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.

“Indian” Patent Medicines

Over the summer, we were lucky to have Ted Fredericksen (New Paltz '28) as our summer intern. For his final project he created a new exhibit for us, "Indian" Patent Medicine. Using bottles from the museum's collection, he traced the history of many of the major purveyors of patent medicines who attempted to increase the legitimacy of their products by tying them to Native American themes and ingredients. The exhibit also traces how ethnocentric ideas of indigenous "savagery" and "primitiveness" were used to imply products that were pure and more natural than those of competitors, even though all of them were essentially snake oil.

Bottles from Hampton National Historic Site

Hampton House in Towson, MD was owned by the Ridgely Family from 1745 to 1948. Seven generations of the family held the property which was originally purchased by Col. Charles Ridgely. The second owner, Charles Carnan Ridgely served as governor of Maryland from 1815-1818. Over time, the property served as a tobacco farm, thoroughbred horse farm, and agricultural farm, before being given the National Parks Service in 1948. The Ridgely family kept many of the bottles used in the home including mineral water bottles, beer and wine bottles, whiskey bottles, and oil jars. In 2023, the National Parks Service deaccessioned many of their bottles to the National Bottle Museum. These are just a handful of the bottles we received.

Of Buildings and Bears: The Fanciful World of Figural Bottles

Figurals are one of the most entertaining styles of collectible bottles. They are blown or molded into common shapes like people, animals, buildings, cars, tools and toys, and so much more. Whether they were manufactured to hold whiskey or wine, cosmetics, bitters, or foodstuffs, they demand immediate attention. For this display we have selected specific pieces from our collection focusing on buildings and animals on land, in the air, and under the sea. This is just a small part of our figural collection.

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.

Glass that Glows

Whether called Uranium Glass or Vaseline Glass, everyone is fascinated by artifacts that fluoresce under blacklight. This exhibit has been updated for 2025 with all new pieces and examples of other types of glass that fluoresce.

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.

Ballston Spa Bottles

A display of local Ballston Spa history! This display shows bottles from local Ballston Spa pharmacies, dairies, sodas and spring waters. It also has the medical bag of Dr. Post, a prominent local physician.

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.