American Manufacturers - Emil Larson

Emil Larson Rose Emil Larson (attributed), circa 1930s

The Whitall Tatum Glass Company, Milleville, New Jersey

James Lee was the founder of what would become Whitall Tatum Company. In 1906, in Millville, New Jersey, he built the first glass works in this river town that would become a center for glassmaking. Lee was part owner of the Eagle Glass Works. By 1820, the factory had two furnaces. The factory changed ownership several times from 1820 to 1838, when John M. Whitall joined the company. The then-named Phoenix Glass Works made glass vials, bottles, and other products. John Whitall did was an absentee owner who went bankrupt in his other businesses. His brother Israel Whitall, became the glassworks manager from 1845-1857. Between those years, the Tatum brothers also joined the firm. The company line of glass products included flint glassware, blue ware, perfume and cologne bottles, show bottles and globes, green glassware, and stoppers, as well as insulators and industrial glass.

In 1901, the firm became the Whitall Tatum Company. The first crimped rose paperweight is said to have been made by Ralph Barber at Whitall Tatum in 1905. The company continued to make industrial and decorative glass products; they were bought by the Armstrong Cork Compnay in 1939.

The Barker Paperweight collection has one paperweight, a imbedimage("group03", "Ac256364yellrose.jpg", "Whitall Tatum Paperweight", "Whitall Tatum Paperweight", "right")?> crimped rose, that was made at the Whitall Tatum Company.