Last week I shared a yellowed newspaper clipping I found in a used book I
bought describing the reopening of the Corning Museum of Glass in 1960 after
the flood.

Carol Kalinich of Gloucester, VA proudly pointed out that the photo of the
telescope blank was taken by her father, who was then CMoG’s photographer.

Dave Williams of Kalamazoo, MI sets forth his recollections.
Thank you so much for the 1980 newspaper article. It brings back
many memories. Helen and I visited the old museum many times before the flood, as
well as the new museum following the flood. Members of our church volunteered several weekends to replace the drywall and insulation and clean mud from the inside the of a ladies home which had been flooded in Corning..
I saw the telescope blank both in the old museum, as well as when it was relocated to the new. I purchased an ashtray replica of the telescope blank as well as a 5 inch square x 2 ½ thick clear class paperweight and other interesting items from the downstairs gift shop. The new museum had a sales room where one could purchase Corning ware and Pyrex kitchen items. Later, they added a sales shop, again on the lower level when they sold contemporary art glass items by Lundberg and other artisans. The same level had a snack shop. Next door to these was the auditorium. Twice a year Steve Allman sponsored an antiques show in the auditorium. .Helen and I were art glass dealers, and displayed in the show regularly. Roger Early and other dealers and collectors came to the show, as well as Paul Gardner, and Bob Rockwell. There were many fine art glass dealers in the shows. Those were days to remember!
Again, thank you for the newspaper article.
Dave
PS:
While I was an engineer a Eastman Kodak in Rochester, the Optical
Society of America held its convention in Rochester. Kodak was polishing the back-up mirror for the Hubble Space telescope. Corning had fabricated two blanks, the one which was launched into orbit was finished by Perkin-Elmer, and had aberrations which had to be corrected later by a space walk. I conducted tours for the members of the OSA to see the telescope blank up close and hear an interesting presentation on how Corning had fabricated the blank, and then by controlled heating caused it to slump to its concave shape before the polishing operation. I wonder what ever happened to the finished back-up mirror ? ? ?