the history of itinerant glassworkers

Tag: William H. Allen

Curiosity highly gratified: 6 weird and wonderful things to see at an itinerant glassworker’s show

Come one, come all, to see amazing feats of glassworking! For more than 300 years, talented, traveling glassworkers entertained and educated crowds on the art, science, and skill of glassmaking and the dizzying array of wonders that could be made of glass. Add in a dancing competition or a beauty pageant and the event was a guaranteed hit. Intrigued? Here are six weird and wonderful things you might have seen at an itinerant glassworker’s show.

1. Working glass steam engines

Functional steam engines made of glass were the stars of the 19th-century itinerant glassworker’s show. Made of hundreds of small pieces, these dazzling engines fascinated audiences. They were both a feat of glassmaking and a method of demonstrating how steam power functioned during a time when real steam engines powered machinery and many modes of transportation. Soon after the first engines became popular, every traveling glassworking troupe had at least one of their own.

These glass engines were not simple models, but colorful, inventive delights. Their names alone conjure a sense of whimsy: the Fairy Queen, Excelsior, Queen of Beauty, the Australasia, the Crystal Gem. Troupes gave prizes to those who composed the best poems about their engines, and fans did not disappoint. Here are a few lines from a poem by William Somers:

When will wonders cease, we may justly enquire,
When we see a Glass Engine, complete and entire…
Incredulity starts, in most utter surprise,
We can hardly believe the plain sight of our eyes…
The steam from the boilers sends life to the heart,
And life it goes bounding throughout every part.

Video of a glass steam engine in motion.

Several contemporary artists have been inspired by the glass steam engines and their makers, including Bandhu Dunham. His kinetic sculptures series includes The Crystal Gem, seen in motion here. Collection of The Corning Museum of Glass.

2. Glass thread spun at thousands of yards per minute

Today the word “fiberglass” brings to mind insulation, boats, and bathtubs. It’s manufactured in large quantities and used in all sorts of practical applications. But for many hundreds of years glass fibers were an integral part of itinerant glassworkers’ shows. As early as the 1600s, one glassworker advertised that he could spin “10,000 yards of glass in less than half an hour.” A century or two later, glassworkers were claiming they could spin a pound of glass into millions of yards of thread at the rate of thousands of yards a minute. The end result was “infinitely finer than silk and equally as elastic and flexible.”

Itinerant glassworkers made this glass thread using a special spinning wheel. Some went a step farther and wove the threads into neckties, bonnets, shawls, and dresses. One bonnet was so famous it went on its own tour of post offices across the United States.

3. Scientific experiments

The earliest known itinerant glassworkers incorporated scientific experiments like Cartesian divers into their demonstrations. Often, they would describe the movement of the “divers” as magical – the glass figures would supposedly respond to the commands of the glassworker (rather than to the pressure applied to the top of the glass tube). One glassworker claimed the figures in his glass container would obey commands in four different languages!

By the mid-1800s, audiences were hungry for scientific knowledge, and some glassworkers centered their entire shows around science and natural philosophy. Professor S. Owen gave a lecture on natural philosophy, all while demonstrating the “action of water in vacuum” with a philosopher’s hammer, the “principle on which thunder is produced” using vacuum bulbs, and the “elasticity of the air” with balloons. Other popular experiments included pulse glass circulators, cryophorus deception glasses, and hydro-pneumatic fountains.

gif of glass cartesian diver in use

Glass Cartesian diver. Source: Kathryn Wieczorek.

4. The celebrated Glassoblowoprestitwistidigitator

He’s positively supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Actually, this title was used by at least two different glassworkers in the 1800s: William Woodroffe and W. Jerome Earl. It’s uncertain what these men did to merit this mouthful of a title, but it certainly sounds exciting.

5. Ships, trains, fire engines, and … skeletons?

Beyond glass steam engines, itinerant glassworkers built all sorts of models and machines from glass. Just a few examples include: models of famous ships, well-known monuments and bridges, and carriages pulled by teams of horses.

Scott, a British glassworker, displayed a “beautiful Hydraulic Skeleton, in Glass, which is kept in continual motion by itself, showing how the blood passes through the different channels of the human frame.” It was so spectacular that it was “patronized by the Royal Family, and every Family of distinction in England.”

Illustration of a glass engine in the shape of an old-fashioned fire engine

The Columbia, a hand fire engine, could shoot water 15 feet into the distance. CMGL 112113.

The Woodroffe brothers displayed a steam-powered glass train that ran around a track “eight feet in diameter.” The train carried two cars and a coal car and was able to move at a speed of six miles per hour. The Woodroffes called it “one of the wonders of the nineteenth century.”

Madam Nora’s Original Troupe of Glass Blowers, Glass Spinners, and Glass Workers promoted the Columbia, a glass hand fire engine that reportedly spouted a stream of water 15 feet into the distance. It’s one of the few models and machines that has survived until today — you can see Columbia (and the glass steam engine Excelsior) in the Lightner Museum.

6. Beautiful babies, homely men, and talented dancers

During the 1800s, many glassworking troupes added other entertainments to their shows. These included everything from lectures and dances to competitions with glass prizes. The homeliest man and the best male dancer won Turkish pipes at one show in Massachusetts, and troupes led by the Woodroffe brothers gave prizes to the “best comic singer,” “best jig dancer,” “best lady dancer,” and the “handsomest lady,” among others.

Perhaps the oddest add-on was the baby beauty pageant or, as one advertisement put it, the “Grand Carnival of Croesus and Contest of Infantile Beauty.” Both the Woodroffes and Madam Nora’s troupe held these competitions at their shows and gave cases of their best glass to the winners and runners up.


These are only a few of the curiosities audiences could see when they attended an itinerant glassworker show. Learn more about their shows, their lives, and the world around them on this site. Keep up with new posts by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.

version of this post was originally published on the Corning Museum of Glass blog on September 15, 2017.

Madam Nora and her original troupe of glass blowers

What comes to mind when you hear the name Madam Nora? Perhaps a woman, draped in colorful fabrics and jangling bracelets, reading a fortune over a crystal ball or channeling spirits at a seance?

Nora Allen, popularly known as Madam Nora,1 was a traveling entertainer who used glass in her act, but there were no thumping chairs or dire predictions. Instead, she conjured fantastical sculptures made of glass, like the animals and ships pictured on this broadside for Madam Nora’s Original Troupe of Glass Blowers, Glass Spinners, and Glass Workers. Allen led this troupe of itinerant glassworkers for several decades as they traveled around the Northeastern United States.

broadside with text describing Madam Nora's troupe and their demonstrations. The broadside also features an image of Madam Nora surrounded by lampworked animals and models and another image of her son, William Allen, holding a ship he has made.

Madame Nora’s Original Troupe of Glassblowers. 1876? Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 132079.

Featured glassworkers

The broadside advertised a show in April (possibly 1876) featuring Allen; Mr. Oliver Lock [sic], “the prince of glass blowers”; Mr. Wm. Allen, “the youngest and most talented artist before the public”; Prof. Thos. Edwards, “glass worker and descriptive lecturer”; and Mr. T.J. Jordan, “glass spinner and weaver”; along with manager Alfred Seabury. Allen was billed as “the only lady glass artist in the profession” (not quite true, but we’ll get to that in a minute).

Nora Allen’s troupe is a good example of two trends in the itinerant glassworker business. First, she employed family members, namely William Allen (her son) and Alfred Seabury (her second husband). Later, when William married, her daughter-in-law Adalorra also joined the troupe.

A second trend was the movement of artisans between troupes. Oliver Locke was a member of The Great Bohemian Troupe of Fancy Glass Blowers before joining Allen’s troupe, and later led his own group of glassworkers on tour.

Show highlights

Curiosity seekers could pay 15 cents to see Allen’s troupe demonstrate lampworking techniques including glass spinning, blowing, and weaving. They would also see the “art” of silvering glass. If this show followed later examples of the troupe’s exhibitions, each glassworker would demonstrate a particular skill for the audience.

General Garfield, the troupe’s glass steam engine, was on display and in motion. As an added bonus, Saturday’s entertainment included a baby show (a contest to decide the town’s most beautiful baby). What more could a 19th-century entertainment seeker want?

Women in charge

While the show boasted an impressive lineup, perhaps the most interesting detail appears in tiny type at the bottom of the broadside. Not only was Nora Allen the group’s headliner, she was also the “Sole Proprietress,” an unusual role in an era when women had limited rights and career opportunities.

detail of broadside showing Madam Nora as the sole proprietress

As mentioned above, Allen was not the first or only woman glassworker in the business, but it is possible that she was the first to lead her own troupe. Others that followed her example include Madam J. Reith and Madam Anderson.

Allen and her troupe continued to tour for several more decades. The troupe’s lineup changed over the years, but Allen remained the headliner until they disbanded. Thanks to the survival of this broadside, part of Allen’s remarkable story is preserved.

A version of this post was originally published on the Corning Museum of Glass blog on June 24, 2015.


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