Like Mark, I have nothing substantial to add because I don't work "back East." However, I just completed a study of window glass at Hispanic sites dating from the 1830s to the late 1860s in northern New Mexico. We have, I think, good evidence of the replacement of selenite panes with glass panes after the US occupation of New Mexico beginning in 1846, including what I conjecture represents shipment of out-of-date window glass from the US to the New Mexican frontier.

Jeff

Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico

  *   mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504
  *   physical: 407 Galisteo Street, Suite B-100, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
  *   tel: 505.827.6387 fax: 505.827.3904
  *   e-mail: [log in to unmask]

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." -L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953

________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Linda Derry [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 3:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Early 19th Century window glass

Ya'll, I found an interesting feature behind Alabama's first statehouse in
Old Cahawba.  It was a rectangular pit (very grave-like from the top) but
only about 2 feet deep.  It was filled with broken wine bottles , a  few
pieces of a whiskey decanter, and some broken tumblers -- no pottery.  In
the bottoms of the broken bottles, we found stacks of broken window glass.
Our interpretation:  if you drink that much wine and whiskey, some windows
are bound to be broken!  And in the early 19th century at Cahawba, some
enslaved servant  probably had to pick up afterward, and found it easiest to
transport the broken shards of window glass in the bottle bottoms.

Does this sound plausible?

Oh, yes, we did find documents that recorded that the legislature at some
point decided that the townspeople could no longer have "Parties of
Pleasure" in the statehouse when the legislature was not in session.
Apparently , the townspeople were breaking to much furniture. Cahawba was a
frontier capital.

 Daniel,  I think I also have a bill of sale for materials to repair the
statehouse, and I think  it includes crown window glass.  Do you want me to
see if it had a cost associated with the crown glass?  This would be early
1820s.  You are probably looking for a wider summary, but if this specific
information  will help, I will gladly hunt this down.



Linda Derry
Site Director
Old Cahawba
719 Tremont St.
Selma, AL 36701
ph. 334/875-2529
fax. 334/877-4253
[log in to unmask]



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of sent
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Early 19th Century window glass

I have always found window glass interesting not so much for economic
reasons but for explanations of changes of glass.
Violence, bad weather bad construction it does seem to be a lot of it but
why were windows broken not so much quality. Interesting however
that it was a toss sort of thing but something one could never clean all up.

I broke all of my neighbors basement windows whilst shooting off a
small boxite cannon. One wonders the effect of shooting off of black powder
near window glass an the relative unintended destruction.
Conrad

-----Original Message-----
From: Davis, Daniel (KYTC)
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 3:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Early 19th Century window glass

Good afternoon!

Can anyone direct me toward references for early 19th century window
glass in the eastern US - that aren't for dating the associated
structures? Specifically, I'm looking for information on price and
availability and operating under the assumption that more window glass
on a site for this time period will directly associate with a higher
socioeconomic status for the site's occupants. I've got 4 sites in
central Kentucky that date from around 1790 to 1840 and based on the
excavations to date, there is significant variance in the amount of
window glass from each site. I'm guessing the window glass types would
be blown plate, crown, or cylinder glass though I don't think there's a
good way to separate the types.



Thanks,



Daniel B. Davis
Archaeologist Coordinator
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Division of Environmental Analysis
200 Mero Street
Frankfort, KY 40622
(502) 564-7250