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The Museum of Connecticut Glass History This new museum is dedicated to exhibiting, preserving, researching and providing education about historical glass made in the numerous glassworks of Connecticut. The museum's permanent exhibits and offices will be housed in an original two-story residence, circa 1812/14, built for Capt. John Turner, one of several incorporators of the Coventry Glass Company (and later one of the founders of the Ellenville [N.Y.] Glass Company. Located in Coventry, CT at the intersection of Rt. 44 and North River Road, the building is one of several original houses still standing in the National Historic Glass Factory District. The Connecticut General Assembly voted in June 1994 to place the historic building in the trust of the Museum of Connecticut Glass. The structure had been the property for many years of the University of Connecticut. A
second building acquired in 2005 by the Museum will house the
institution's education and activity facilities. An addition of
a furnace room will house a glass furnace where glassmaking will be
done in the way early glassmakers had done almost two centuries before
in Coventry and at other Connecticut works. Space for classes
and temporary exhibits also will be located in the building.
Handicapped bathroom facilities already have been constructed within
the second level space. That three-floor barn, built in 1935,
had housed the University of Connecticut's Agricultural Extension
field offices and plant experimental facilities.
The
Museum presently is not open except for periodic exhibits and
activities, and upon special requests to visit the historical
buildings, and/or to attend regular monthly meetings (third Tuesday of
the month, except for a break during the summer).
A unique and important museum dedicated to recording and preserving the art and history
of glassmaking in Connecticut, the Museum of Connecticut Glass, Inc.
is destined to be an important link preserving the roots to one of our
nation's earliest and most active, creative
industries...glassmaking....this statewide museum, located in the
National Register's only designated National Historic Glass Factory
District, can offer. Even with all the existing major museums whose expertise and interest
in American Decorative (and functional) Arts is significant, there remains
a vital need to dedicate the kind of curatorship and specialization
this unique, statewide museum located in a designated, National Historic
Glass Factory District can offer. The Museum of Connecticut Glass has
been established by a group of highly motivated individuals who wish
to preserve these documents, tools, materials and fragile artifacts
from one of the most renowned centers of early American glassmaking,
for present and future generations of Connecticut and the nation.
Attention Historians, Collectors, Antiquarians, Preservationists or any other interested groups or individuals....As an educational and historical organization, the Museum of Connecticut Glass welcomes any participation and support. Contributions are needed to meet our startup expenses and ultimately, our operating costs. The Museum holds an IRS 501(c)(3) education status and donations may be tax deductible. Please contact any Museum officer to find out how we might be able to gratefully accept your help, in whatever form you offer, including donations of time, money, services or material for the museum. |
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