HLSC, RUSH LIGHT AND NIGHT LIGHT MEETING, CORNING, NEW YORK, APRIL 29, 2011
by Joe Barton
Our combined meeting with the Night Light Club and the RushLight Club started with an auction at Roan’s, Cogan Stations, PA., on Thursday and Friday. There was a wide variety of lamps and lamp parts. The members who attended enjoyed it very much and most went home with something for their collection. We would like to thank Richard Miller and Marion Lanchman for their efforts in putting this auction together with Roan’s Auction Hall. I know they spent many days of hard work cleaning and cataloguing the items. THANK YOU BOTH!
This meeting was organized by Jay Kivell of the HLSC, Don Schoenly of the RushLight Club and Bob Culver of the Night Light Club. They could not have picked a better place to have a joint meeting. The facilities and the location right at the end of the Gaffer district were perfect. A short walk got you to the Corning Museum of Glass and the Rockwell Museum of Western art. Well Done gentleman!
Friday night began with a talk from Jane Shadel Spillman, the Curator of the American Glass Section of the CorningMuseum. She put on a power point presentation of lighting pieces located in the Museum. It was soon obvious why the pieces she showed us were in the museum, they were exceptionally beautiful and rare. Jane was kind enough to stay and answer questions that the members had about pieces they had brought with them. She also donated two signed reproductions of very early whale oil lamps. Draw tickets were sold at the meeting for the lamps and the money raised was divided between the three clubs to offset expenses. She informed us that in 2014 the Museum is having a 6 month long presentation of early lighting. They will be pulling out all the stops and having most of their lightning collection on display which is quite extensive. Having another joint meeting at that time has already been talked about. Room trading started on Friday night as well. In the rooms I visited, there were some pretty nice lamps. I hope room trading continues to be profitable for the vendors because it is nice to see the many different lamps.
Saturday began with Ed Tonna and David Smuck taking registration. These guys do a great job and have become quite efficient at it - Thanks. The items for the silent auction were put out and there was something there for everyone. The Radisson put out a nice lunch for us. The HLSC general meeting took place at 12:45. The treasurer’s report was given and Jay Kivell announced that the fall meeting for the HLSC was going to be in CornwallOntario on Oct. 15, 2011. Bob Culver announced that the Night Light Club is looking to have a meeting in 2012 at the Ford museum in DearbornMichigan, again a joint meeting with all three clubs. We will be looking forward to that. Cam Kenny informed the club the request for nominations for the Executive resulted in Tom Logan as President, Jay Kivell as Vice President, Stan Walker as Publicity Director, Cam Kenney as Historian, Linda Chalmers and Jack Germa as Members at Large. All the rest of the executive positions remain the same. I would like to congratulate and “Thank” these people on their new positions. The club appears to be blessed with a good group of volunteers that enjoy doing their part in keeping the club healthy.
The fun started with a drawing of the door prizes. These prizes are assembled by Bev Head and Marilyn Brimicombe. The winners were very pleased with what they received. The idea of FREE candles was also popular. You out did yourself again ladies! Thank you. Marilyn you will be missed as member at large.
Our first speaker, Bob Culver gave an informative talk on Early Patent Lamps. Bob pointed out that there were a lot of patents taken out on lamps and lamp parts in a very short time around 1877. What I noticed is that the inventors seemed to jump from one company to another and when he showed us the map of New York City with the location of the different companies, all a short distance from each other. You could see why there is still some confusion on what really happened and who made what, for whom. Thanks Bob.
After a short break Chris Brooks gave us a talk on Acetylene Gas Bicycle Lamps. Chris gave some humour to the fact that someone would actually drop water on an unstable substance to create an explosive gas (acetylene). They would, then put that lamp on a bumpy bicycle and light the acetylene. They did and in so doing created some beautiful and complicated lamps. Yes, they may not have worked as well as the advertisements Chris showed said they would but the result was they did create some pretty nice lamps and some rare ones. Thanks Chris.
There were some interesting pieces on the Show and Tell table and on the Theme table. What I like about this part of the program is to see the willingness of members to share their knowledge with other members. Always a good feeling.
After a lovely dinner we had a special event. Mick Larson the president of the Rush light club called up the organizers of the meeting Bob, Don and Jay and had them light the Rush together. This was a fitting finish to a very good meeting. The consensus by most in attendance was that we should have joint meetings more often. I know I sure enjoyed myself and am looking forward to our next meeting together.