This past week I had the pleasure of hosting my mother, Fran, during her visit to Maryland. Although the purpose of this visit was naturally to see me, I made sure that we saw everything that central and southern Maryland had to offer. We visited:
- The Baltimore Inner Harbor/Camden Yards (the Twins won the series 2/3, including the night we attended the game)
-
- The Eastern Shore for a plaque dedication concerning a person I researched for the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland research project
- The National Mall in Washington, D.C. (the major monuments, White House, Capitol, Library of Congress)
The cherry blossoms, and this tree (dogwood?), were in full bloom during our visit. Washington’s winter was 12 degree colder than usual and thus the Cherry Blossom Festival was delayed for two weeks
- Annapolis/Eastport (Naval Academy, State House, Maryland State Archives, Historic Downtown)
It would be very easy for me to relate this sightseeing in a blog much like people did with mandatory slideshows at fondue parties and still do with incessant albums on The Facebook. Instead I’m going to talk about shot glasses.
I collect shot glasses and this vacation was an excellent opportunity to make my collection even larger.
Although I do not enjoy imbibing spirits 1.5 oz. at a time, I nevertheless collect them as mementos of my travels in ways that the miracle of digital photographics do not. Rather than containing distilled fermented grains, herbs, and botanicals, the shot glass encapsulates a sober experience on cruise ships, historic sites, and portentous events. As a souvenir they are the ideal choice. They are ubiquitous; only the classiest gift shops do not sell them and, more often than not, they have a glassware section that includes items eerily similar in size and description to shot glasses. They are practical; who doesn’t have a use for a small glass? They are evocative; shot glasses draw the eye with colors, images, or design in a manner that reminds outside observers of a time and place. As I learned from my priest, who boosted my meager collection with approximately 120 just ten years ago, they are the perfect gift. More times than I can dare recall people ask me what they should bring me from vacation. “A shot glass,” I always reply. The aforementioned reasons make them the perfect gift. They are common, speak to a specific event, and are attractive displays. Frequently I am given shot glasses by acquaintances who saw my collection but, because of our casual relationship, traveled to the place of purchase without telling me.
What is a shot glass? “To the collector, [regarding what is a shot glass], questions arise as to maximum and minimum height; maximum and minimum capacity; and style of glasses. More questions arise. Are pharmaceutical glasses [from the 19th century]…shot glasses? Are foots, stems, or handles all right? What about…candleholders and toothpick holders? What about doubleshots, triple shots, sample glasses, dram glasses, and so on?” So write Mark Prickvet in, as far as I know, the definitive book regarding the hobby that is shot glass collecting. In The Definitive Guide to Shot Glasses, Prickvet outlines the history of spirit glassware and reinforces the published and survey based definition (conducted by The Shot Glass Club of America, no less) that a shot glass is:
- Small glass whiskey tumblers
- Do not have feet, handles, or stems
- The bases are pointed or convex
- A volume between one and two oz.
- Between 1 ¾ and 3 inches in height
For collecting purposes I add additional qualifications.
- They should contain a singular images evocative of that particular time and/or place
- It should be transparent, or perhaps frosted, but never opaque
- The images should be well painted or otherwise attractively adhered to the surface
Shot glasses to not need to meet all of these requirements to be honored with a purchase but the more the better. Occasionally I will buy an exceptionally attractive piece if no others are available or are of an inferior quality.
Although many of my current glasses do not meet Prickvet’s standards or all of my own, I still consider them a vital part of my collection.
Below is a sampling of my collection.
The above image is of the shot glass that started my collection. I purchased it in Ashland, Oregon while I visited my sister Susan. At the time she was a staff actress with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It is attractive and reminds me of my visit but I would not purchase it today under my current guidelines.
I purchased this pewter drinking glass from a small shop in Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is domestically important as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and internationally as the setting of “The Sound of Music” musical of stage and screen. The “shot glass” is not glass, is more than two ounces, and has an untapered base, but it (and its twin) stunningly depict scenes from the city. It is definitely for tourists; the big giveaway is the country’s name is anglicized. In German their country, ignoring the “Republic of” prefix adorning so many old European empires these days, is “Oesterreich,” which is literally translated as “Eastern Realm.” This reflects the perspective of Austrians centuries earlier when the knowledge of the world, and its figurative size, was much smaller.
This shot glass is a marvelous example of the cultural influence that the archives holds in the Harley- Davidson Museum; I suspect this is the only corporate archives in the United States with branded merchandise in a museum gift shop. This shot glass also represents my ideal design even if it is not the most attractive.
This was given to me by my sister, April. It’s rather plain and hastily done–but what do you expect with three months preparation?
In my visit to Washington I was horrified at the dearth of shot glasses that met my minimal standards; most are busy with images, garish, and obscure nearly every square millimeter of glass with a cling that might peel off with a single washing. The best I found was the one above. Were I employed with the National Park Service I would demand that each monument and memorial gift shop have at least two varieties of shot glasses depicting their respective attractions.
My most recent shot glass is from the United States Naval Academy. Because the USNA is federal land, I paid no sales tax. The gift shop also has United States Marine Corps and United States Navy shot glasses that resembled the style of the Harley-Davidson Museum one above but they were not evocative of the time and place of my visit; namely they did not directly concern the USNA.
I will continue collecting these shot glasses. And if you ever go on vacation, please tell me where you’re going so I know whether and which kind you should get.
Counterfactual Archivist 