Glass Paperweights of the Bergstrom Art Center
by: Evelyn Campbell Cloak
1969, Crown Publishers, New York, NY
204 pages, $90. hardcover
flyleaf “Indisputably one of the most famous paperweight collections in the world—as well as probably the most truly representative one—is the magnificent collection of the late Evangeline H. Bergstrom.
Today, this priceless assemblage of specimens is on permanent display at the John Nelson Berstrom Art Center and Museum in Neenah, Wisconsin. Though these paperweights are viewed annually by thousands of visitors, and many have been described and pictured in various magazine articles and in the book Mrs. Bergstrom herself wrote nearly thirty years ago, never before has the entire collection been pictured in full color in a single book. With the publication of this present volume, collectors and enthusiasts anywhere in the world can—at their leisure—study each of these glorious examples of the glassmaker’s art, as well as some one hundred additional items that have been added to the collection by generous benefactors.
A general foreword describes the records Mrs. Bergstrom left, gives biographical information about her, and explains something of her philosophy of collecting and of the esteem in which her activities were and are held. Thereafter, the book is divided into four pictorial sections (French, British and European, American, Miscellaneous), each introduced by a short but informative preface. Every color plate has a facing caption page on which each item shown in the plate is fully described and its origin traced. In all, approximately 700 paperweights and related objects (vases, doorknobs, and so on), among the finest of their kind in the world, are reproduced.
A thorough glossary will be extremely valuable to beginning collectors, and the concise index helps the reader locate any specific weight quickly and simply by category or origin. The carefully organized bibliography is another particularly valuable feature for the serious collector.
Mrs. Evelyn Campbell Cloak, assistant director of the Bergstrom Art Center and Museum and curator of its paperweights, was uniquely qualified for the task of assembling this book. Her position at the museum has given her the greatest familiarity with the collection itself, and also a devotion to Mrs. Bergstrom’s own hopes and ideas in preserving the collection for posterity. Before she became associated with the Bergstrom Art Center, Mrs. Cloak lived and traveled abroad for a considerable time, residing for various periods in such contrasting places as Geneva, Paris, Tangier, and the Isle of Jersey. Her husband, Professor F. Theodore Cloak, is chairman of the Department of Theatre and Drama at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin.”
