able to do that is educate women and minorities in the field. we have even coined a phrase more recently called blue-collar no amount of phd's evenaduate degrees might be necessary to have those andls to be very innovative to be in a good workforce that is producing. announcer: monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. adrienne: toledo, ohio, is known as the glass capital of the world. up next, we learn about edward libbey and his role in turning toledo into the glass city. ms. wright: toledo is known as the class capital of the world because from that one company that came here in 1888, the libbey glass company, came all of these tertiary companies that

have built this economy of glass here in toledo. so we are standing in the glass pavilion, which is part of the toledo museum of art. the purpose really is to showcase the glass collection, which is one of the significant parts of our collection. it is actually almost a third of the overall collection here in toledo. it is also one of the larger collections of glass in the united states. and the city has a wonderful history of glass both in terms of the industrial contribution in toledo and in terms of what the museum presents. ms. mcmaster: edward drummond libbey was our founder. and edward drummond libbey was the proprietor of the libbey glass company. and it was through his ties at the libbey glass company he made his fortune. because he and his wife had no children, he left that fortune to the museum. he also gave us a large both glass collection and paintings

collection. edward drummond libbey, he was born in 1854. the new england glass company, which was the precursor to the libbey glass company, started in 1818. edward drummond libbey's father became the agent for the new england glass company in 1872. and so he learned the glass business from his father. and in 1883, his father suddenly passed away unexpectedly and he took over the business. in 1888, he brought the libbey glass company here to toledo. because, number one, there was natural gas in nearby findlay. there was high silicon us sand available. which is a component of making glass. toledoe businessmen of sweetened the pot a little bit and gave him the site for the factory as well as sites for his workers to build houses.

once they were here in toledo, kind of faltered a bit. the workers were unhappy because they do not have their family around. and it was not a highly developed area, so all of the amenities that they were used to in the boston area were not available in toledo. and so he lost a bunch of workers. so he went down to west virginia to recruit more workers. and not only did he recruit the workers he needed, but he also recruited a man named michael owens. michael owens in those early days ran the factory, and libbey was the one who led the marketing campaign. and he was able to go to the world's fair in order to put the libbey glass company on the international stage.

and the place where he did that first was the 1893 chicago world's fair. he built a glass furnace and studio so that from soup to nuts they could see glass being made and then stop at a gift shop and purchase a piece of glass. this turned out to be wildly successful. and not only did they have the opportunity to see glass being made, they also were able to see this wonderful novelty that nobody had seen before, which was something called the glass dress. they got this technology where you spun glass threads very, very thin. glass is very malleable, so you can stretch it and stretch it until the point it is the thickness of a thread. they pulled all of these threads, and they wove it into fabric. they made this fabric into a dress that could be worn.

it is a phenomenal dress. ms. wright: we are in front of one of the best-known works in our collection. one of the most beloved works in our collection. it almost needs no intervention. this is known as the libbey punch bowl. it was made in 1904 by the libbery company specifically for the world's fair that was happening in st. louis that year. oftentimes companies would make really grand works for the fair as a way of showcasing their greatest abilities and what they could really do. so, this is a piece of cut glass. it would have first been blown as what is called a blank without any decoration on it. and the glassblowers would have then passed it off to the cutters, and that would have gone through several stages of cutting where you first rough out a design and then go in and you really make these cuts deep and precise.

the wonderful thing about cut class is it has this brilliant look to it. so, when the light shines on it, it reflects and refracts and it makes this beautiful brilliant look. ms. mcmaster: the type of glass libbey was making at that time period was brilliant cut glass. it is what you think of as that very heavy, sparkly, with the beautiful designs that just looks like diamonds when the light hit it. from the 1880's until the 1920's was the era of brilliant cut glass. and that was really the time libbey was marketing his wares. they were marketed to the higher class of people. so they were sold in jewelry stores, and there were catalogs that people could pick out what

pattern they wanted, and then the orders would go back to the factory and then it would be shipped to the clients. as time went on, he changed what libbery glass created. there were still a few high-end things that were handblown and hand cut, but they quickly switched over to things that would make a profit and continue the company going. and so it became much more mechanized during that time in between the death of mr. libbey in 1925 and then the start of world war ii. when you think about glass in toledo and the phrase the glass city, it is because the libbey glass company was the kernel that grew out not just the company, but a bottle company that grew out of michael owens inventions for the

automatic bottle machine company. out of the roots of the libbey glass company comes a flat glass company. and then there is owens fiberglass. so, fiberglass was another way of using fiberglass in an industrial setting. it was not just the libbey glass company. it was all of these other glass companies that were outcroppings of that one company that came here in 1888. ms. wright: toledo has a long history of glassmaking. both in terms of this industry, and then again in the 1960's, when a series of workshops happened here spearheaded by a ceramics professor. this is a case of works by what we would call pioneers of the early studio glass movement. toledo as a city and as the museum played an important role in this watershed moment in the history of studio glass, which

really kind of takes us back to the early 1960's. in 1962, there was a man who tossed ceramic at the university of wisconsin madison, who really wanted to experiment with glass. and he worked with the director then at the toledo museum. he worked to initiate a series of workshops. the first one happened in march of 1962. and harvey sent out a letter to a group of other ceramics professors across the country and invited them to come to toledo and participate in a glassblowing workshop where they would experiment. they came here and set up a furnace. they built a furnace. they did not know how to melt glass. and so they went to a local scientist who worked at a fiberglass. made and they began to experiment.

there was a retired glassblower who camevey leaf green in and helped them get the hang of what one does with a blowpipe. and they blew things like these three objects that you see laying on the deck here. they are rather primitive, but the idea was these people were experimenting with glassmaking. harvey would go on to develop a very sophisticated body of work. and other artists that you see represented in the case were also making glass in the 1960's and 1970's. so when harvey had these workshops, he had this successful moment in experimenting with glass. he returned to his campus in wisconsin and set up the first university program in the country for teaching glassblowing. others would then follow. while you still see in many

people's work the focus on traditional glass form like the vessel, you also see this tremendous range in which people are working today. in various sculpture ways, in abstract ways. the possibilities with glass have just exploded in the last 50, almost 60 years. ms. mcmaster: the glass industry has diversified. however, the base is still here. we still love libbey glass. and this beautiful glass pavilion i am standing in is very much a monument to the marriage of industry and beauty. it is a wonderful testament to our toledo's history and that fundamental history of glass. announcer: our cities tour staff recently traveled to toledo, ohio, to learn about its rich history. to learn more about toledo and

other stops on our tour, visit c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> power in washington is like crack cocaine. it and you have it you do not want to give it up and he will do anything to stop someone who is going to take your power away from you. announcer: tonight on non-:00 eastern on afterwards, in his latest book witchhunt, fox news analyst greg jarrett offers thoughts on the mueller report is the investigation of russia's interference in the 26 election. he is interviewed by matt, chair of the american conservative union. >> mueller should never have been special counsel. he was a fact witness. and he was not honest with the president. he did not say by the way mr. president, i agreed to be a special counsel to investigate you.

he was not forthright. he was not honest and truthful the president, which to me is unconscionable. announcer: watch afterwards tonight at 9:00 eastern on book tv on c-span 2. ♪ >> the house will be in order. announcer: for 40 years c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public events from washington dc and around the country so you can make up your own mind. 1979, c-spanble in is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪