What’s online?
The Bryce Brothers Company and Lenox, Inc. online photograph collection include depictions of glassware manufacturing as well as images of products, product displays, glass production facilities, and employees.
What’s in the entire collection?
The Bryce Brothers and Lenox Incorporated Glass Records spans from 1828 to 2002 and contains company histories, administrative records, product design sketches, design drawings, production specifications, product catalogs, advertisements, legal and property records, photographs, VHS tapes, film reels, vinyl records, scrapbooks, and news clippings.
About Bryce Brothers Company and Lenox, Inc.
James S. Bryce established his own glassmaking operations with his brothers John and Robert Bryce as well as Frederick and James McKee in 1850. Founded as Bryce, McKee & Company, this glass house manufactured hand-blown and pressed lead crystal ware. After numerous partnerships and name changes, the glass business established by James S. Bryce was renamed the Bryce Brothers Company in 1882. Throughout the 1880s, Bryce Brothers Company produced tableware, lamps, as well as flint and crystal glassware. The popularity of the firm’s lead glass and crystal ware, together with the rising costs of city property and taxes, spurred the Bryce Brothers Company to construct and open a new plant in Mt. Pleasant, Pa., in 1896.
By the turn of the 20th century, Bryce Brothers had become one of the largest producers of flint glass in the United States. The Bryce Brothers Company adhered to its established reputation of producing custom-made, quality products, which were used internationally in restaurants, private clubs, hotels, and by the Federal government. Bryce Brothers Company was acquired by Lenox Incorporated, which produced fine china and porcelain tableware, in 1965. The formal crystal and glassware industry declined during the latter-half of the 20th century, due in part to a decline in use of formal glass and dishware by American families and enterprises. The Brown-Foreman Corporation, who acquired ownership of Lenox Incorporated in the late 20th century, closed the Mt. Pleasant factory in 2002.