"Our goal was to overcome defeatism before it ever had a chance to set in, and to provide encouragement for the stricken people of the community," declared Dr. Robert H. Brill, director of the Museum during the post-flood restoration period. The Flood of '72: Community, Collections,

The Museum's glass conservators care for a collection of nearly 50,000 objects spanning 35 centuries. In addition to addressing issues such as crizzling (glass deterioration), they restore damaged pieces. One example is the Tiffany lamp shown here. It came to the Museum in many pieces of

Glass is found at archaeological excavations in a variety of conditions. The glass condition can range from pristine, where no deterioration is visible, to so heavily degraded that practically all the glass has been transformed into corrosion products. The deterioration of the glass surface is

Certain types of colorless, transparent glasses, when exposed to sunlight for extended periods of time, develop a pink or pale purplish color. Bottles, insulators, and other objects having their color changed in this way are often called "desert glass," but the scientist prefers the term

Watch as our conservator, Stephen Koob, restores a 13th or 14th-century prunted beaker for the 2010 exhibition, Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants. This piece was on loan from the Museum zu Allerheiligen, Shaffhausen, in Switzerland. With painstaking care and precision Koob

Watch as our conservator, Stephen Koob, restores a 13th or 14th-century prunted beaker for the 2010 exhibition, Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants. This piece was on loan from the Museum zu Allerheiligen, Shaffhausen, in Switzerland. With painstaking care and precision Koob

For more on glass conservation visit our conservation page.

Hear from Chief Conservator Stephen Koob and Associate Conservator Astrid van Giffen on the work and care for objects leading up to the exhibition Fragile Legacy: The Marine Invertebrate Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. Learn more about the Conservation Department of The Corning Museum

Take a tour of the Museum's Conservation Lab with Chief Conservator Stephen Koob, Associate Conservator Astrid van Giffen, and Assistant Conservator Lianne Uesato. Explore the tools they use and learn about their individual backgrounds as they answer questions about conserving glass objects.

On August 2, 2007, a beautiful, fully restored 16th-century German house altar (59.3.39) was put on display for the first time since its acquisition by The Corning Museum of Glass in 1959. The altar is 49.6 cm tall, and contains seven reverse-painted glass panels. These depict scenes of the

The Stages of Crizzling Stage 1: Initial Stage Presence of alkali on the glass gives the surface a cloudy or hazy appearance. Tiny droplets or fine crystals can form if there is high (above 55%) or low (below 40%) relative humidity. Glass may feel slippery or slimy. Washing will remove alkali from

Here’s the ultimate jigsaw puzzle: take 40 pieces of shattered glass in varying sizes, and hundreds of tiny chips of glass, and put them together to restore a rare Tiffany Peacock Eye Lamp base to its full glory. That’s just what the Museum’s conservator, Stephen Koob, has done. Unless you examine