although your date is earlier I would check electronic tubes for radios 
etc....
lightbulbs also possible
also insulator
have fun

Conrad

-----Original Message----- 
From: Doug Ross
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2013 1:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: clear glass tubes

Could they be from the inside of a light bulb?

Doug

On 2013-02-02, at 10:19, Sarah Sportman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'm trying to identify a few artifacts we recovered from back yard 
> contexts in a 19th century mining town in the Adirondacks.  We found six 
> fragments of thin, clear glass tubes. They are a little smaller in 
> diameter than a modern drinking straw and round in cross-section.  All are 
> broken and each fragment is less than 3 inches long.  The fragments came 
> from the yards of three different domestic sites, including a tenement 
> house, a double house, and the superintendent's house. The sites were 
> occupied from the mid 1870s to the mid 1890s.  Any help in identifying 
> them would be greatly appreciated!
>
> thanks,
> Sarah