Recent Evidence for Broad Window Glass in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century America

Abstract

Window glass is a common artifact found on many historic archaeological sites. Until now, some researchers have believed that crown window glass was used exclusively during the colonial period and early postcolonial period (Tunis 1965; Pepper 1971; Louis Berger and Assoc. 1996; LeeDecker et al. 1997; Bedell et al. 2002). Broad window glass had been assigned a terminus post quem of 1820, eventually replacing crown window glass by around 1840 (Louis Berger and Assoc. 1996). However, recent excavations at the First Baptist Church and Old Scots Meetinghouse sites in Monmouth County, New Jersey, past excavations at St. Mary’s City, Maryland, and historic documentation indicate that broad glass was manufactured and used in America during the colonial period, possibly as early as the 17th century. This paper will examine the production processes for both crown and broad window glass as well as the physical evidence for the use and production of broad window glass alongside crown window glass during the early colonial period.