I'm trying something new to get people discussing. Presumably, if you're here, you at least have some latent interest in historical items and practices. This new type of discussion is a bit more academic in nature, but we will hopefully learn valuable information about the histories of different items, materials, and events.
This will be a weekly(or biweekly if people are slow to post) discussion, as the reading is much more demanding than "The Discussion". I will mostly refrain from making any commentary in the OP, so you can form your own conclusions.
This week's discussion topic is glass. What better way to start the series than by discussing the material of our mascot?
For this discussion, I highly recommend visiting the website
"The History of Glass". It summarizes the discovery, manufacture, and use of glass historically and contemporarily without being overly vague or too long; the articles are informative while still being enjoyable to read.
For people who are more visually stimulated, the Corning Museum of Glass has a
catalog of historical European glassworks you can view.
