Research coolness

Being a mom of three kids, my time to spend among the stacks in the library is particularly limited, so I rely on the power of the internet to do a lot of my legwork for me. One of my most favorite sites to use for research is the Rakow Research Library at the Corning Museum of Glass. Their Ask A Librarian feature is terrific for getting bibliography on a particular subject, and most of their materials are accessible through interlibrary loan. Actually, the entire Corning Museum is a wealth of research material. They publish a wide variety of books, journals and collection catalogs, too. Aaaand, you can go to the museum in Corning, NY and try out glassblowing, fusing, lampworking, and etching. I could spend days in Corning.

Another site that is fast becoming a favorite of mine is WorldCat, which makes it possible to search libraries all over the world. A great feature of this site is that once you enter your zipcode and click on any item in your search results list, you can find out which libraries closest to you have the item you are looking for. Of course, sometimes the closest library might be the University of Stockholm in Sweden! I think I will be using this site most often to make lists of materials to obtain through interlibrary loan, but also to discover what a couple of the less-obvious institutions in my hometown have to offer on the subject of ancient and medieval glass.

While I wouldn't recommend relying completely on the internet for your glass research, you will find a wealth of images and other interesting information available out there. Much of what you find doing internet searches will give you fantastic jumping-off points for further study. Enjoy!

Welcome to The Medieval Glassworker

Greetings!

This blog and website is my attempt to pull together all of my research, notes, examples and bits and pieces of information about historical glasswork. I concentrate primarily on the period of time from about 1 AD up until the early 17th century. Huge, I know, but I have no ability to truly limit myself in time and place -- I love all glass! I'm definitely no academically-trained expert; I have my Master's degree in Speech Pathology, but I love historical glass, so if I am making mistakes in my assumptions and conclusions, or if you have sources I should read, by all means, let me know.

I plan to post periodically -- hopefully at least twice a month -- on various topics and ideas. My documentation for SCA arts and sciences activities will be posted here, as will photos of my work, and maybe even some tutorials for the things I do.

Welcome to my blog, and please, offer me comments and constructive criticism regarding my work and research!