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Nellie Bly pattern

Manufacturer Thompson Glass Company (American (Uniontown, PA), 1889 - 1896)

Date1890

MediumNon-flint clear pressed glass

ClassificationsDecorative Arts, Glass

Credit LineGift of Fay Gish Hill, member of Captain Greeley #871, to the Iowa Quester Glass Collection. In the Iowa Quester Glass Collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM2022.66

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label Text"Nellie Bly Around the World in 72 Days" Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a famous journalist, is subject of the plate. Her first editor, sticking with the then-custom of female journalists using pseudonyms, adopted her name from a popular song by Stephen Foster "Nelly Bly" but he wrote "Nellie" in an error and the name stuck. "in 1889, with 2 days notice, she boarded a ship and began her 40,070 KM journey". After 72 days, traveling by sea and overland, she returned to New York with a world record. Patent for the Design was issued in April 1890 to William Walter who assigned it to the Thompson Glass Co. There was a trade report on Apr 3, 1890, re the Nellie Bly plate, for which the company had high hopes.