Figured flask 1822 - 1838

This figured flask was made by White Glass Works in Ohio, sometime in the mid-19th century. It’s a small, green glass bottle, adorned with an eagle and shield motif, and the words “Ohio, the fair.” Ohio, as a border state, was deeply entangled in the social and political tensions around slavery, and White Glass Works was part of this complex landscape. The eagle and shield are potent symbols of national identity, but during this time, ideas of nationhood were bitterly contested. Who was included in “the fair”? Whose labor and whose freedom defined Ohio? Whose stories were being told, and whose were being suppressed? Consider this flask as an object that carries the weight of these historical contradictions. It prompts us to reflect on the stories we tell ourselves about national identity and the personal and collective traumas that often lie beneath the surface.