Q. Can you give me any information on the history of women working in the glass industry?

Hello! Thank you for your question. Women have played an important role in glassmaking, though their achievements have often been overshadowed.

Online Resources

The Museum has many great online resources on women in glass.

See the series on Women in Glasshouses that covers many aspects of women working in the glass industry.

Introduction to the series

Jobs for Women

Life in the Factories

Women at the Lamp

Women in Science

Now We're Cooking with Glass!: Spotlight on Lucy Maltby

An Appealing Woman: How to Sell Glass

Woman to Woman: Selling Glass in the 20th Century

The Complex Identity of Helen McKearin

The Menace of the Unorganized Woman

Communism in a Juice Glass: The designs of Freda Diamond

Conclusion: A Story in Progress

Our blog also has multiple posts featuring women working for Tiffany Studios, including

• Watercolor for Enamel-on-copper Covered Box with Yellow Daffodils
• Mosaic-making at Louis C. Tiffany’s Studios
• May Flowers at the Rakow Library: Design Drawings by the Tiffany Girls
• Notable Acquisitions: “Poppy” Inkstand

Other blog posts on female artists include

• Women Artists in The Corning Museum of Glass
• Women and Pyrex

All About Glass on the Museum website also features an article by Gail Bardhan, retired Reference and Research Librarian at the Rakow Library, called Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women Working With Glass. Flameworkers, cutters, and women in factories are covered, as well as some famous female glass artists and researchers, including

• Katharine Lamb Tait
• Eglington Margaret Pearson
• Ginny Ruffner

This episode of the podcast Glasscaster: Hot Glass Talk in a High-Tech World addresses some of the challenges faced by women studio glass artists: "Sally Prasch, One Industrial-Strength Glass Artist!" from November 11, 2007: "One of a handful of female scientific glassblowers ..., [Sally Prasch's] story, struggle and subsequent success in this field makes great listening."

Books and Articles

In terms of print resources, take a look at Lucartha Kohler's book, Women Working in Glass. She covers some historical information and also features some contemporary women artists (organized by decade). Other books to check out:

• Burkhauser, Jude. The Glasgow Girls: Women in Art & Design, 1880-1920. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1990. Note: Includes stained glass by Margaret Macdonald and others.
• Madsen, Lynnette D. Successful Women Ceramic and Glass Scientists and Engineers: 100 Inspirational Profiles. American Ceramic Society, 2016.
• Nordic Cool: Hot Women Designers. Washington, DC: National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2004. Note: Includes glass by several women designers.​

You might also be interested in the following articles:

• Felt, Tom. “Heisey's Designing Women.” Glass Collector's Digest 6, no. 4 (Dec. 1992/Jan. 1993): 18-24. Note: Heisey designers, late 1940s-1950s.
• Felt, Tom. “Heisey's Designing Women--Part 2.” Glass Collector's Digest 6, no. 5 (Feb./March 1993): 43-47. Note: Dorothy Thorpe and Eva Zeisel.
• Hassell, Martha. “The role of women in the Sandwich glass industry.” The Acorn 1 (1990): 1-22.
• Ninni, Irene. “'L’impiraressa': The Venetian bead stringer.” Beads; Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 3 (1991): 73-82. Note: Translation of an 1893 account of methods used by Venetian women bead stringers.
• Northup, Judy. “Women glass cutters in the brilliant period.” Hobstar 30, no. 1 (Sept. 2007): 4956-4960. 
• Skinner, Orin E. “Women in stained glass.” Stained Glass 35 (Winter 1940): 113-23, and Stained Glass 36 (Spring 1941): 18-25. Note: 30 American and European women.

Borrowing Library Materials

If you wish to borrow copies of library items, please contact your local library. The Rakow Research Library will lend designated books from its collection and will send copies of articles requested by other libraries. Your library can request items through the OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary Loan (ILL) system or by direct request through email at ill@cmog.org. For more information, please see our ILL policies and procedures.

Please be sure to contact us in the future with your glass-related questions!