Join the Sippican Historical Society on May 25 at 7 p.m. to hear Kirk Nelson, President and Executive Director of the New Bedford Museum of Glass, speak about the history of the Mt. Washington Glass Company. The lecture will be held at the Marion Music Hall.

Reflecting the eclectic taste of the Victorian era, as well as dramatic advances in the understanding of glass chemistry, New Bedford's famous Mt. Washington Glass Company introduced a wide range of colorful, often exotically decorated glass from the 1860s until 1894. In that year the company reorganized under the name "Pairpoint," and production continued in the old factory building until 1957.

Mr. Nelson will survey the history of this celebrated glassmaking enterprise, illustrating his lecture with outstanding examples from the permanent collection of The New Bedford Museum of Glass and making special reference to the gift of beautiful art glass presented by the company to President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland in 1886!

Kirk J. Nelson earned his MA degree and Certificate of Museum Studies from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the Winterthur Museum and the University of Delaware. His Master's Thesis examined the development of the American glass press during the 1820s and 1830s.

Mr. Nelson is an Honorary Fellow of the Corning Museum of Glass, former Curator of Glass at the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, MA and former Curator of Art & Decorative Arts at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, VT. He has lectured and published extensively on a wide variety of glass-related subjects. His practical glassworking experience includes part-time work at Pairpoint Crystal, Inc. of Sagamore, MA and the part-time operation of a small glass studio in East Sandwich, MA.