House of Brilliant Glass
LABAC is an informal nonprofit research group that pools resources to find and acquire significant "new" Brilliant Period cut glass catalogs, booklets, photo albums, scrapbooks, advertising and similar materials. LABAC distributes copies of materials to members for their personal study and research use. There are presently about ten dozen participants and everyone is invited to join this important research effort.
LABAC has been operating for almost eight years and is open to all individuals and institutions. Group leverage and "reach" increase as membership grows so it is beneficial to involve new members. LABAC is not affiliated with the ACGA or with any other organization. The ACGA and the Rakow Research Library are encouraged to collaborate to publish reproductions based on some of the original materials found by LABAC, but it is left to these organizations to determine which (if any) materials that they might publish.
Members collaborate by phone, email and letters to find and acquire access to fresh cut glass reference materials from the Brilliant Period. Many members help to find material and all work is done by unpaid volunteers.
We find fresh old information almost every month. High quality copies are distributed to members as chapters of good-looking, bound books. We typically reprint five to ten catalogs per limited edition book and produce only sufficient volumes for current participants. We make a few spares for future participants but LABAC books are not inventoried in volume for post-publication sale.
Operating costs (e.g., acquisition, printing, mailing, and administration) are deducted from subscription receipts until subscription funds are exhausted. At this point, a new subscription cycle begins with a request for subscription renewals and new members.
Subscription cycles usually last about five to eight months but duration depends on the quantity of material we find, how much the items cost, page counts, how fast volunteers get books prepared, etc.
LABAC is presently organized by Rob and Val Smith – until someone else volunteers. Telephone and email are used for rapid communications regarding issues and opportunities but letters involve those without access to computer tools. When material becomes available, we vote on whether LABAC should buy or rent, and the applicable maximum cost ceiling. Group decisions are usually made within two or three days. At the end of each cycle, an operating financial summary is sent to participants so that everyone can see how group resources have been used.
At cycle close, books of rediscovered materials are donated to the ACGA archives, the Rakow Research Library at the Corning Museum of Glass (which is granted microfiche replication but not publication rights), the Museum of American Cut and Engraved Glass in Highlands, NC, West Virginia Museum of Glass and the United States Library of Congress.
Purchased original catalogs are offered to the ACGA for eventual publication to maximize visibility for the material. Most LABAC original catalogs have so far been donated to the Rakow Research Library, so that microfiche and diazo copies become immediately available to researchers. The Rakow also provides archival preservation facilities and professional management for these old documents. The ACGA is given first right of refusal to reprint the LABAC catalogs donated to the Rakow Research Library.
LABAC doesn’t reproduce cut glass catalogs that have been reprinted elsewhere. We’re interested in fresh old information. Collector reference materials, local auctions, local/regional/national libraries, jewelry store archives, historical societies and family records have been exploited by LABAC members to find materials. So far, about half of our 100+ catalogs and other rediscovered materials have been loaned by participants. eBay is another significant source. Original catalogs and similar materials come up several times each year for "web auction" on eBay.
Volunteers expediently prepare indices for each LABAC book prior to distribution to participants. So far, they have prepared more than seven dozen indies for us.
Do you have access to old cut glass information of interest to LABAC? Please contact Rob and Val Smith (contact information noted below) if you would like to explore mutually beneficial opportunites. You can also contact Warren and Teddie Biden at House of Brilliant Glass and we will be happy to forward your information on to LABAC.
LABAC Cycle #16 volunteers are collaborating to prepare a book focused on the Phoenix Glass Co., reprinting their 1893, 1896, 1901, 1904 and 1918 catalogs. We've also begun accumulation of catalogs from other companies to be reprinted in the envisioned Cycle #17 book. Several longer-term information development and rediscovery projects now underway will eventually become important future LABAC books.
It is impractical to predict results for future cycles but the consistent volume of available materials is quite encouraging. The recently published LABAC Cycle #15 "AWT" book is our twenty-fourth bound volume of rediscovered Brilliant Cut Glass information. The group has published the following softbound books:
>Cycle #15 ("AWT" 2009) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: Alford, Wright, Tuthill, Pitkin & Brooks, Burley & Tyrrell, Higgins & Seiter. 445 pp., ISBN 0-937508-21-7.
>Cycle #14 ("RN5" 2008) Cut Glass Research Notes, Volume Five, Comprehensive Indices, by Craig Carlson. 157 pp., ISBN 0-937508-20-9.
("NEW" 2008) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: New England Glass Works 1884, Wilcox, Standard Engraving & Cut Glass 1916, Pitkin & Brooks 1917, T.B. Clark & Co., 1912. 418 pp., ISBN 0-937508-19-5.
>Cycle #13 ("RN4" 2007) Cut Glass Research Notes Volume Four (Straus-Macy), by Craig Carlson. 496 pp., ISBN 0-937508-18-7.
>Cycle #12 ("RN3" 2007) Cut Glass Research Notes Volume Three (Kellner & Munro through Wright), by Craig Carlson. 446 pp., ISBN 0-937508-17-9.
>Cycle #11 ("RN2" 2006) Cut Glass Research Notes Volume Two (Drake through Jewel), by Craig Carlson. 392 pp., ISBN 0-937508-15-2.
("CIL" 2006) Cut Glass Catalogs: Clark, International Cut Glass, Libbey, et al. 392 pp., ISBN 0-937508-15-2.
>Cycle #10 ("RN1" 2006) Cut Glass Research Notes Volume One (Abraham & Straus through Dorflinger), by Craig Carlson. 362 pp., ISBN 0-937508-13-6.
("PBM" 2006) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: Pitkin & Brooks 1902-03, Meriden 1918, Quaker City 1910, Higgins & Seiter 1895-96, Fischer 1918. ISBN 0-937508-14-4.
>Cycle #9 ("LHL" 2005) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: Libbey, Huntley, Loftis, Reim, et al. ISBN 0-937508-12-8.
>Cycle #8 ("MF" 2005) Marshall Field Cut Glass, 1892-1922. ISBN 0-937508-11-X.
>Cycle #7 ("BRC" 2004) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalog: Bergen 1903 ‘Red Cover.’ ISBN 0-937508-07-1.
("PBHS" 2004) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: Pitkin & Brooks, Higgins & Seiter, Burley & Tyrell, Meriden. ISBN 0-937508-10-1.
>Cycle #6 ("FBMC" 2004) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: Fry, Bergen, Maple City, United States Glass, Bawo & Dotter, Bowman, Otto Young, Marshall Wells. ISBN 0-937508-05-5.
"BCTH" 2004) Brilliant Cut Glass Catalogs: Blackmer, Covington, Tinker, Hawkes. ISBN 0-937508-06-3.
>Cycle #5 (AD2" 2003) American Brilliant Period Cut Glass Advertisements Book Two (Drake Cut Glass through Jewel Cut Glass).
("AD3" 2003) American Brilliant Period Cut Glass Advertisements Book Three (Johnson-Carlson Cut Glass through Owanda Cut Glass).
("AD4" 2003) American Brilliant Period Cut Glass Advertisements Book Four (Pairpoint through Wright Rich Cut Glass).
>Cycle #4 ("AD1" 2003) American Brilliant Period Cut Glass Advertisements Book One (Albert Bros. through Dorflinger). ISBN 0-937508-02-0 (set of four Ad books).
("BBB" 2003) Cut Glass Catalogs: Blackmer, Bergen and Blackmer. ISBN 0-937508-00-4.
>Cycle #3 ("PU" 2002 and 2006) Cut Glass Catalogs: Pairpoint and Union. ISBN 0-937508-04-7.
("GWM" 2002 and 2006) Cut Glass Catalogs: Gilsey, Wallenstein, Mayer and Tinker. ISBN 0-937508-03-9.
We are certain that there is a lot more surviving cut glass information than has so far been "rediscovered." Our priority is cutting house information, but we have also rediscovered many interesting and useful distributor catalog sections showing cut glass. We invite all cut glass enthusiasts and institutions to join us in this important research effort.
Our sixteenth LABAC cycle opened during April, 2009. Each subscription cycle costs $40. Members may request cancellation at any time and the unused portion of current cycle subscription money will be cheerfully refunded, no questions asked. Any LABAC member choosing not to renew their subscription by the cycle closing date is dropped from membership and does not receive subsequent books of materials.
We’d like to thank all of the LABAC participants supporting and doing this work. Together, we are developing quite a substantial volume of fresh cut glass information that might have otherwise continued in obscurity.
By the way, LABAC is "cabal" spelled backwards. We are – and always will be – precisely the opposite of a secretive, closed cabal. Won’t you join us?
