The Frank Chiarenza Museum of Glass (Closed)

Shattered Dreams
Meriden
RIP, mid-00’s

I have seen Mr. Desquaine’s name spelled Dequaine equally. A commenter elsewhere yelled at me and wrote “Dequaine” so I’ll go with that.

Astute readers and Connecticut museum-goers know that the Frank Chiarenza Museum of Glass closed along with it’s sister Lester Dequaine Foundation museums, The Rosa Ponselle Museum and of course the National Shaving and Barbershop Museum years ago. But I don’t care how astute you are – no way did you know that this place contained one of the premier collections of rare and unusual mould-blown and pressed glass in the country.

Don’t lie. You don’t even know what the heck mould-blown glass is. Heck, you don’t even care. You know who does care? The NMGCS cares. They care a LOT. They LOVE Frank Chiarenza. Wait… you don’t know what the NMGCS is? You should be ashamed; for that’s the National Milk Glass Collectors Society. And thanks to their 2001 convention visit to this museum, I have plenty of pictures to steal and use here.

I can also pad this report by lifting the following synopsis of their foray into central Connecticut:

As if the NMGCS convention wasn’t exciting enough, Frank Chiarenza and Lester Dequaine arranged for a trip to their museum. WOW! All who attended were in for a delightful experience. Frank and Lester thought of everything from a catered lunch (with outstanding chocolate cheesecake) to a guided tour, or just browse through all three museums. Time well spent.

Yes, I said all three museums. There was, of course, Frank’s Milk Glass Museum. In a word, breathtaking. “Custom made displays beautifully exhibiting some of the most unusual and rare pieces of milk glass on earth.” Awesome.

More about the collection that can no longer be seen… There were

Over 2,500 items, primarily of American (including Meriden), French and English manufacturers, are featured, including Milk Glass of various colors, in an extensive variety of dishes with figural animal covers, figural bottles, ink wells, candy containers, souvenir presentations, and Victorian novelties.

Honestly, I’m not sure this would have been so exciting for me. I’ve seen glass collections before at various museums and, well, it’s just glass to me. And I’m not making fun of the NMGCS – after all, look at my hobby – crafting overlong reports about closed museums that I know nothing about.

I’m quite sure this was an impressive collection and the displays were probably impeccable. And Mr. Chiarenza himself looked quite natty in 2001. I’d have enjoyed learning about mould-blown glass and why people would travel from across the country to see this place. I merely had to drive 11 minutes from work one day to take a picture. Oh well.