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Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company Collection
Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company Collection
In 1883, Hervey D. Thatcher patented the “milk protector” – a glass bottle that allowed milk distributors to deliver their goods in individual sealed bottles rather than ladled from an open pail. The Thatcher Glass Company eventually became the first company to use automatic machinery to produce milk bottles with uniform thicknesses, making them less likely to break during transit. A leading business in Elmira for more than 80 years, Thatcher once produced 50 percent of the milk bottles in the United States.
The Chemung County Historical Society acquired the Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company Collection in the 1980s. The collection includes archival material such as design drawings, correspondence and other company documents. The goal of this project is to preserve the collection and digitize it to create a full history of a local glass manufacturer.
Projected Outcomes
- Thatcher archives digital collection
- Thatcher Glass website
Partners & Funding
This project is supported by the South Central Regional Library Council’s Regional Bibliographic Databases and Interlibrary Resources Sharing Program.
This project is a partnership with the Chemung County Historical Society and the South Central Regional Library Council (SCRLC).
Read More
This post is written by Thatcher project digitization assistant Christina Baker. Read more about the Thatcher project and collection in previous posts.
While cataloging the Thatcher Glass collection, I’ve run across several interesting items. Today I found a mysterious envelope that I had to share... more
This post is written by Thatcher project digitization assistant Christina Baker. Read more about the Thatcher project and collection in previous posts.
The front page of the November 1920 issue of Thatcher News.
We wake up every day to make breakfast, brew our coffee, and get ready for the... more
By now, you may be familiar with the existence of the Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Co., which was located in Elmira, N.Y., for the better part of the 20th century. The bottles that Thatcher produced revolutionized the way milk was delivered to consumers. Wait, you don’t know about Thatcher? Hold on... more
