Blackwell residents host glass convention in Wellington

Pam and Fred Meyer live in a glass house, and they want the world to look in. Now, catch your breath. These two Blackwell residents actually run a museum filled with glass collectibles in Wellington, Kansas, and the museum’s annual glass convention will be Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s been around for a long time,” Pam Meyer said of the convention. “We’ve always done it in different places every year, and this year, we’re doing it in Wellington.” Wellington, roughly 60 miles north of Blackwell, is home to the National Depression Glass Museum.

The museum houses an extensive collection of glass made during the Great Depression, hence the term “depression glass.” If you like American history, this show just might be for you.

Depression glass is as American as the cherry pie served upon it. From 1929 to 1939, companies sold the glass inexpensively or gave it away for free to customers as promotional items.

The Quaker Oats Company was the first to put glass plates in boxes of food as an incentive for customers to purchase their products, and the trend took off from there.

The glass was designed to be colorful and ornate, and glass-makers took creative liberties in producing it.

Pam Meyer, who operates the museum and convention as president of the National Depression Glass Association, said the glass was more than a marketing ploy.

Ironically, Depression glass was anything but depressing.

“It is of a time that there was a lot of strife and despair,” Meyer said.

“A lot of the glass that was almost given away, and very cheaply sold, was probably the brightest spot of color that was brought to the tables in those days. It kind of lifted their spirits somewhat.”

The convention is an opportunity for folks to purchase all kinds of Americanmade glass products, as dealers from across the nation are expected to attend.

Seminars on the history of the glass will take place, and so will a silent auction and a live auction on Saturday night.

The show will take place at Wellington High School, 1700 E. 6th St., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Admission costs $8 and is good for both days. The museum, 107 N. Washington St., will be open for tours as well. “It’s fun to watch from beginning to end,” Meyer said. “You walk into this huge room, and you watch the dealers come in, and they bring in table covers and put them on. They put their shelving up, and they start bringing out the glass and setting it up and displaying it in pleasing ways. … You just can’t help but smile because the glass is so pretty. All the different colors make you feel good.”

The convention is also an opportunity for people to learn more about Depression glass, Meyer said.

She and her husband began collecting glass thanks to her mother, and they hope others will pick up the passion. “If they don’t know too much about it, they need to come and see it first,” Meyer said.

“Once they see the array of colors, and the shapes and sizes and things like that, that should be interesting to them. And you don’t have to like glass to be interested in it. There’s the chemistry of the formulas for their colors, and mixtures and everything that they put together. … Most people are interested in how pretty it is, who made it, how they made it and the colors.”

Collecting Depression glass is more than keeping pretty plates around the house, Meyer said. It’s about honoring the work people did to get through tough times. “It is definitely all American-made, and not much is being made these days,” Meyer said.

“There’s not very many glass companies left out there. It’s a thing that is part of our heritage – part of the American heritage.”