We turned the clocks back last night and the nights are getting longer. Let's take a look at how Americans lit their homes before electricity.
In the early 1800s, whale oil was an important source of illumination, and the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company produced a remarkable variety of lamps to hold this valuable fuel. Glassmakers often combined blown and pressed glass components to create lamps that were both functional and decorative. The separate pieces were joined while hot with small amounts of molten glass, forming flattened connections known as wafers.
Like other household furnishings, lamps were subject to changing fashions. In 1829, Deming Jarves, the founder of the factory, reported that twisted-rib lamps, such as the blue example here, were selling particularly well.
These beautiful lamps also connect Sandwich to a much larger story--New England's whaling industry, which supplied the oil that illuminated homes and businesses throughout the country.
Curious about the material culture related to whaling? Starting November 13, we'll mark the 175th anniversary of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick with a special display featuring objects from our collections that explore the whaling industry and its connections to everyday life, including whale-oil lamps, scrimshaw, and a nineteenth-century whaling logbook.
