Meet Olivia Padula, the dynamic and talented Curator of Collections for the Sandwich Historical Society and its Glass Museum.

Since its foundation in 1907, the SHS has been collecting antique Sandwich Glass, household objects, paintings, photos and other memorabilia that tell the rich story of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Co., Sandwich, and Cape Cod. Many of the items in our vast collection haven’t been on display in years, but with recent upgrades to our digital database, we are now able to make these items searchable.

History is meant to be shared!

Was the Fresnel Lens at the Nobska lighthouse manufactured in Sandwich by the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company? Impossible to say for sure without written documentation of a sale, but given the timing of the purchase and the production schedule of the glass factory, it is certainly possible.

The Sandwich Historical Society is excited to present a special glass identification event: What’s Your Glass? Join us Saturday June 15th from 10am-2pm in the Hirschmann Theater at the Sandwich Glass Museum to learn more about your personal glass collection.

The Sandwich Historical Society recently received an old leather shoe as a gift from a local resident. The shoe was found inside the wall during work on the house, prompting the question: why was there a shoe in the wall? Did it get lost when the house was being built, or perhaps it was a silly joke left by the previous owners?

As it turns out, the shoe was most likely placed there intentionally during the construction of the house as a way to ward off evil.

Settled in 1637 and incorporated in 1639, Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod. Originally settled by the English, Sandwich became an agricultural community, the main export of which was timber sent back to England. Even during the American Revolution, it remained a primarily agrarian community, supplemented by coastal fishing. But in 1825, the landscape of Sandwich would drastically change because of Deming Jarves, a Boston businessman and former agent of the New England Glass Company of East Cambridge, Massachusetts.