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encourage community support, Libbey keep 2,500 talented craftsmen working during
encouraged Toledoans to pledge money the Great Depression (libbeyhouse.org).
toward the new building. With the help of the
director of the Museum, George Stevens, Ongoing Legacy
$50,000 was pledged by the community for the The glass objects at the Toledo Museum of
new building in a few short weeks. Edward Art comprise one of the most comprehensive
Drummond Libbey served as the Museum’s and historically significant collections
president from 1901 to 1925, funded building dedicated to the medium in the world. The
once considered “inferior” American
glass found its home where it and other
Amulets are small, symbolic objects glass works of art are continuously
worn or carried for protection or luck. acquired, studied, conserved,
The ancient Egyptians believed
strongly in the power of many types of published, and exhibited – the
amulets to protect them from evil and collection’s creation and growth are as
illness, in this life and the next. They unique as the Museum itself.
were worn in life and attached to the In recognition of the Toledo
mummified body in death. This Museum of Art’s role as the cradle of Glass plate with the
example is c. Late Period, Dynasty the Studio Glass Movement, many Libbey logo inscribed.
26-30, about 664-332 BCE, from artists and collectors have donated
Egypt and is 3 9/16” in length. Gift works of art. And with the
of Florence Scott Libbey. opening of the 74,000 square-
foot TMA Glass Pavilion in
2006, Toledo acquired a
construction, and bequeathed to the Museum state-of-the-art facility to house, care
his personal collection of art.” This included for, study, and display its renowned
Dutch and English fine and decorative art, as glass collection.
well as his ever-growing glass collection. “As founders of the Toledo
Museum of Art, the Libbey family was

Collections instrumental to the advancement of
Libbey’s vision for a glass collection arts education and art appreciation in
included the desire to document the history of this region,” said Brian Kennedy,
American glass from the 17th century forward TMA’s Edward Drummond and
but added more historical glass by gathering Florence Scott Libbey director. “It is
significant collections starting in 1913 when our honor to recognize the Libbey
he purchased a group of 53 European legacy of innovative glass design,
Rennaissance and Baroque glasses from the practices, and production and to cele-
estate of German publisher Julius Heinrich brate the Museum’s longstanding
Wilhelm Campe. This purchase gave the commitment to the medium through
TMA the status of having one of the most collections development, exhibition,
important historic European glass collections research, and programming.”
in the U.S. By 1920, the TMA glass collection
was considered on par with the Metropolitan Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe
Museum of Art’s vast collection. Libbey St., Toledo, Ohio
fulfilled one of his prime directives by using One of America’s finest museums
these works to provide inspiration to with over 30,000 works of art in over 35
glassmakers, inviting them to study and create galleries. Edward Drummond Libbey was the This Eastern Mediterranean/possibly Rhodes bottle is
by giving them unprecedented access. founder of the Toledo Museum of Art in 1901, Core-formed; applied rim-disk and handles; applied
Edward Libbey tried to retire but was serving as its president from 1901 to 1925, marvered and unmarvered threads. Short vertical
always pulled back to the world of glass and funding building construction, and bequeathing indentations on the body caused by the tooling of the
art. He kept few written records, and what he to the museum his collection of Dutch and zigzags; c. 6th through 5th centuries BCE. Gift of
Edward Drummond Libbey.
did keep he requested his wife and lawyers to English art.

destroy on his death. Libbey died of pneumo- Glass Pavilion at Toledo Museum of Art,
nia on November 13, 1925, at the age of 71. 2444 Monroe St., Toledo
His endowment left to the TMA was and con- Opened in 2006, the 74,000 square-foot
tinues to be used to fund its operations and postmodern Glass Pavilion is home to TMA's
ongoing, judiciously selected pieces of glass. world-renowned glass collection that was started
After his death, Florence gave up her by Edward Drummond Libbey. The Museum
interest in his fortune, choosing instead to fund features more than 5,000 works of art from
a major expansion of the Museum in order to ancient to contemporary times.

Zoomorphic Rhyton from possibly the 7th-8th century measuring
5 ½" x 2 ¾" x 7 1/8", brown and tooled glass with applied
decoration from Iran of Central Asia, Gift of Edward Drummond
Libbey. Described as greenish colorless glass; body and applied
decoration colorless with greenish tinge (appears light brown); shape
of an animal (possibly a horse); spout at front of body; crimped trail
around neck; trails form bridle and saddle; opening in center of back;
spiral tail; four applied legs probably related to smaller Syrian flasks Historic Landmark from the Mercy Hospital of
in animal shapes (so-called “dromedary flasks”). Toledo and the Ohio Historical Society

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