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1951
Corning Glass Works built the museum for its 100th anniversary
The museum was first created as the Corning Glass Center in 1951. It was built by Corning Glass Works upon the company's 100th anniversary. Thomas S. Buechner, who would later become director of the Brooklyn Museum, was the founding director, serving from 1951 to 1960 and again from 1973 to 1980. Today it holds more than 50,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old.
Hot Glass Show
A glassmaker shapes molten glass in a live show
In the Hot Glass Show, one of the museum's glass blowers takes a glob of molten glass and shapes it into vases, bowls or sculptures. Another glass blower narrates, and cameras give a close-up look into the furnaces. It shows an ancient Roman technique that is still used today for glass making. Each show lasts between 20 and 40 minutes.
June 1972
Hurricane Agnes flooded the museum in June 1972
In June 1972 Hurricane Agnes severely damaged the museum. A case holding 600 rare books tipped over, and the books were covered in mud and shards of glass panes. The library moved into an abandoned Acme grocery store across the street, where staff and volunteers dried, cleaned and restored over 7,000 water-logged and frozen books. The museum reopened on August 1, 1972.
The galleries
The galleries run from the origins of glassmaking to modern glass
The galleries include Origins of Glassmaking, Glass of the Romans, Glass in the Islamic World, The Rise of Venetian Glassmaking, Asian Glass, Paperweights of the World and Modern Glass. One is titled Corning: From Farm Town to "Crystal City." The contemporary collection includes pieces by Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra and Josiah McElheny.
Growing
The museum grew in 1980, 1996, 2015 and again in 2024
Gunnar Birkerts designed an addition that opened on May 28, 1980. The Studio opened for classes in 1996. The Contemporary Art + Design Wing opened on March 20, 2015. In October 2024 the museum opened an expansion of The Studio, from 24,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Corning Museum of Glass, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.