Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

The Fourco Glass Company archives include correspondence, a few sheets of financial data, blueprints and mechanical drawings, patents, appraisal reports, newspaper clippings and photographs from a West Virginia - based manufacturer with plants in Clarksburg. Many of the records reflect the company's concern for changes in production techniques, patent rights, and improvements in flat glassmaking both in Europe and the U.S. Some of the correspondence is in French. The clippings and photographs document labor relations, personnel changes in the white collar employee group, and trends in the American glass industry. There is also some information to the Rolland family, founders of the Rolland Glass Company in Clarksburg and one of the founders in Fourco. There is information on the founding and development of Fourco in the inventory folder. There is also a video cassette made from excerpts from movie film taken inside Fourco's Adamston plant in Clarksburg.

Minutes, correspondence, speeches, clippings, printed material, press releases, and other items concerning the Glass Workers' Protective League, which began in 1946 as the Four State Glass Workers' Protective League. It included glass workers from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana and was concerned with fighting the importation of cheap foreign glass. The papers deal mainly with the Burke-Hartke Bill, Bottle Bills, and national and international trade matters and include statements of union policy or position in these matters. There are minutes and correspondence, league constitutions, and a history of the Protective League.

Correspondence, accounts and receipts of the Harglo Glass Company of Salem, WV. The Harglo Co. specialized in the manufacture of glass for lamps and lighting fixtures, in many cases a subcontractor for other glass and lamp manufacturers. Its products were marketed through its affiliate, Glass Products Co. of Salem, WV. The billing and correspondence is with other glass companies, shipping companies, glass mould and equipment manufacturers, and companies producing non-clear glass or coatings for glass. Other West Virginia glass manufacturers mentioned are Beaumont Glass Co., Fenton Art Glass Co., Louie Glass Co. and the Pennsboro Glass Co.

Fifty pieces (including lids and pairs) of Asian-inspired design, frosted glassware (clear, pink, green) designed by West Virginia artist Virginia B. Evans (1894-1983) and produced by Imperial Glass Corporation of Bellaire, Ohio. Includes well-known dragon and butterfly motifs in ashtrays, bookends, vases, and other pieces.

Catalogs, reports, contracts, correspondence, blueprints, drawings, certificates, deeds, and photographs of Seneca Glass Company, a Morgantown glass manufacturer noted for its production of handmade lead crystal glassware. The materials of this collection give insight into some of the daily activities of the company and its union such as determination of wages, settling of labor grievances, plans for expansion and modernization, productivity statistics, and stock inventories. Specifically noteworthy are the earliest certificate of incorporation in West Virginia, original construction blueprints by Elmer F. Jacobs, and early catalogs of the company's product line. There are also extensive addenda of Seneca Glass records that were acquired in 2005, 2019, and 2021; a contents list for the 2005 addendum can be found in the control folder onsite.