass Today
The Sandwich Glass Museum exhibits pieces of Sandwich glass and historical information and declares in its mission statement that it does so “with particular emphasis on the unique contribution of the glass industry to the local community, the region, the nation, and the world”. In my opinion, that is “globalization” at its best! The Museum contains one of the largest collections of Sandwich glass in the US. In addition to providing a comprehensive portrait of the glass-making industry through artifacts, equipment, old photographs and records. The dazzling display of glass is displayed to optimal effect along banks of sunny windows through which sun illuminates the glass, lighting up the Museum. Each year since 1993, Sandwich Glass museum creates a limited edition glass ornament for sale to help fund its programs. They can be found online at: http://www.sandwichglassmuseum.org