JPF Remembered

Does J.P.F. Sound Familiar?

Was he an important figure in early glass, or just a shop clerk?

By David Graci

Rhea Mansfield Knittle, in her 1927 book, Early American Glass, wrote in the Introduction: “American glass is without doubt, the most obscure and also the most uncertain, illusive, and deceptive in the entire field of Americana.”

She continued on with the Pitkin Glass Works and how it was erected in 1783 and believed to have operated continuously until 1830. Also mentioned, but with no source cited, was that in “1810, J.P. Foster, who had been the superintendent of the industry, took over the active management of the house.”

Also included was that Foster had “gone to Stoddard from Keene in 1842” (page 366). Foster’s name is not mentioned with any other glasshouse in Knittle’s book.

Helen McKearin and Kenneth Wilson, in their book, American Bottles & Flasks and Their Ancestry, 1978, continued the story of J.P. Foster, saying he “took over” the works, with another account stating that he became “active manager.” They wrote that the “mold for the J.P.F. might well have been a private mold, not a glassworks mold with initials of a manager or lessee.” Their most interesting conclusion was that tradition was the source of Mr. Foster’s involvement in the Pitkin story. “Neither tradition has as yet been proven, but as has been said elsewhere in connection with Foster, “manager” seems the more likely status.”

In their Reference Notes, (page 719, 102), Mrs. Knittle and Van Rensselaer, “both writers presumably obtained information about the works from members of the Pitkin and other local families.”

In a New York Times article of Aug. 23, 1981, titled “Rare Survivors of Glassmaking,” it was noted “a second Pitkin piece commemorating Mr. Foster’s taking over management of the company is a rare Pitkin inkwell made of green bottle glass in a square two-part mold and also emblazoned with the initials J.P.F.” This piece is on display at the Connecticut Historical Society Museum in Hartford, with another similar inkwell located at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Conn.

William E. Covill, Jr. 1971, in the first edition of Ink Bottles and Inkstands, writes, “An interesting inkwell is illustrated in Fig. 1111, (pg 267). This is a definite product of the Pitkin Glass Works. The initials J.P.F., as clearly shown in Fig. 1112, are those of J.P. Foster who became superintendent of the Glass Works in 1810. Under “Pitkin Type Inkwells,” Covill writes: “One order to this glasshouse was for inkstands, now referred to as inkwells.” (pg 265)

In my two-part article on “Pitkins Early Efforts,” in the February and March 2011 Antique Bottle & Glass Collector issues, the last mention found of J.P. Foster is in a For Sale ad. “In a convenient store with adjacent sheds, lately occupied by J.P. Foster, and the one half of the Glass Manufactory, with Store House, etc.” That ad appeared on April 15, 1828, from the Connecticut Courant.

Perhaps Foster’s last connection with the Pitkin Glass Works was as a clerk in their store selling their merchandise.

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Image courtesy of The Connecticut Historical Society”