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Updated 5/8/2005
Surf's Up
Way back in the summer of 1962, a newly formed group called The
Beach Boys introduced their unique harmonies to the music world.
Soon, classics such as "Surfin", "Surfin' Safari" and then "Surfin'
USA" were being hummed by thousands upon thousands all over the
world. On our black and white TV sets, many of us curled up to
watch Richard Chamberlain in his familiar role as Dr. James
Kildare. It was around this time that a man called Licklider
came up with a concept that he called the "Galactic Network." Licklider's "Galactic Network" had nothing to do with Star Trek
- (even though Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock would soon be household
names) - but it certainly did involve going where no man had
gone before! Why? Well, Licklider's vision was of a globally
interconnected set of computers through which everyone could
quickly access data and programs from any site. Recognize the
concept? In essence it was what we now know as the World Wide
Web. Of
course, it wasn't that simple, because someone had to actually
build it first - and that's where Tim Berners-Lee came into the
picture. In 1980, he wrote a program that allowed for the
hyper linking of files stored on multiple computers in a network.
Ten years later, he had developed the first "browser" (a very
simple hypertext reader) and he was ready to announce the World
Wide Web. I
wonder if either of those two men could ever have envisioned how
big it would all become - indeed, how fundamentally it would
change all our lives?
Surfin' the Internet begins
The early 1990s saw development upon
development for the new World Wide Web. Java was developed, the
phrase "surfing the internet" was coined and the first joint
graphics and text web browser, known as Mosaic, was invented
(the creator supposedly sustaining himself on Skittles and
Mountain Dew while he wrote it). Everyone was falling over
themselves to get in on the act, as Netscape, Yahoo, AOL,
CompuServe, the Microsoft Network (MSN) and more appeared. By
the mid 1990s, the World Wide Web was here to stay - and people
were starting to get hooked.
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The Need to Edit
At first, everything members sent in would
appear on the List, but it soon became necessary to edit some of the
messages. Today, as web use grows, we are especially conscious of the
growing legal implications of the written word as published on the
internet. The following delightful editorial note appeared in the Mailing
List in February, 1997.
"So, in order to avoid confusion
whenever someone has a message not intended for the mailing list, please put
"private" in the subject line. Last night the account of "love on the
internet", sent by one of our members, wasn't meant to be included on the
mailing list - but, I didn't realize that……."
OOOOPS! |
Along came Brian and Fred
In March 1996, Carnival Glass got in on the internet scene when
Brian Pitman and Fred Stone realized the potential that email
offered for exchanging information about glass. There had been
private internet discussions between individuals before, of
course, but the first official Group Mailing was sent out on
April 15,1996. At that time, there were approximately 40 group
members, and the mailings went out on an "as necessary" basis.
However, by August 1996, membership hit the 100 mark and the
daily Mailing List became an essential feature in the lives of
many Carnival Glass collectors. The group and its daily List
became known as Woodsland - named for the area in Kansas where
Brian and Fred live, and where it all began.
During this time, Brian (the
computer genius at Woodsland) set up the Woodsland Carnival
Glass web site, featuring glass for sale, educational articles
as well as links to members' own websites and Carnival auction
houses. Woodsland was here and it was exciting! Collectors from
countries all over the world who were surfing the internet came
across the web site and joined the ever growing list of members
who received the daily Mailing List.
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And Then
It All Began
Brian Pitman
I'm not sure I remember the exact moment when doing a
mailing list occurred. I had been dabbling with
website design because I had a few clients in the political
world who wanted to find out if there was indeed a future
for politics on the web (and this was a decade before Howard
Dean showed the world how to do it properly). I would
work on a political website for an hour or so, then I would
work on the Woodsland Carnival Glass website, just to see if
there was any interest.
I started to
get quite a bit of email off the website, and so I thought
"there must be an easier way to do this." Instead of
answering 20-30 individual questions, why not just put it
all together and answer everyone's questions on the same
email, sent out to everyone. This way, we may be
answering some questions that others had, and honestly,
others could answer questions to which I had no clue.
We started it up, and had 50 "members" pretty quickly.
Fred said "if we go over 100, I will be shocked." Less
than a year later, we were over 500. |
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Surfin' from home
Glen Thistlewood
It was in the early summer in 1996 that I first
"found" Woodsland. The website had just been set up and Fiona, a friend of
mine in Scotland, had come across it while on a business/computer
course. She printed out a couple of pages for me, and I was hooked - I
simply had to find Woodsland. The only problem was, I wasn't on the
internet! We had a family computer, but it was really only a glorified
word processor that doubled up as a games machine. I was very proficient
at Pacman, but it wasn't getting me any Carnival Glass. So, I had to
change my life and spend a bunch of money to find Woodsland and get the
Thistlewood family signed up for the daily Mailing List!
A month
later, after some major electrical investments, a complete household and
furniture re-shuffle, plus a radical change in my naïve (and nervous)
approach to technology, we got our first email address and we started
surfin'. We got ourselves hooked up with Woodsland and we have never
looked back! |
Hooked
In the early days, the Mailing Lists were composed and
introduced by Fred, while the "brains" behind the website
technology was Brian (though in our second club year Brian took
over more of the daily Mailings, and soon afterwards became the
full time editor). The Mailing List continued to have a wider
and wider circulation, and each day the readers would email
their comments and questions in. Answers and discussions would
follow in the very next day's Mailing List. At the same time we
had more educational articles and plenty of photos posted on the
website. Then we got an Online Chat program going, supervised by
Brian and Ronnie Primeaux (Premo). Soon we had online auctions
too, as well as sales and wants pages. The name www.cga
was first suggested by Fred Stone on January 8, 1997. (Thanks to
Wayne Delahoy for his contributions to this memory.)
Collectors everywhere were hooked.
We became like a family. We knew
each other's names, nicknames, likes and dislikes. We shared the
joy of amazing Carnival "finds" and purchases, and the pain of
"just-missed" items. We answered Carnival queries and
identification questions for each other, and we also began to
share more personal stories. People began to send in their
photos that Brian then posted on the Club Gallery pages. We also
had formal club officers, responsible for a variety of roles,
as well as the somewhat "tongue-in-cheek" appointment of Club
Psychologist!
The list of Officers as announced in
March-April, 1997:
Co-founders (Fred
Stone & Brian Pitman)
Recording Secretary (Wayne Delahoy)
Financial Secretary (Diane Rosington)
Education Co-ordinators (Glen & Steve Thistlewood)
Membership Secretary (Diane Rosington)
Mailing List Editor (Fred Stone)
Chatline Secretary (Ronnie Primeaux)
Librarian (Elaine Blair)
Technical Co-ordinator (Brian Pitman)
Club Psychologist (Jean Mahan)
Legal Consultant (Mark Zimmer)
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The Show Must Go On
The daily Mailing List went out everyday,
except in unforeseen circumstances - but they had to be really dire to
stop the Show. Lack of power or a server down was pretty much the only
cause. Here's the reason given one night in 1997 for the non-appearance of
the List:
"Last night we had a blizzard with lightning!!"
It
wasn't always Mother Nature that held things up though - here's the
explanation Brian gave us all for the Chat server being down on one
occasion.
"Chat will go on as scheduled on Wednesday night. It's
kinda embarrassing, but thought you'd like to know ….the reason the chat
wasn't working was...... a cleaning lady unplugged the computer dedicated
to chat and nobody noticed!!!"
And then there was that ominous date
- Friday 13th. Here's what Brian wrote in June 1997.
"Brian here.
This has to be the worst Friday the 13th I have ever had. It all began
innocently enough when I awoke (I didn't "wake up," I awoke). I turned on
the computer, got on the net, and discovered that I was the 2 billionth
visitor to my site. Needless to say, server is messed up, so the counter
is spouting out random numbers now. I was the 80,000th visitor just a
few moments ago." |
Badge-A-Minit
David Malick's Message from Wednesday 12
March, 1997:I finally got a catalog from Badge-A-Minit. It seems
that the least expensive route to take would be ordering a machine and
supplies from them. Under this scenario, it would cost $109.90 to get a
machine and enough materials to make 300 2 1/4" buttons with safety pin
backs. (They have another type of back with an adhesive tab, but no clip
backs. If we made 50 with adhesive backs it would be an additional $12.95
and 100 would be an additional $22.95). These are just the costs for raw
materials. I can come up with the printing at no cost. Therefore the
buttons would cost approximately 40 cents each. All we would need is
someone to actually make the labels. I am also more than willing to do
that. I know Stan and another member also offered, so they are welcome to
do it if they like… |
"Strange To Meet You"
There was just one thing missing - most of us had never even
met. It was a bit like having pen pals whom you'd known for
years, without ever meeting face to face. Then suddenly there
they were. One of our early members was Terri Stauffer, and I
met up with her in Dayton, Ohio at an ICGA Convention. We stared
at each other, trying to match the person in front of us with
the mental image we had gotten through our Mailing List
postings. I grinned at her and said, "Gosh, it's strange to meet
you". She roared with laughter - but we both understood.
Sure there were people here and
there who knew each other, but so many of us were scattered all
over the USA, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. We also
realized that we might even have been standing next to someone
at an auction or an antique show who we "knew" on the Mailing
List…but we had no way of knowing who they were. So we had to
find a way of identifying each other. A poll was cast on the
Mailing List, overseen by Wayne Delahoy, and our members chose
to have a club button (badge) made. Something that we could wear
that would make us easily identifiable. And that's where David
Malick stepped in by volunteering to make them for us. Funds
were raised by donations and we were in business - wearing our
new club buttons!
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When Glen Met Brian
Glen Thistlewood
I'll never forget the first time I met Brian.
I felt like I had known him forever, as we had exchanged constant emails
over the previous year, yet we had never actually met. I'd had a mental
picture of him as being incredibly skinny, rather quiet and "bookish" and
wearing black, horn-rimmed glasses. We finally met at a HOACGA Convention
back in early 1997 when Brian stopped at the door of my room and called -
"Hi, I'm Brian Pitman". He attempted to carry on down the hotel corridor
but my yells brought him back. "Ohmygoodness" I gabbled. "You're BRIAN".
We sat down and talked and then talked and talked some more. Seems to me
now, looking back, that we've never actually
stopped. |
We Start To Get Organized
We'd gotten a growing number of members, we'd gotten officers,
now we just needed more money to keep things rolling and to
begin new ventures. Fund raising was in the capable hands of
Diane Rosington, and we had T shirts, baseball hats,
sweatshirts, Christmas cards, and more for sale. As a club, we
had two dreams - to hold our own Convention and to have our own
club commemorative glass souvenir.
Commemorative Design
Message on the Mailing List
September 1997:From Glen:
As we have had a number of new members
recently - the time seems opportune for me to mention what my idea for the
Commemorative design is. The two sample drawings that are up on the Club
News page are to give everyone an idea of the style I can go for when I do
the final drawing. My idea for the design is a Pine Cone "spray" at the
top and bottom of the graphic. Enclosed within these two sprays will be
the words Woodsland World Wide Carnival Glass Club written in flowing
script. The overall impression will be reminiscent of the old Advertising
pieces. Check out the "Fern Brand Chocolates," "George Getts" or "Norris
Smith" pieces to get an idea of what I
propose. |
The Commemorative
Following a consensus of opinion on the Mailing List that we
wanted to have our own souvenir, one of our members, Fenton
dealer Shirley Stoll, made the initial contact with Fenton Art
Glass Company regarding the feasibility of such a project. First
ideas from the club were that maybe we could use Fenton's
Pinecone design, with www.cga across the center, but in July
1997 Frank Fenton sent us a letter saying that they would create
a souvenir for us, but that the original Fenton Pinecone pattern
just wasn't a possibility. Initial suggestions were that we may
like to chose an item in Fenton's line that we could simply have
our club name etched into.
Well, the club members decided that
they wanted their own design - and it should be a pinecone
pattern, as that had gained favor as being representative of the
"feel" of Woodsland. So I volunteered to create a design for the
club - and (with feedback from the members, who wanted me to
draw plump fir cones rather than skinny looking ones) the
Woodsland Pine design was born. I had tremendous help from
Fenton's mould shop, especially from Don Cunningham, and
designer Jon Saffell. But the greatest support of all came from
Howard Seufer, without whom the project would not have gone so
smoothly. Our first piece - a plate (the shape was chosen by our
members) in Sea Mist Green was produced by Fenton in September
1998 - ready for our very first Convention! 300 were made, and
they sold out pretty quickly. The plates were distributed by
Steve and Kelly Tonelis, and the finances were handled by Diane
Rosington. It was a tremendous combined effort from our members
as well as the great people at Fenton. The "Woodsland Pine"
commemorative was a reality.
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Premo's Wooden Boat
Ronnie Primeaux
Before the first convention in Las Vegas we were
asked to bring something from our area. Uncle Jimmy and I thought
and thought of what we could do. I wanted something showing the
Cajun way of life (spices and seasonings) - then we added Mardi Gras
beads, rubber alligators and so on. I had to think of some way to put it
together. I thought of a little Pe-Row (a small one or two man fishing
boat). I went through store after store until I found one in a hobby craft
shop. Uncle Jimmy (UJ) put a nice stain on the rough wood and sealed it. I
packed it in a large box and mailed it to Diane (Roz) Rosington's daughter
who lived in Las Vegas.
I think Ed Perva won the auction the next
year. He packed the Boat with things from his area and I don't
remember who won it the second time at Williamsburg. It was a few years
until that person managed to come to a convention (St Louis 2003) and then
the Mad Brit (Ray & Sue McLaren) won it and couldn't bring it back to
England with him. So Brian Pitman held it for the Brits and Brian packed
with lots of stuff and it went up for auction at the St Louis 2004
Convention. Post Script: At our 2004 St Louis Convention the
Boat was bought by Jack Targonski. The Williamsburg purchase was made by
Connie O'Connor. In 2005, Stacy and Des Wills "bought the boat." |
Our Premier Convention - Las Vegas 1999
Countless hours of work by many club members went into
organizing and bringing to fruition our first Convention. Held
at the Howard Johnson hotel (now the Golden Palm) on West
Tropicana in Las Vegas in January, 1999, it brought so many of
us together for the very first time.
The Convention team for Las Vegas
1999 comprised the Convention Coordinator, Diane Rosington, plus
the crew: Ed Perva, Ronnie Primeaux, Diane Martin and April
Duncan, and was supported by other members including Jackie
Fisher, Al Libby and others. Ann McMorris hosted the Hospitality
Room. A tremendous amount of work was done by the Convention
crew and all their helpers - and the proof of the "Convention
Pudding" came when members flocked in from all parts of the USA
as well as Canada, Australia and the UK.
The proceedings were kicked off by a
Pizza Party - with Brian, Glen & Steve, and Ed Rosington serving
pizza to a great crowd. We had seminars from Galen & Kathy
Johnson, Richard Cinclair and a banquet lecture by Glen & Steve
Thistlewood. Glass sales in the rooms caused many dollars to
change hands, as did Jim Seeck's great auction that featured
some stellar items. At the whimsey auction, some unique
commemoratives were sold, along with drawings and the very first
sale of Premo's wonderful wooden boat. Many margaritas were
downed that week. It was an amazing experience and a credit to
all who were involved and attended. Unforgettable in so many
wonderful ways.
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Vegas Baby
Brian Pitman
When we drove into Vegas in our old van for the first
convention (after a 24 hour non-stop drive through the snowy
Rocky Mountains), the excitement was easy to contain (lack
of sleep and the state of Utah at 3:00 a.m. will do that to
you). The minute we walked into the hotel, however,
everything changed. Immediately, strangers with
familiar names started coming out of the woodwork.
Each "new" person was a shocker, someone I had known for
years but had never met or seen. Getting up to the
hospitality suite proved a bit of a surprise as well.
It was pimped out with a big screen television, lots of
furniture for everyone, and an enormous king sized bed, with
the obligatory giant mirror on the ceiling above it (I am
not kidding). Many a member would have a piece of
Premo's "King Cake" and a glass of wine, then lay down in
the bed to observe the cheesiness of it all. |
Incorporated and Official
Our members wanted us to establish the club on a more formal
basis - and in 1999 WWWCGA became the world's first fully
established internet Carnival Glass Club. In Spring 1999, just
after our first Convention, an Advisory Board was formed, the
first members being Fred Stone (Chair), Brian Pitman
(Webmaster), Diane Rosington (Finance), Glen Thistlewood
(Education), Mark Zimmer (Legal), Diane Martin, Galen Johnson,
Ronnie Primeaux and Ian Williams. An extra member, Debbie
Williams, was appointed to the Board as the Convention organiser
for the next Convention - Williamsburg 2000. We also had
"Ambassadors" in Canada (Ian & Barbara Williams), the UK (Glen &
Steve Thistlewood) and Australia (Rachel & Dave Sargeant) so
that all members could pay in their own currencies. We were very
well organized!
And so …………
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Behind the Scenes: Making the
Commemorative
Message to the Mailing List from Glen Thistlewood in 2000
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Howard Seufer for
taking the time to record the progress of our Woodsland Commemorative.
This has been an amazing learning opportunity, as we have been able to
watch the progress of the creation of a piece of Carnival Glass from the
initial stages of a design on paper through the incredible process of
mould making. Soon we will be at the stage where the mould will be filled
with glass and the first rose bowl will emerge.
I wish to pay
tribute, too, to the incredible skill of the mould makers - in our case,
Alan VanDyke. The most recent photos that Howard has taken for us show the
phenomenal craftsmanship that is needed when cutting a complex design. The
"Flowers of the World" pattern is being cut deeply into the iron, so that
on the finished glass the petals will stand out proudly. An all-over
stippled effect is being applied to the background areas for extra
iridescence and sparkle. Alan VanDyke custom built the second stipple
punch for our design, so that it would give just the right effect.
Glen
T |
More Commemoratives and More Conventions
The club members decided
that we wanted to have our own exterior design on the club
commemorative piece, instead of the old "Open Rose" design that
had been utilized for the first piece. So, more money was raised
and in 1999 we set about getting a mould made for a new Glen
Thistlewood design called "Flowers of the World". In the design,
the flowers represent different areas around the world where our
members come from. The main floral motif is the sunflower, which
represents the state of Kansas - the geographical focus of the
club. The rosemary sprigs in the design are for remembrance
("lest we forget") in honor of past members and friends.
And so emerged our second
commemorative - a cobalt blue rose bowl featuring the exclusive
new design "Flowers of the World" on the exterior and the
"Woodsland Pine" on its interior. Around 250 of these rose bowls
were made.
Our Second Convention - Williamsburg 2000
Held at the Ramada Hotel in Williamsburg, Virginia, in March
2000, this was truly a phenomenal event - a major step forward
for the club as we were honored to have Frank Fenton in
attendance, as well as a special Display Room of amazing Fenton
Glass. The hard-working crew comprised Convention Co-ordinator,
Debbie Williams, plus the crew: Stan & Carol Hoegerman, Ed &
Virginia Perva, "Zep" and Else Zeppieri and of course, Madeline
and Herman Cox.
A large contingent of "Brits" were
in attendance, the party having been organized by Ray & Sue
McLaren. A wonderful introductory supper started the proceedings
and room sales began right away - and we were all kept fed and
watered by the great Hospitality Room run by Ann McMorris.
As well as the Display Room we had a
Show and Tell Roadshow feature (with Frank Fenton, Tom Mordini,
Jim Seeck and Glen Thistlewood on the panel), seminars by Glen &
Steve Thistlewood and Brian Pitman, plus an amazing banquet
lecture by Howard Seufer. At the banquet Howard Seufer was
installed as the club's first Honorary Member, while the
Thistlewoods were presented with Lifetime Membership Awards.
During an emotional meeting the following day, Brian Pitman and
Fred Stone were presented with special Awards to honor them as
Co-Founders of wwwcga. A super auction from Jim Seeck closed the
formal proceedings, but a group went on to a memorable supper at
the King's Arms Tavern on the Saturday night. Mint julep anyone?
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Memories of the wwwcga 2000 Convention
Debbie Williams
The Y2K convention was an interesting facet of what
makes www.cga such a unique club because that convention was the one and
only convention created by members residing in two states on the eastern
part of the United States. I recall driving to work and selfishly
thinking to myself "self, where would a good location be here in Virginia
that would meet the high standards for a carnival glass convention?"
Lo and behold, Williamsburg was selected from a vote by the members of the
club and the rest as they say, is history.
Ed, Virginia, Herman and
Madeline live in North Carolina. Stan, Carol, Zep, Else and I live
in Virginia. Ed and Virginia hosted the kick off meeting at their
very lovely Victorian home, sharing with us Ed's awesome tumbler
collection (WOW) and Virginia's culinary expertise had something for
everyone to enjoy. I just knew we were off to a good start when the
wine was offered to accompany the memorable meal! Stan and Carol
live in Williamsburg and it was so helpful to have them available to do
the leg work etc involved with the convention. Many meetings were
hosted at their home. Stan was always giddy and enthusiastic about
sharing with us his latest carnival glass discoveries! Carol's ice
cream cake was to die for and our time together established our commitment
to making the Y2K convention a memorable event. Zep and Else invited
us to their home in Virginia Beach and we all enjoyed a delicious lunch
set upon an antique oak table amidst an amethyst Grape and Cable master
(massive!) punch bowl which Else had given to Zep as a Christmas
present. The tale she told of trying to keep that hidden from Zep
until Christmas morning was hilarious! My mouth waters thinking
about the delicious homemade chicken salad she so lovingly prepared for
us. The stories, camaraderie and memories we shared around that table
were wonderful, thank you.
Zep summed it up best by saying being a
member organizing the Y2K convention was an eye opening experience for
him. We never imagined that a handful of people, having never worked
together before, could pull off such an organized convention. Not
only was the work fun, but the friendships that evolved from that endeavor
are tremendous. There is no replacement for the friendship factor
connected by the love of the glass. Amen.
Ed, Virginia,
Herman, Madeline, Stan, Carol, Zep, Else and most importantly Jack, each
of you contributed such an intimate part of yourselves to make the Y2K
convention something so very special and I'm thankful I was chosen to be
the "Head Peacock" of such a, in the words of our own Glen
Thistlewood, phenomenal
event. |
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When WWWCGA became Crime
Busters…
Mark Zimmer
My favorite memory of
the early club is when we were playing Carnival Glass Crimebusters! Some
glass was bought on the west coast (by whom was that....Terri Stauffer? I
can't remember) that seemed a lot like pieces that had been stolen from a
local mall here in Wisconsin; a little further investigation brought a
criminal conviction of the malefactor and an amazing demonstration of the
power of the Net. |
New Directors
In the summer of 2000 Ed Perva joined the wwwcga Board of
Directors to replace Diane Rosington. Fred Stone asked to stand
down from the Board owing to pressures of work. Brian Pitman was
elected as Chairman of the Board (aka President). Director Ian
Williams took on the role of Organization Officer, which evolved
into the vital role of Club Secretary.
Board elections were held in August,
2000, following which, the new Board was made up of:
Brian Pitman -
Chairman / President
Ed Perva - Treasurer
Glen Thistlewood - Education
Ian Williams - Organization Officer
Mark Zimmer - Legal
Joan Doty
Galen Johnson
Ronnie Primeaux
In October 2000, Glen Thistlewood
joined Brian Pitman as Mailing List co-editor. Glen took up the
weekend Lists while Brian continued as the weekday editor.
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Whimsies
It's worth taking a few moments here to
mention the amazing range of whimsies that Fenton have made for our club.
A splendid choice was on offer at the 2001 Convention and they were
eagerly snapped up. Brian and Fred worked hard over the first three years to
photograph and post selections of whimsies on line for live auctions, as
well as to bring them along to Conventions such as 2001 Las
Vegas. Since then, Marty and Howard Seufer have stepped up and taken
the entire commemorative bull by the horns, acting as wwwcga's
representatives at the Fenton factory, shipping the pieces and the whimsies,
and working to get the best possible pieces from Fenton we can. |
2001 A Carnival Glass Odyssey - and a New
Commemorative
Back to Las Vegas for our third Convention - this time the
Holiday Inn on Las Vegas Boulevard was the venue. The hard
working Convention Co-ordinator was Brian Pitman supported by
Pam Mills. Our third commemorative was made for the Convention
and was a red Jack in the Pulpit shape - around 200 were made.
The proceedings began with an
elegant wine and cheese reception in the penthouse, which became
the Hospitality Room for the rest of the Convention, looked
after by Ann McMorris. The education program was kicked off by
the now popular Roadshow, this time the panel was Tom Mordini,
Joan Doty and Glen Thistlewood - helped out by auctioneer Jim
Seeck. Seminars were given by Stacy & Desiree Wills and Brian &
Premo, while the banquet lecture was given by the new Northwood
Art Glass originator, David McKinley. After the banquet,
McKinley was presented with an Honorary membership to wwwcga.
The following day a super Jim Seeck auction rounded off the
proceedings.
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A Virtual
Convention
In July 2001 wwwcga had our own on-line
Virtual Convention. Members sent in photos of glass displays, suggested
menus, educational talks and more. They were all posted on the web for
viewing, as well as plenty of discussion on the Mailing List. It was a lot
of fun and involved all those who - for various reasons - were unable to
attend Conventions in person. |
In the Board elections soon after
the Convention Ronnie Primeaux retired and Pam Mills joined the
team.
2002 Commemorative and Convention
Our 2002 commemorative
was chosen to be a tightly crimped edge black amethyst plate -
what a beauty. We were lucky to have Howard Seufer's son, Marty,
working on the club's behalf with Fenton - and yet more
photographic records of the production of our souvenir were
made. The back of the plate was not iridized while the front was
double iridized to give it an electric effect - just 200 of
these plates were made.
The Convention in 2002 was held at
the Hilton, Raleigh Durham in mid March. The event kicked off
with an Early Bird barbecue followed by plenty of room shopping.
In the Education program we launched our original new feature -
the Carnival Workshops (which included tables hosted by Joan
Doty, Dave & Ann Brown, Fred Stone, Premo and Ed Perva). A
seminar was given by Dr Jack Adams and the banquet lecture was
delivered by Bill & Sharon Mizell (plus hundreds of tumblers).
Jim Seeck brought along another packed Carnival auction.
The tireless Convention team
comprised joint Co-ordinators Pam Mills and Ed Perva, supported
by Brian Pitman, with Virginia Perva expertly hosting the
Hospitality Room. While the Convention was going on, we hosted a
Virtual Convention via the Mailing List and the website, where
members sent in their display photos and associated "fun" info.
Changes On the Board and a Constitution
In 2002 there were changes to the Board structure when Directors
Joan Doty and Galen Johnson retired and new Directors were
appointed - Wayne (James Bond) Anderson, Dave Cotton and Marty
Seufer. In April Brian Pitman stepped down as Chairman/President
owing to his election to the Vice Presidency of ICGA (and
subsequently Presidency of ICGA in 2003). The new Board
structure became:
President -
Glen Thistlewood
Vice President - Pam Mills
Treasurer - Ed Perva
Legal Adviser - Mark Zimmer
Secretary - Ian Williams
Board Member - Wayne (James Bond) Anderson
Board Member - Dave Cotton
Board Member - Brian Pitman
Board Member - Marty Seufer
Additional positions held were:
Board Special Adviser - Fred Stone
Convention Liaison - Pam Mills
Education Co-ordinator - Stephen Thistlewood
Week night Mailing List Editor - Brian Pitman
Weekend Mailing List Editor - Glen Thistlewood
In early 2002, the By-Laws of the
Association were officially set up. They can be seen in full on
the Members Pages of the wwwcga website.
|
Can't See the Wood(sland) for the
Trees
Ian Williams
Many thanks to Glen for
compiling a most interesting, and sometimes amusing, historical record of
our Club. We have certainly come a long way, in a few short years, from
those infant days of Spring1996.
Barbara and I joined the
"Woodsland World Wide Carnival Glass Association" in January 1997. As a
matter of interest, we e-mailed our application early one morning and
received an acceptance from Fred Stone almost immediately; boy, did they
ever seem desperate for members back then. (They must have
been!)
In early March 1999 I was invited to join the Club's
Advisory Board that was being formed at that time, and it was then that I
began keeping a record of all the Advisory Board messages "for my own
records". At first it was just a matter of printing off and filing the
messages in one of those three-ringed binders. However, it soon became
obvious that there should be a computerized record of these messages 'cos
I didn't want to be the one chosen to retype and send out those messages
should it become necessary. Not wanting to fill our small family computer
with these messages, whose number was growing at an alarming rate, I
devised a method of saving them on floppy disks, cross referenced to the
hard copies in the binders. I was then able to eventually delete the
original messages in the computer. I still use this same method of record
keeping today with the exception of eventually storing the messages on a
compact disc.
Since joining the Advisory Board
and eventually becoming "Organization Officer", and later "Board
Secretary", I have filled fourteen ring binders (1 ½" & 2") with Board
messages. I do not know how many messages that amounts to, but it is
certainly in the several thousands. That's a lot of paper folks!
A new member
recently asked if there was any other reason for changing the Club's name
from "Woodsland World Wide Carnival Glass Association" to www.cga, other
than to give the Club a more obvious "internet" image? "Not really", was
the reply, "it was simply that we felt that we could not comfortably
continue using the "Woodsland" name, having cut down all the trees to
provide printer paper for the Board
Secretary!" |
2003 Means Favrene and St Louis!
Favrene (a delicious
electric blue iridescence containing silver) was the chosen
color for our commemorative, in a simple cupped-in bowl shape.
Fenton also made several unusual colored whimsies for the club,
and as before, a photographic record was made by Marty and
Howard Seufer. 250 of the Favrene pieces were made.
Our Convention was in April 2003
wwwcga at the Convention at the Crown Plaza Hotel, St Louis and
we began the proceedings with an early Bird Pasta Party - lots
of room sales followed. The Educational program began with the
Workshops (Dave Cotton introduced the session with a seminar,
workstations were manned by Carl & Eunice Booker, Brian Pitman &
Angie Thistlewood, Glen & Steve Thistlewood, Ray & Jean Rogers,
Gary & Dodie Levi and Fred Stone with Howard Seufer). A
show-stopping Game evening was organized by Brian & Angie, and
the teams of Boys versus Girls had a lot of fun.
We began a new mega-seminar and
display feature in 2003, with the Thousand Pitcher Show, hosted
by our speakers, Pete & Paula Bingham. There were hundreds of
Carnival pitchers on display, many of which were brought in by
attendees. The banquet speech was delivered by Tom Mordini, and
a Honorary membership in wwwcga was bestowed on Frank M Fenton
at the function. The events culminated in a great Mickey Reichel
auction on the Saturday. The Convention team was headed up by
the hard-working Co-ordinator, Pam Mills, who was supported by
Brian Pitman, Glen Thistlewood and Ed Perva. The Hospitality
Room was run smoothly by Ann McMorris with a wonderful team of
helpers.
|
Hospitality Room Memories
Ann McMorris
I served as hospitality chair for www.cga at four
conventions - 1st in Las Vegas, 1999; 2nd in Williamsburg, VA, 2000;
3rd in Las Vegas 2001 and 4th in St. Louis 2003. I missed the 2002
in Raleigh NC and 2004 in St. Louis, MO. Being hospitality chair is
an exciting and broadening (in more ways than one) experience
- the first in Las Vegas 1999 was an eye opener where
all members were meeting for the first time and getting acquainted. What a
fun time we all had. A special treat at this first convention
was provided by Primo who had FedExed Mardi Gras rolls for the hospitality
room. Each of the eight rolls contained a baby doll - a tradition at the
Mardi Gras is that if you found the baby doll in your serving, you bought
the next rolls. Everyone wanted to find the baby doll. I still have
one.
A most memorable happening was the wine tasting at the
2001 Las Vegas convention - members were asked to bring wine from
their hometown and there were over 70 bottles in all shapes and
sizes - some of it home made. This made quite an impressive display
when combined with several kinds of special English cheese in 5 to 10
pound molds provided by the English members. A great time
was enjoyed by all.
Each convention holds special memories of
dinners at unusual restaurants, late night gatherings, river boat dinners
and getting lost, and best of all - getting to meet the members and
renewing that acquaintance at each convention. These are special people
from all parts of the world in all walks of life and they are all
family. |
2004 Means Red Stretch and ……. A Tribute
in St Louis!
Yes, we went back to St Louis for our 2004 Convention where the
tireless Convention Co-ordinator was Pam Mills, supported by
Brian Pitman and Ed Perva. And our commemorative piece for the
year? A red stretch Cuspidor. A really splendid shape and
unusual finish that sold out within weeks owing to the very
limited number produced (just 103).
The Convention (in April at the
Crown Plaza) began with a cheese and wine reception and a lot of
room shopping. We held the Workshops again, kicking off with a
seminar on Stretch Glass by Dave Shetlar. The Workshop stations
were manned by John & Loretta Nielsen, Dave Doty, Ed Perva, Glen
& Steve Thistlewood, Howard Seufer and Mike Mills, Gary & Dodie
Levi and Brian Pitman.
Then the major Display Seminar -
following on from the 2003 mega-display, we had a Punch Set Show
in 2004. What a display - our members brought in some amazing
examples - and the entire seminar was put together by our
speakers Emmett and Dorothy Morgan. The banquet speech was a
Tribute to the Pioneers of Carnival, presented by Glen
Thistlewood, Brian Pitman and Howard Seufer. The Convention was
rounded off by another wonderful Mickey Reichel Auction and (in
the evening) supper on a boat trip down the Mississippi.
|
A Serious
Tribute with a Little Bit of Fun
Brian Pitman
The Tribute banquet at the 2004 Convention was quite the
task. Glen and I, using only email as our means for
communication, collaborated on an intricate script that
involved comedy, history, and poignancy on top of a big live
video presentation which included an interview with Connie
Moore. As you can imagine, it was pretty tough going,
as both of us knew full well the fine line we walked,
wanting to truly honor four incredible people while not
crossing over into maudlin and depressing territory.
After many
months of back and forth revisions, we finally met in St.
Louis the night before the presentation in TGIFriday's to go
through our script and work out our comedic improvisations.
Passersby would have thought we were insane. Howard
Seufer joined us to practice his intermission section (the
perfect trifecta), and we were ready...
...Until the
next night, when we wanted to practice again, this time in
the actual banquet room with the podiums, microphones, and
meticulously chosen attire. While I won't (and can't)
share with you what all happened in that hour before the
doors opened for the banquet dinner, let me say this: we
found the absolute perfect tone for us to take, so that
neither of us would end up crying in front of over one
hundred people (a real possibility). |
Board Changes took place when Glen
Thistlewood stepped down as President - and later in the year,
Ed Perva resigned as Treasurer. Current Board positions are:
President - Pam
Mills
Vice President - Marty Seufer
Treasurer - Brian Pitman
Legal Adviser - Mark Zimmer
Secretary - Ian Williams
Board Member - Wayne (James Bond) Anderson
Board Member - Dave Cotton
Board Member - Glen Thistlewood
Additional positions held were:
Convention Liaison - Brian Pitman
Education Co-ordinators - Stephen and Glen Thistlewood
Week night Mailing List Editor - Brian Pitman
Weekend Mailing List Editor - Glen Thistlewood
|
2005 and the Fantastic Fenton Fantasia
Brian Pitman
In 2005, wwwcga decided to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the creation of the Fenton Art Glass Company
by holding its convention in Columbus, Ohio, and putting 70
people on two buses down to Williamstown. The long bus
trip was SO worth it!
Members were greeted by Frank, George,
Scott and many of the other Fenton family. After
browsing the museum with Frank, members went on various
tours led by a Fenton family member, Dr. James Measell, or
Howard Seufer (who took some of us to places in the factory
that are generally "off limits" to those without the last
name Fenton). George gave out a door prize (a pie
cart), and the winner was Joan Steskal.
The perfect triumph of the trip, however,
was in seeing the 2005 Woodsland Pine commemorative being
made in marigold. Members were able to watch the glass
artisans slave away to make a beautiful piece for our club.
In the end, 70 happy souls crawled back onto the buses, not
wanting to leave, but filled with memories of a day in the
factory with a family named Fenton. |
And so, here we are. Spring 2005. We
now have seven great Conventions behind us, a club owned
commemorative, an outstanding website and members all over the
world. But our jewel in the crown, the fabulous frosting on the
delicious wwwcga cake, is our daily Mailing List. Going out to
homes and workplaces all over the globe, every single day -
holidays, work days, weekends. Every day our members grab their
coffees and sit down to read their daily Carnival news.
Information, advice, joys and sorrows alike are all shared
amongst our wonderful Carnival community.
Long may it continue!
Click here
for some pictures...
Copyright www.cga, inc. All Rights
Reserved. |
