Past Meetings
Below are insights from past meetings, as well as programmes when available.
Members can also access recordings of past meetings, when available.
If you have photos from past meetings, please add them to our archives by emailing web@historyofglass.org.uk.
Spring Meeting 2024: GlassWEAR: Glass in Jewellery
The Spring Meeting of the AHG, was held at the St James the Less Centre, Thorndike St, Pimlico, London SW1V 2PS on Friday 17th May 2024. The study day focussed on the role of glass in bodily adornment, with researchers exploring different practices and attitudes to glass as a part of dress elaboration.
Speakers included:-
Anna Hodgkinson on Egyptian jewellery
Eleonora Montanari on Iron Age beads from Italy
Joëlle Rolland on Late Iron Age bracelets
Justine Bayley on enamelled jewellery in the Roman period
Jo Ahmet on glass in early medieval metalwork
Charlotte Nash on Islamic bangles
Anastasia Cholakova on medieval Bulgarian beads
Sven Dupre on ‘Fashion from the Lab: The Glass Dress’.
Programme available
“Riddles of the Sands: Untangling the Roman Glass Industry”, Session at Roman Archaeology Conference
UCL
April 11th-14th 2024: The AHG hosted a session at the international Roman Archaeology Conference, titled ‘Riddles of the Sands: Untangling the Roman Glass Industry’ and focussing on production and trade in glass across the Roman world.
New Reflections on Old Glass
November 18th 2023: This online meeting showcased latest research on a multitude of topics scanning the history of glass from the Bronze Age to the Industrial Revolution.
Everything Old is New Again: Recycling and Reuse in Ancient and Historical Glass
Oxford
March 31st and April 1st 2023: Took place in the School of Archaeology in Oxford, with the subtitle of ‘Recycling and Reuse in Ancient and Historical Glass’, talks ranged from the Bronze Age, through to the problem production of modern architectural glass through recycling. Talks were accompanied with a handling session of Early Medieval glass, a period that had been a real focus for the day.
Late Bronze Age Glass
Oxford
April 29th and 30th 2022: : The Association for the History of Glass, in co-operation with the Griffith Institute, the School of Archaeology/University of Oxford and Bodleian Libraries, hosted two days of events at Oxford, which coincided with the opening of the exhibition ‘Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive’ at the Weston Library.
Focusing on Late Bronze Age glass, events included lectures, a handling session at the Ashmolean Museum and a demonstration of ancient glass working. On Friday the 29th the ‘Study Day’ of presentations was followed by an early evening public lecture and reception.
English and Irish Drinking Glass 1640-1702
V&A Museum
Oct 6th 2022: The latter half of the 17th century was a period of material, technical and aesthetic development, which saw the vessel-glass industry in England and Ireland reach maturity.
The V&A Museum in partnership with the Association for the History of Glass was delighted to host this conference which explored the evolving story of the birth of these sophisticated products a century before the ‘industrial revolution’ began.
Glass in the North
Vindolanda and Jarrow
May 21st and 22nd 2022:: ‘Glass in the North’, dedicated to the late Professor Jennifer Price, was themed around glass and glass production in the north of Britain. The event ran across two days, Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of May 2022 with Day One held at Vindolanda Roman Fort and Museum and Day Two at Jarrow Hall Anglo-Saxon Farm, Village and Bede Museum.
In addition to presentations, the days also involved glass handling sessions, visits and a conference dinner. There was a variety of speakers, ranging from archaeologists to artists based in, or active in research, in the north.
New Research in Ancient Glass
March 32th 2021: This online meeting showcased latest research on a multitude of topics scanning the history of glass from the Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period.
New Research in Ancient Glass
December 2nd 2020: This online meeting showcased latest research on a multitude of topics scanning the history of glass from the Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period.
Summer Study Seminar
British Museum
(in partnership with Early Glass Technology Research Network)
May 15th 2019:
Hot from the Furnace Mouth: How practical glassmaking supports glass history
Project Workshops, Quarley
(in partnership with the Glassmakers)
November 2nd 2018:
Glass of the Caesars @30. British Museum, November 3-4th 2017: Programme available.
‘To make much better glass… ‘ The Wallace Collection (in partnership with Society for Glass Technology) April 18th 2016: Programme available.
Glass for Eating, Drinking and Making Merry. The Wallace Collection, June 15th 2015: Programme available.
Glass in Imitation of Other Materials. UCL, November 7th 2016: Programme available.
Fragmentary Tales; a second miscellany of glass London Archaeological Archive, November 20th 2015: Programme available.
Things that Travelled – Mediterranean Glass in the First Millennium AD. UCL, November 28-29th 2014: Programme available.
- 2014 April: Messages in Bottles
- 2013 Nov: A Miscellany of Glass – New Discoveries and Hidden Treasures
- 2013 Mar: The Evidence for British Crystal Glass 1660-1700
- 2012 Nov: Recent Research and New Discoveries in Glass and Ceramics
- 2011 Nov: Glass in Science and Medicine
- 2010 Oct: Glass in Art & Literature
- 2010 May: Neighbours and Successors of Rome
- 2010 Mar: Glass for windows, glass for vessels. Medieval glass 1066-1550
- 2009 Nov: Interpreting Finds from Glasshouse Excavations
- 2009 Mar: Recent archaeological research into the manufacture of glass in the British Isles
- 2008 Oct: Glass at the British Museum: Current research, science and conservation
- 2008 Mar: Buying and Selling Glass in Britain 1600-1950
- 2007 Nov: Glass in Architecture
- 2007 Mar: The glass industry: constraints and controls from the medieval world to the 20th century
- 2006 Nov: Experimental and Ethnographic Studies relating to ancient glass