Corning Museum of Glass - Corning, NY - 1000 Places to See Before You Die on Waymarking.com

I’m not sure what the criteria are for being included in the 1000 Places to See Before You Die books, but I’m really glad that this museum made the cut. It’s a little out of the way in that the town of Corning (population about 11,500) is not near any major metropolitan area. But it’s well worth a visit if you get the chance.

The museum is associated with Corning Inc., formerly Corning Glass Works, known for Pyrex high-temperature glass, Corning Ware cooking products, Steuben Glass, catalytic converter substrates and “Gorilla” glass used on iPhones, among many other products. But the museum is not just a showcase for Corning’s products. It was founded in 1951 and is dedicated to the history of glass. It has been expanded several times over the years and is now the premier glass museum in the world.

As you would expect, there’s considerable space allocated to telling the story of glass manufacturing and uses and if that was the only aspect of this museum it would still be worthwhile. But there’s also an incredibly large collection of glass objects chronicling the history of glass making over the past 3500 years. And on top of that, the museum boasts a fantastic collection of art glass items. And, of course, there are live glass blowing demonstrations and a large gift shop.

In 1999, the U.S. issued a set of postage stamps commemorating American glass. The stamps showed free-blown glass, mold-blown glass, pressed glass and art glass. Many of the items depicted on the stamps are from this museum’s collection, in fact, all four of the free-blown glass objects were on display when I visited.

Name of Source Book: 1000 Places to See Before You Die - In the USA and Canada (2007) Page Location in Source Book: 147 Type of Waymark: Museum Location of Coordinates: museum entrance Cost of Admission (Parks, Museums, etc.): 20.00 (listed in local currency) List Available Hours, Dates, Season: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (open till 7:00 pm during the summer) Official Tourism Website: [Web Link]

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