About Us
The Historical Glass Museum occupies a 1903 Victorian-style home at 1157 North Orange Street in Redlands. The Foundation acquired the house in 1977 and undertook the work needed to restore it and create a permanent home for American-made glass.
The Museum opened to the public in 1985. Its rooms preserve glass from historic American factories alongside work by glass artists and factories still producing glass.
Founders: Geneva A. “Dixie” Huckabee and a group of interested glass collectors
The Historical Glass Museum Foundation is an IRS-certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions and donations may be tax-deductible; consult your tax advisor for your own situation.
The Board of Directors meets once a month at the Museum and by conference call. Members are invited to attend; contact the Museum for details.
The Founding Story
Geneva A. “Dixie” Huckabee was a founder of the Historical Glass Museum Foundation. In 1976, she and a group of interested glass collectors formed the Foundation around a shared conviction: American-made glass was worth collecting, preserving, displaying, and sharing with the public.
Dixie was an important figure in the glass-collecting community. The National Depression Glass Association has described her as one of the pioneers of Depression Glass collecting, and contemporary glass-collecting publications document her involvement in promoting glass shows in California.
In October 1977, the organization held a Glass Seminar at the Disneyland Hotel. The event brought collectors together and gave Dixie an opportunity to share her vision for establishing a glass museum in Southern California. The seminar helped generate interest, participation, and funding for the future museum.
The Foundation acquired the historic 1903 house in Redlands and began the long work of restoring it and turning it into a permanent home for the collection. The effort grew through the participation and donations of collectors and volunteers who helped shape the Museum alongside Dixie and the other founders.
After approximately nine years of work and fundraising following the Foundation's creation, the Historical Glass Museum opened to the public in 1985. Dixie served as president of the Foundation from 1985 to 1988 and again from 1989 to 1991.
In 1988, Dixie and fellow museum founder Stella Stubbe attended the auction of Liberace's estate. They purchased several cut-glass pieces from his personal collection, bringing those objects into the Museum's collection and adding another chapter to the story of American glass preserved in Redlands.
The Museum exists because Dixie, her fellow collectors, and generations of volunteers turned their knowledge and enthusiasm into a public institution: a place where American glass could be cared for, studied, and enjoyed rather than lost from view.
Steve Barnett shares the Historical Glass Museum and its collection in this museum-owned video.
Captions and a transcript are not currently available.
From the Archives
Huell Howser visited the Historical Glass Museum for an episode of Visiting in 1995.
Watch the Huell Howser Feature
Courtesy of the Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University. The program opens on the official Chapman University website.
Visitors are generally permitted to take photographs in the Museum, though restrictions may apply. Glass can be difficult to photograph inside enclosed cases because reflections and close quarters are common.
Please check with a docent before taking photos for commercial, publication, or special-use purposes.