Elmer V. Huels of Lindley, NY is gifting to The American Cut Glass Association an historically important copper wheel engraving lathe (Cover) - one with a long history of use by an early Corning engraver. Included in the gift, along with the lathe, are the cutting wheels and accouterments belonging to the lathe, a significant piece of cut glass engraved on the lathe, and a collection of the engraver’s home shop design drawings. The engraver is one Wilmot L. Putnam Sr. (1881-1969). Mr. Putnam is among the very first “born in America” engravers in the Corning, NY area, born in Dix, NY, about 20 miles north of Corning(1). As often happens in history, it’s the threads linking events that really tell a story, and the donation of this important glass engraving lathe is no exception. This article follows threads forming a continuum spanning three centuries, from 18th century Bohemia, on to Corning, NY in the late 19th century and finally into the 20th and 21st centuries in nearby Lindley, NY and Lawrenceville, PA.
Let’s start with Wilmot and his lathe. You can learn about the early Corning engravers, and Wilmot Putnam’s life in particular, in The Complete Cut & Engraved Glass of Corning by Estelle Farrar Sinclaire and Jane Shadel Spillman, specifically in Chapter Eight. It’s a fascinating read. It’s important, I think, to recognize here the significance of the contributions that Estelle and Jane have made to our understanding of the cut and engraved glass history surrounding Corning, NY when they published this book. They seized an opportunity in the 1970’s to meet with and document the history (in many cases with first hand interviews) of many of the principals before they left us. We benefit today from their foresight.
Wilmot Putnam was a contemporary and friend of William Morse. Both were trained at the same time in the art of copper wheel engraving by Hieronimus William Fritsche at the Hawkes Factory in Corning, NY. Morse, of course, went on to engrave that masterpiece of Hawke’s wares - the superb Edenhall Goblet. Wilmot estimated that it took at least 3 weeks of intense effort by Morse to engrave the goblet. Wilmot went on to say that the Edenhall Goblet was copper wheel engraved, it was acid polished, and that Morse added the matte figures after its acid polish, to complete the work(2).
Wilmot also had a long and successful career as an engraver - spanning some 62 years. During that time, he worked for several of Corning’s important cut glass companies, he taught engraving for Hawkes and Sinclaire, and he had his own home shop where he did work for other local firms before and after his retirement.
Wilmot was pictured in one of the last advertisements that Hawkes published in 1960 celebrating their 80th anniversary as a firm (Figure 2). He started working for T. J. Hawkes in 1900 at the age of 19, spent eight years there, then 12 years at J. Hoare, seven years at Sinclaire after Hoare closed in 1920, and eventually returned to Hawkes in 1928. Wilmot recalled that during the time he was away from Hawkes, the firm moved into new headquarters across the street on Market Street in Corning - previously the site of the old Corning Fire Station. When Wilmot joined Hawkes, he recalled that they had some 200 cutters and 25 engravers. The work week was 10 hours per day, 6 days per week - for approximately$18.00 to $19.00 a week for a top cutter - around 30 cents per hour! The Hawkes firm, however, did give them one hour off on Saturday, with pay (3).
Wilmot had this to say about copper wheel engraving - “It was hard to do - you needed to be a bit of an artist. Some might learn some of it in a week, but it might take three years.” Unlike cutters working on geometric pieces, following a drawn out pattern on their blanks, “the engravers relied more on samples of the object from which to work, with no outline on the blank"(4).
An example of Wilmot’s skill as an engraver is shown in Sinclaire and Spillman’s book. A piece of Putnam’s work in this pattern is included in the ACGA’s gift (5). (Figure 3). Further examples of is art exist, among them an early cologne and a later pitcher(6). (Figures 4 & 5). Wilmot kept tracings and line drawings of his work - primarily monograms, but also a small book of designs that he presumably cut only in his home shop. The little design book chronicles, in a way, his long career - the earliest is dated 1904, the last 1951 (Figure 6). Samples of his circa 1908 designs and circa 1920 designs are included in this article (Figures 7 & 8). Also included is a lovely floral design by Putnam - a pattern rubbing, dated and initialed, circa 1912 (Figure 9). The designs progress, interestingly, from complex to less complex. At the end of his long career, Wilmot was doing light floral engraving on Tiffin’s and Fostoria’s pressed glass - a reflection of the economic times and changing tastes. After he retired, he continued engraving in his home shop for several Corning firms, including Hunt and Bacalles.
You’ve likely all seen the “Mitres and Fruits”stemware pattern that Hawkes produced. Wilmot, at age 81 in 1963, recalled that a stone wheel cutter did the “leaves and branches” and the mitres, then a copper wheel engraver did the vine on the foot and the fruits on the bowl; - the latter after the last of two acid polishes. Wilmot recalls that the engraver could do one in two hours, or four stems per day. Five hours of labor went into each piece of Mitres and Fruits stemware, from just the cutter and engraver. Hawkes then retailed them for $297.00 a dozen, or a little less than $25.00 each. Try doing that today! He also recalls that the very well known Hawkes “Satin Iris” pattern was introduced early in the 20th century and was produced “by the thousands”. “One of their most popular patterns for a long, long time” according to Wilmot(7).
According to his family, Putnam’s favorite quote and motto was, “But I have loved the principle of beauty in all things. If I had had the time, I would have made myself remembered …” From Keats “Ode to Beauty”(8). We can with confidence say to Wilmot today that he indeed is remembered.
So - now that we know something about Wilmot Putnam, let’s follow the threads attached to his lathe. It is of Bohemian manufacture and originally treadle powered. It’s extremely well machined, made of brass and steel. Fine craftsmanship - even the bolts that tie it together are all individually numbered so that it goes back together perfectly after disassembly.
Along with the lathe comes a collection of cutting wheels, each with a hand poured and balanced lead sheath around its spindle for insertion into the lathe’s chuck, a can containing the emery grit used to dress the wheels, and a bottle of the oil for transforming the grit into a paste (Figure 10).
On the base of the lathe is the inscription in German, “VERFERTIGT V FRANZ A. FLÖGEL I MEISTERDORF I BÖHMEN 1874”.
That translates as “Manufactured by Franz A. Flegel in Meisterdorf in Bohemia in 1874”. We know of at least two other lathes manufactured by a Franz Anton Flögel in Meisterdorf dated 1866 - which belonged to famed (Bohemian) engraver Joseph Keller of England’s Stevens & Williams(9). It’s highly likely, given the phonetic spelling in vogue at that time in Bohemia, that these are the same person (10). In which case, Mr. Flögel was in business for some time producing finely machined lathes in Meisterdorf. You have to ask - where is and what’s the significance of Meisterdorf - German for “Village of Masters”? The answer leads us down another intriguing path. Turns out the village is now called Mistrovice, and traces it roots back many centuries to at least 1412, and it has a centuries old tradition of glass making. After WWII however, it was merged into the adjacent village of Oldrichov and today is known as Novy Oldrichov. With a current population of some 650 souls, it’s located 47 miles north of Prague in the Czech Republic, very close to the German and Polish borders in the Lusatian Mountains (11).
Miesterdorf also happens to be right in the middle of the world famous Bohemian Glass Community, which began in Medieval times, continued through the Renaissance and Baroque eras and into the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1853, for example, there were 83 Glasshouses in Bohemia, employing some 120,000 people who together accounted for 60% of the total glass production in Austria (which ruled Bohemia at that time) (12). It remains today as an important center of glass production.
From Meisterdorf came noted copper wheel engravers such as, F. A. Pelikan (1786-1858) who exhibited his creations at the 1st Industrial Fair in Prague in 1831; August Bohm (1812-1890), a superb engraver noted for his portraits, hunting theme works, and battle scenes (13); and perhaps most well known to us, given our passion for cut and engraved glass, is one William Fritsche. This master, over a period of two and one-half years, engraved the spectacular “Fritsche Ewer” (1886) in the Hochschnitt manner that is now part of the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass. You may know that William Fritsche (1853-1924) was born in Meisterdorf into a family of glass engravers. He emigrated to England around 1868 and spent his career designing and engraving for Thomas Webb and Sons (14).
Given Meisterdorf’s outstanding heritage, it’s not surprising then, that Wilmot’s lathe would have been skillfully manufactured there.
Closer to home however, Meisterdorf was also the hometown of many of Corning’s first and finest engravers who ended up leaving their homeland and emigrating to the United States of America in the last quarter of the 19th century (15). A sampling of them would include the following:
Hieronimus WIlliam Fritsche (Hawkes, Libbey)
Adolf Kretschmann (Hawkes, Sinclaire)
Joseph Nitsche (Webb, Hoare, Hawkes)
Joseph Haselbauer (Hoare, Hawkes, Sinclaire)
Augustus Haselbauer (Hoare)
Anthony Keller (Hoare, Sinclaire)
Ernest Kaulfuss (Sinclaire)
Henry Keller (Sinclaire, Steuben)
Frank Konigstein (Sinclaire)
Edward Hauptmann (Sinclaire)
It’s fascinating to me that such a small town (its peak population was around 1,400 souls in 1890)(16) could produce so many talented engravers. Why? One answer is that the area has a long history of talented glass artisans, and sons often learned from their fathers. Another is that there were two noted glassmaking schools in Bohemia within a few kilometers of Meisterdorf - one founded in 1856 in Kamensky Senov, and another founded in 1870 in Novy Bar. In 1880 the former began offering courses specifically in Glass Engraving, taught by the famous decorative arts firm of J & L Lobmeyr based in Vienna. Lobmeyr procured their glass from the glasshouses of Northern Bohemia, but they provided the design expertise. Students of these schools spread out over Bohemia after completing their schooling, including many who went abroad to England, Ireland, Scotland, and America to seek their fortunes (17).
The late 1800’s were a transitional period in Bohemia - the forests that provided the fuel for their glass factories were being rapidly depleted, and the railroads that would bring the coal to take its place didn’t arrive until the 1870’s. The Art Nouveau movement that would fuel further design growth arrived there in force in the 1890’s. So - it’s not surprising that Meisterdorf, with an abundance of trained engravers, lost some engravers who left to seek their fortunes elsewhere, given better economic opportunities in other parts of the world. This movement started with the English, in the 1850’s and 1860’s, who offered one or two year contracts to engravers, some of whom stayed on. The French followed, importing engravers, for example, to work at the Cristallerie de St. Louis firm (18).
Then came another opportunity - rapidly growing North America - specifically Corning, NY, which was quickly making an impact as an emerging center for cut and engraved glass. Augustus Haselbauer of Meisterdorf arrived in Corning first, around 1869, soon to be followed by many others. In an interesting footnote, it’s clear that not all of Meisterdorf’s sons were trained engravers when they left their homeland. In fact, two of them - Hieronimus William Fritsche and Joseph Haselbauer were just 13 and 18 respectively when they emigrated. Fritsche went to Scotland where he learned engraving from an uncle, and Hasselbauer to the USA where his brother Augustus taught him (19).
So - now we know something about Wilmot’s lathe, but how did it end up in Corning? Estelle Farrar Sinclaire has the answer. “The Bohemians brought with them their foot powered lathes, expecting to set up the home shops traditional in Central Europe (Figure 11). These were important to Corning for several reasons. First, the Bohemians might train their sons at home. Second, they worked extra hours at home during their employer’s busy seasons. Finally, they became engraving subcontractors for smaller cutting companies that opened after 1904. We have found no home engraving shop in which work was only for the proprietor’s in-factory employer.”(20)
Clearly, Wilmot’s Bohemian Lathe has a rich history. It’s certainly within the realm of possibility that it could have come to America with the likes of the Haselbauers or H. William Fritsche, among others. While we don’t know how it came into Wilmot’s possession, we do know that the ACGA will become its new home. It’s being donated to us by Elmer V. Huels, of Lindley, NY who lives not far from Corning, just across the state border from Lawrenceville, PA. Elmer too has a very interesting background, i.e. a family with deep roots in the cut and engraved glass of the Corning area. Following in that tradition, he owns and operates a glass engraving home business, which includes stone cutting, copper wheel engraving and Satin Etching. How Elmer came into possession of such an important legacy as the Putnam Lathe is in itself extremely interesting, and contributes the final threads of this story, taking us forward into the 20th and 21st centuries.
Lawrenceville, PA is a small town, with (In 2002) some 629 residents, in upstate Pennsylvania, smack on the New York State border. It would be a stretch, but with luck you might be able to hit a baseball from the one stop light in town and have it land inside New York State. The Borough of Lawrenceville is fortuitously located about 15 miles southwest of Corning, NY, and was a stop on The Corning and Blossburg railway line (operated in 1840) that brought coal to the furnaces of Corning for many years during the heyday of the American Brilliant Period(21).
During that time, Lawrenceville became home to several firms that cut the glass we now collect so avidly. Lesser known firms, certainly - the likes of Eygabroat-Ryan, W. S. Wilcox Cut Glass Company,(22) R. H. Pitman Cut Glass Company, and the Stage Brothers (later Stage-Kashins) Cut Glass Company sprang up there in the very early 20th century and employed dozens of locals. Now, of course, the companies and their facilities are long gone - thanks to a declining appetite for cut glass. Thanks too to several notable floods and fires that regularly swept through the area, the former due to the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers that encircle much of Lawrenceville, until the US Army Corps of Engineers placed dams on them during the last quarter of the 20th century.
Elmer’s family involvement in the cut glass industry begins with his grandfather William T. Holton, known as Will. Will, born in 1890, joined the Eygabroat-Ryan Cut Glass Factory in Lawrenceville around 1910. After Eygabroat-Ryan closed around 1913, Will moved to the Stage Brothers and its successor, the Stage-Kashins Cut Glass - where he served as foreman for many years. A letter of recommendation from the Stage Brothers firm, in 1915 when they were forced to lay Will off, survives (Figure 12).
Additionally, Will also cut and engraved glass for the Hawkes firm of Corning, NY at his home in Lindley, NY. Elmer recalls his Grandfather saying that Hawkes would deliver the blanks to Will’s shop. Elmer and his wife Lucia also recall that many of the window panes in his grandparent’s home were decorated with cut and engraved designs done by Will. Elmer reminisces that as a 5-year-old child in Watkins Glen, NY during the Great Depression, he and Will went house to house selling sets of his grandfather’s engraved glass out of a basket (23). Elmer’s collection today includes a lovely picture frame engraved by his grandfather (Figure 13). The picture in the frame is of Elmer’s grandmother.
Elmer’s mother, Frances Huels, worked for Stage-Kashins in Lawrenceville, as did his sisters Ruth and Betty, along with an uncle, Lawrence Holton. Ruth left school early and began cutting full time for Stage-Kashins. Elmer recalls that she cut the last piece of glass produced at Stage-Kashins when it closed in 1949. Sister Betty also cut glass for Stage-Kashins after school and on weekends. After Stage-Kashins closed operations, Betty went to work for the Hunt Glass Company in Corning, NY where she was an engraver specializing in monogramming (26).
Elmer’s uncle, Lawrence Holton, also worked for Stage-Kashins. After it closed, he went to work for T. J. Hawkes on Market Street in Corning. Elmer remembers, as a kid, visiting his uncle at Hawkes and watching him (when he wasn’t cutting or engraving) make those distinctive square bases for Hawkes’ stems of that period. Lawrence was one of the very last employees of Hawkes - there exists in the Hawkes Archives at the Rakow Library a letter ending his tenure since the “furnaces have been put on automatic”(24). As an aside, Elmer recalls visiting the Hawkes shop down the street in Corning when they were going out of business - you could buy cutting stones of all sizes - up to three feet in diameter - for $1.00, stone wheels by the drawer full, along with board holders of copper wheels. Locals bought those three foot stones and used them for paving stones and walks in their gardens...
A brother-in-law connection - Paul A. Holton, a second cousin of Elmer who retired from the Steuben Glass division of Corning, Inc. in the 1970’s. Remarkably, he is still active in the glass scene in Corning today, often appearing (at age 93) at the Hands-on-Glass hot glass studio of Rodi Rovner in Corning, NY (25).
Elmer married Lucia Loughridge of Lindley, NY in 1953 and two weeks later he was shipped off to the Korean Conflict. When he returned, he felt that following in the family glass heritage was the right thing to do and decided to become a copper wheel engraver. Finding out that there were only a handful of copper wheel engravers still practicing that art, Elmer went to visit one of them - retired engraver Wilmot Putnam in Corning, NY - looking for some insight into the art form. Wilmot at that time had a shop behind his home on 202 Baker Street in Corning which Elmer says was “clean as a whistle”. Wilmot was now 82 and going blind. He shared his knowledge with Elmer, talking about the techniques involved and, as he was leaving, Elmer asked Wilmot if he knew where he could find a lathe to get started. Wilmot said, “No, but you’ll get one some day”.
Elmer spent the next few years getting into the business, doing stone wheel cutting and engraving on his grandfather Will’s equipment. After a ten year search, Elmer bought a copper wheel lathe from another local engraver, Marion Daley who was employed by Hawkes. After more years of searching, Elmer purchased a second copper wheel lathe from retired Steuben engraver Ken Van Etten. This particular lathe traces it lineage to the Haselbauer’s Corning shop.
Along the way he purchased a stone wheel lathe from Mrs. Lorinda Freitas of Corning who in turn obtained it from her employer, Hunt Glass Company, when they went out of business in 1973. Mrs. Fietas was an instructor for Hunt, teaching young women the art of light stone wheel engraving. After the firm closed, Mrs. Freitas opened a shop in her home.
Elmer studied for two years in 1977 and 1978 learning the art of copper wheel engraving from German born Master Engraver Peter Schelling of Stueben Glass who taught courses at Corning Community College. He became proficient and built a successful business, operating out of his home and a stall at an arts and crafts mart south of Penn Yan, NY near Keuka Lake - one of upstate New York’s most picturesque Finger Lakes. The Daley copper wheel lathe is still in use today at Elmer’s Penn Yan location. Elmer’s home and shop, by the way, are on his grandparent’s estate just north of Lawrenceville, PA where he and his wife built a new home after his grandfather Will’s home burned. Elmer is a former member of the Glass Engraver’s Guild of England and has done commissioned work for people and organizations around the world, including former First Lady Barbara Bush. His son, Stephen Huels, and grandson, Matthew Huels (now ten years old), have both tried their hand at stone wheel cutting and have shown adaptability to the art, so Elmer has hopes that the family’s long tradition of cutting and engraving glass might extend further into the future.
Wilmot Putnam died in 1969, and his son inherited all of his equipment, telling Elmer that it would all remain in the family. In 1999, however, Elmer got a call from Raymond Putnam - saying that the family had found a note in “Gramp’s Secret Tin Box” (a Whitman’s Sampler box originally containing chocolates) saying that the lathe should go to Elmer. So - 30+ years after his meeting with Wilmot, Elmer had his copper wheel lathe, thanks to Wilmot’s bequest. The lathe is missing its original table and treadle (it had been electrified by Wilmot’s son in 1940). Elmer is, however, an accomplished woodworker, as well as an engraver, and is constructing a new table for it of solid Pennsylvania Black Walnut. He’s also found a treadle, so shortly the lathe will be restored and operational again as it was in the late 1800’s.
Fortunately for the ACGA, Elmer has a terrific “sense of place”, particularly concerning just where items of historical import should “end up”. For example, when the Presbyterian Church in Lawrenceville was being torn down some years ago, Elmer rescued one of the stained glass windows from behind the altar. Recently, when the United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville built a new center, Elmer donated both the rescued window and a new frame so it can live on in a suitable place. Similarly, when Elmer began to think about where the Putnam lathe should “end up”, he contacted the ACGA, having been a member in years past. After talking to several people, getting an understanding of our practices and our commitment to preserving the legacy of American Brilliant Cut & Engraved glass, he decided that “the place” for Wilmot’s artifacts would be the ACGA’s collection. During his investigation, he and Leon Torline, Co-Chairperson of the ACGA’s Gifts and Acquisition Committee (Walter Poeth being the other half) found out during a phone conversation that they had both served in South Korea during the Korean Conflict. It is, after all, a small world.
The ACGA profusely thanks Elmer Huels for his most generous donation of these important items to the ACGA’s Collection. We are most grateful and appreciative. The lathe and accompanying items will be housed as part of the ACGA’s Collection at the Forsyth Center Galleries of Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. The ACGA will treasure these artifacts that by their presence speak to how the cut and engraved glass we cherish and collect today was actually made - with laborious effort, for 30 cents an hour, and by talented cutters and engravers like Wilmot Putnam and the sons of Meisterdorf.
Reproduced from “The Hobstar”, April 2004.
“The Hobstar” is a monthly periodical published by the American Cut Glass Association. Members of the association can access the complete archives from 1978 to present.
