National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Ceramics and Glass Search this
Extent:
1 Cubic foot (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Papers
Journals (accounts)
Sketches
Audiotapes
Drawings
Business records
Date:
1948-1963.
Scope and Contents:
The collection, which consists of notebooks, journals, photographs, correspondence, memos, brochures, and technical drawings, is divided into three series: Sketches, Drawing Journals and Tests; Ram Company Materials; and Photographs. The papers were selected from among Mr. Steele's files by his son, Christopher. As a result, the papers included are somewhat sporadic and have many gaps. However, Mr. Steele was a conscientious record keeper, so the papers in the collection provide a good illustration of his development of the Ram process. Within the papers there are test results for water release problems, stress tests, plaster permeability tests, designs for different applications of the process, designs for dies, and other documentation. The journals he kept document his daily activities within the Ram Company in a very complete manner. Also included is a list of photographs with captions supplied by Mr. Steele's son Christopher.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Sketches, Drawing Journals and Tests
Series 2: Ram Company Records
Series 3: Photographs
Biographical / Historical:
Richard Steele (1916-1980), a ceramics engineer, was the primary inventor of the Ram press which revolutionized the ceramics industry. Mr. Steele attended classes at Ohio State University after working during World War Two as an aircraft engineer. While working at the Research Foundation at Ohio State, he and another engineer, A. R. Blackburn (commonly referred to by Mr. Steele in the collection as "Blackie"), developed the Ram process in 1948. Up until this time, the jigger method and slip casting were used to produce ceramics. The jigger method was a manual process which required great strength on the part of the operator. A large amount of time was then required for shrinkage to occur and release the casting. As a result, the process also required a large amount of space to let the pieces dry.
The Ram process, on the other hand, was an automated machine process whereby dies made of special reinforced gypsum cement (as opposed to the plastic ones used in the jigger method), are pressurized on a hydraulic press and come together to mold the piece. Air is then fed into the die to act as a releasing mechanism. The machine is capable of pressing with 60 tons of force, up to 6,000 cycles per eight hour day. This process enables one person to operate the press with ease and to produce approximately five times the number of ceramic pieces as someone using the jigger method.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in December 1983 by Christopher Steele, son of Mr. Richard Steele.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection documents Andre Piette's career as an illustrator and designer. The materials include sketches, drawings, tracings, photographs (color transparencies, slides, and prints), and samples of wallpaper, designs for gift wrap, and a few textiles.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of a wide range of materials documenting Andre Piette's career as an illustrator and designer. The materials include sketches, drawings, tracings, photographs (color transparencies, slides, and prints), and samples of wallpaper, designs for gift wrap, and a few textiles. The materials are the product of the Piette's early years in the United States (1960s) as a landscape artist in New England and as an associate of Norman Rockwell and of his later work for Tiffany & Company as a freelance designer. As an employee of Tiffany, Piette designed the White House china set for Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. Materials documenting this effort—White House China—are the largest series in the collection. Other design work includes cards, silver, parquet flooring, and china. There also are drawings and tracings not associated with specific functional products.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into four series.
Series 1: White House China, 1967-1970, undated
Series 2: Other Designs, undated
Series 3: Andre Piette Scrapbook, undated
Series 4: Oversize, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Piette, artist and designer, spent his early years studying at the Academie Royale De Beaux-Arts in Liege, Belgium. He is noted for his designs of Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and wallpaper. In 1968 he was commissioned by Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson to design a set of White House state china, consisting of 2,500 pieces.
Provenance:
Donated by Sam Magdoff, Dean of Continuing Education, Parsons School of Design, July 29, 1985.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Ceramics and Glass Search this
Extent:
0.1 Cubic feet (1 box, 29 microfiche sheets)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfiche
Catalogs
Business records
Date:
1909-1940
Scope and Contents:
This collection is divided into two series, Catalogs and Photographs, on fifty nine (59) microfiche sheets. These are photographic reproductions of catalogs of Imperial Glass Products from 1909 to 1912 and of several photographs showing Imperial Glass Company products, their stock numbers and rulers indicating size. Some of these photos are hand painted. Many of the catalogs have no dates and are arranged by number and type. A few of them have prices noted throughout and were presumably used by salesmen at the company. There is one catalog from The Central Glass Works of Wheeling, Virginia, one of the companies that Imperial purchased. There are General Catalogs, "Bargain Book" catalogs, a Special Catalog of Hand Engraved and Sand Blasted Glassware and a Special Catalog of Plain and Engraved Gas and Electric Glassware.
Arrangement:
Divided into two series.
Series 1: Catalogues
Series 2: Photographs
Historical:
The Imperial Glass Company was established in 1901 in Bellaire, Ohio. The company's first pieces were produced for the mass market for stores like Kresge's and McCrory's; they produced jelly glasses, pressed tumblers, butter dishes, pickle dishes, berry bowls, and a variety of other tableware.
With the introduction of machine-pressed glassware in 1910, the market expanded. Imperial Glass Company began producing "NUART" iridescent ware in colors of "rubigold, peacock, sapphire, rose satin, blue satin, iris ice, blue ice, and rose ice." The company began making "NUCUT" crystal ware, which was pressed glass made to reproduce early English pressed glass.
"Imperial Jewels," introduced in 1916, were free-hand iridescent "stretch glass" pieces. In 1922 the company imported a shop of Venetian glassmakers to what the company labeled Imperial "Art Glass." Catalogue 103G states on page 3-G, "these wares are covered with heavy deposits of various metal oxides, which make them nearly opaque in appearance. The enormous heat, necessary to develop these colors, cannot be regulated mathematically, and therefore there are scarcely two pieces alike, even when manufactured apparently in the same manner and under the same conditions." These pieces, mostly bowls, nappies, berry bowls, and nut bowls, are in colors of pearl green, pearl white, pearl ruby, and pearl amethyst.
The Depression and the influx of machine glass companies combined to push Imperial Glass Co. into bankruptcy in 1931, although the plant continued to operate after it went into receivership.
The company in 1940 started an acquisitions program and bought a series of other companies including the Central Glass Works of Wheeling, Virginia, (est. 1860). In 1958 Imperial Glass purchased molds from the Heisey Co. (est.1885) and bought the Cambridge Glass Co. (est. 1873). The firm became a subsidiary of Lenox China Inc. in 1973.
In June 1984 Imperial Glass went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plant closed August 31, 1984, and the company's assets were taken over by Lancaster Colony Corporation, Columbus, Ohio.
Provenance:
Collection donated by the Corning Museum of Glass.
Restrictions:
No original material in this collection at the present time. Researchers must view microfiche copies.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Early Bennett family histories, Edwin Bennett's autobiography, correspondence, 1914-1981, Bennett Pottery Company records, photographs, notebooks of clay and glaze formulae and other miscellaneous items, 1844-1981.
Includes 3 photographs related to the Baltimore fire, 1903-1905.
Arrangement:
Divided into 8 series: (1) Biographical, (2) Correspondence, (3) Bennett Pottery Co., (4) Catalogs, advertisements, stationary, etc., (5) Photographs, (6) Notebooks of formulae and receipts, (7)Printed Material, (8) Ledgers of the Seven Clay Co. (a subsidiary of Bennett Pottery Company).
Biographical/Historical note:
Bennett was the founder of the Edwin Bennett Pottery Company, Baltimore, Maryland which operated 1846-1936. Among the first wares produced were those for utilitarian purposes (e.g., mugs and plates). Bennett also experimented with clay bodies and glazes. Along with the company's subsidiaries, Edwin Bennett Company became one of the largest suppliers in the United States of hotel kitchen and tableware, chemical containers, public restroom fixtures, and roofing tiles.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Mrs. Portia M. Filbert, 1986, March.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
