This summer has had a reoccurring theme about glass....glass windows, glass mirrors, glass canning jars, whatever. Mostly the questions are about whether glass existed yet. Now, I don't know the exact year glass work came into existence (I do know that lightning can strike sand and create naturally formed glass works). The other interpreters all scratch their heads and point out the many cathedrals in Europe, for example the medieval stained glass windows in Canterbury Cathedral are among the earliest at 1180 AD. Clearly, we're wrong. These must not be glass windows but actually colored tissue paper windows.
I had the glass question 3 times this afternoon! So, this called me to action to come home and pour myself into research. Here's what I found:
- "We do not know exactly when, where, or how people first learned to make glass. It is generally believed that the first manufactured glass was in the form of a glaze on ceramic vessels, about 3000 B.C. The first glass vessels were produced about 1500 B.C. in Egypt and Mesopotamia." (http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm)
- "The first factory in what is now the United States was a glass plant built at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608. The venture failed within a year because of a famine that took the lives of many colonists." (http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm)
- "In the early 1800's, the type of glass in greatest demand was window glass. At that time, window glass was called crown glass. Glassmakers made it by blowing a bubble of glass, then spinning it until it was flat. This process left a sheet of glass with a bump called a crown in the center." (http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm)
- "The screw-top Mason jar for home canning appeared in 1858." (http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm)
- "Until the late 1700s, anything seen through a glass window wasn’t admissible as evidence in an English law court." (http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-was-glass-invented-and-when)
Until next time,
M
Resources:
Ellis, William S. Glass: From the First Mirror to Fiber Optics, the Story of the Substance That Changed the World. New York: Avon Books, Inc., 1998
Steve W. Martin, "Glass," Discovery Channel School, original content provided by World Book Online, http://www.discoveryschool.com/homeworkhelp/
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/canterbury-cathedral-stained-glass-windows
http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-was-glass-invented-and-when
http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm
