Talk:18th century glassmaking in the United States/GA1

GA Review
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Nominator: 19:45, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Reconrabbit (talk · contribs) 16:07, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Hello! I'm starting in on the GA review for this article. Writing my comments as the review progresses. I did a quick copy edit beforehand on some things I considered uncontroversial but let me know if anything was out of line.
 * Thank you for looking at this. Copy edit is all good. TwoScars (talk) 18:39, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Prose

 * Is there a reason for Cylinder to be used as a proper noun?
 * I think Cylinder and Crown are names of methods, so they should be capitalized. However, the Louw source does not capitalize these methods, so I have changed them to not be capitalized (unless they are part of a company name). TwoScars (talk) 18:53, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Glassmaking

 * Glassmaking methods and recipes were kept secret, and most European countries forbid immigration to the United States by glassworkers. Should it be past tense, "forbade"?
 * Yes. Made change. TwoScars (talk) 19:03, 19 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Some of the skilled glassworkers were smuggled from Europe to the United States. "Some of the skilled glassworkers" needs to be qualified, what is this group of skilled glassworkers? People who started works in the US industry?
 * Changed sentence to "Master glassmakers, including glassblowers and glass cutters, that had the secret glassmaking knowledge were smuggled from Europe to the United States to provide glassmaking expertise at American factories." TwoScars (talk) 19:11, 19 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Transportation for glass may be better moved under "background" rather than "glsasmaking" section as the latter heading refers more to the general process.
 * Moved the two transportation sentences to the end of the first paragraph in the Background section. TwoScars (talk) 19:19, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Background

 * it is possible that one continued producing into the 1760s. "That one" could be written ("that one of them"/"one of these glass factories"/"at least one") to clarify either one or both continued working.
 * Changed sentence to "Very little is known about the New Amsterdam glass factories, but it is possible that at least one of them continued producing into the 1760s." TwoScars (talk) 19:22, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

18th century

 * The plant, known at the time as Whitney Glass, was purchased by one of Michael Owens' companies in 1918. May be less ambiguous if "known at the time as Whitney Glass" is moved to be after the time period it is referring to (1918), maybe at the end of the sentence or in a separate statement.
 * Changed to "The Whitney brothers became sole owners of the plant in 1839. The Whitney Glass Works was purchased by one of Michael Owens' companies in 1918." TwoScars (talk) 19:39, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Other 18th century glass works

 * The preamble here could be reworked to be less self-referential. Ideally it would state that various glass works did not survive to the 19th century and the list is in order of production start dates, with information on sourcing kept to notes.
 * Redid to "Some glass works existed during the 18th century but did not survive into the 19th century. The lists below for each region are in order of when the company started producing.[Note 7] The Schuylkill glass works, listed below, may have been the first glass factory to use coal to power its furnaces.[50][Note 8]" TwoScars (talk) 19:59, 19 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Why is the note on the earlier 18th century glass works in Maryland hidden?
 * If you are talking about Jacob Frederick Dannwolf and Peter Engel's small business, I could not find a good enough source to justify using it. Some hobby web sites (Peachridge Glass, The Bottle Den, and Antique-Bottles.net) mention them. Their glass business was evidently so small that reliable sources did not bother to mention them. TwoScars (talk) 19:47, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Future glassmaking

 * American glassmaking experienced strong competition from English producers—but then growth and innovation. Is the intended meaning that growth and innovation from English producers followed strong competition from same?
 * Changed the beginning to "Near the start of the 19th century, glassmaking in the United States experienced strong competition from English producers that caused some of the American companies to fail. Innovations and a protective tariff eventually lead to American growth."
 * Changed it again to drop these summary sentences. Now the first paragraph discusses the British dumping and red lead. The second paragraph discusses the protective tariff and pressed glass innovation. The third paragraph discusses the shift of glass plants from the east to Pittsburgh. The first paragraph now begins "Glassmaking became difficult in the United States at the beginning of the 19th century. Red lead was a key additive for high–quality glassware and England controlled much of the supply.[1] The United States Embargo Act of 1807, and the War of 1812, made red lead extremely difficult for American companies to acquire.[2] After the War of 1812, English glass manufacturers began dumping low–priced glass products in the United States, which drove many American glass companies into bankruptcy.[1]" TwoScars (talk) 20:14, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Broadness

 * A broad overview of the typical glassmaking processes and surrounding context is given, as well as a view of glassmaking as it was relevant to the whole of the United States. ✅

Focus

 * As much detail as can be expected is expanded upon in regards to individual locations and areas without repeating sources verbatim, going into the minutiae of transactions, etc. ✅

Stability

 * No history of edit wars here. ✅
 * Language written from a neutral point of view. ✅

Checking sources
I tried creating an account on the Corning Museum of Glass to view their articles but it just didn't work, they sent me an email with no text in it, so I can't read anything from there. Similar situation with those articles on the Corning JSTOR collection, and though many appear relevant to the linked passages from the preview alone I can't include them on the list of sources I was able to verify personally. • [2] ✅

• [5] ✅

• [7] ✅

• [33] ✅

• [51] Shotwell states that crystal refers loosely to fine glassware, but not that it was "the finest glassware available".

• [77] ✅

• [131] ✅

• [139] ✅

• [141] ✅ but shouldn't the list of glassmaking colonies include New Hampshire?

Copyrighted text

 * Can't check Earwig to see potential copyright violations from search engine but I don't expect to find any. Currently all I find are from the referenced Maryland Historical Society document, which are anticipated due to use of full quotations.

Images

 * All images properly tagged with licenses / public domain. ✅
 * Images used appropriately and are illustrative of accompanying text. ✅