Exhibits

Current Exhibits

Bottles & Baseball: The Glass History of America’s Pastime

From its beginnings in the 1840s, Major League Baseball, America’s Pastime, his been intertwined with glass bottles. Whether its bottles of beer or soda poured at the ballpark, to whiskey bottles and decanters telling stories of the game, to bottles for everyday products that connect to the popularity and heritage of the game. This exhibition focuses on this relationship, bottles created for the game; and how baseball, bottles, and advertising connect with the public in meaningful ways.

Lost Regional Sodas

Whether called soda, pop, tonic, or even coke, for most of the 18th and 19th centuries, towns, cities and regions had their own popular local soft drinks. Most were created by and sold through small bottling houses based on local flavors and regional character. During the 1950s-1970s, most of these bottlers were purchased by larger companies like Pepsi and either closed or shifted to make that company’s beverages. When the regional drinks did not find popularity with a larger audience, they were discontinued.

Spatter Glass

Spatter glass is a variegated handblown or mold-blown art glass, also known as end-of-day, mottled overlay glass, splatter glass, and splashed glass. This technique has been used for millennia, dating back to the Romans. Spatter glass is produced by rolling hot blown glass over small pieces or chips of colored glass. SPATTER GLASS was made possible through a generous donation from Elinor and Ronald Arendt. The display, which sits in our front window will run through July 2025.

Whimseys

End of day works created on a whim

New Exhibits Coming Soon

New Exhibits Coming Soon!

Permanent Exhibits

Spouting Springs

Just South of Saratoga Springs multiple mineral water wells were drilled that produced large fountains of water. The area became known as "The Geysers". Underground carbonic acid gas is what powered the geysers. By 1900 widespread extraction of the gas itself led to a depletion of some springs. In 1909 New York State took over control of many of the wells in order to protect the resource. These bottles and images represent activity from 1870 to present. Many of the earlier bottles displayed were made in the Congressville glass works a short distance away.

Bottles of the USA

This display features pre-machine made bottles from each state, as well as Puerto Rico. Bottles were chosen by collectors across the United States, who voted on which bottle they would like to represent their state.

Uranium Glass

Uranium Glass at The National Bottle Museum

Bottle that Held up Wall Street

Discovered in 1700's boat used for fill on Wall Street

Malcolm Jones Exhibit

Malcolm Jones exhibit donated by G. Dauphinais

Vintage Pharmacy Book Display

Vintage Pharmacy Book Display at The National Bottle Museum

Glass Paperweight Collection

View a couple of glass paperweight displays at The National Bottle Museum

The Ralph and Eleanor Work Collection

Bottles of Various Colors, Shapes, and Sizes

Past Exhibits

Painted Sodas

Commemorative and Advertising Shot Glasses

A stunning collection of commemorative souvenir and advertising shot glasses, donated to the museum by Mimi Norris Weisbond.

The Presidents of the United States

Since the beginning of our republic, U.S. Presidents have been popular subjects of commemoratives, souvenirs, and tchotchkes. This exhibit in our front window uses bottles, glass plates, historic flasks, and commemoratives from the 1960s and 1970s to trace presidents from George Washington to James E. Carter (a one-time member of our organization). This exhibit was created to celebrate President’s Day, honor the passing of President Carter, and to observe the inauguration of the new President. A temporary exhibit, Presidents of the United States will run through the end of March.