SPOTLIGHT
- on Evangeline Bergstrom
Many readers will recognize the name
Evangeline Bergstrom who collected glass
paperweights early in the 20th century when
very few others did. She
recognized their artistic value, the
difficulty inherent in their production
and considered them more than mere ‘decorative
novelties,’ an opinion not
generally shared at that time. The collection
she amassed was a product of
her good taste and artistic sense and the fact
that she had some
discretionary funds at her disposal.
After Mrs. Bergstrom’s
death, her paperweights became
the permanent collection of the John Nelson
Bergstrom Art Center and Museum
(now the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum) in Neenah
Wisconsin. Although she was
discriminating, Mrs. Bergstrom collected many
different types of
paperweights, many rare, most of great merit,
and some, simply interesting,
making the collection at the Museum a mecca
for paperweight collectors.
In 1987, tucked into
one of the used books we had
acquired (probably a copy of “Old Glass
Paperweights” by Evangeline
Bergstrom) we discovered some letters that had
been exchanged between Mrs.
Bergstrom, and Mrs. Lester Yates Baylis. In
addition to the letters, there
was also a copy of verses titled “Wangeline
Bergstrom’s Husband.”
We wrote to Mrs.
Gerrie Casper, Curator of the
Bergstrom Mahler Glass Museum at that time,
and informed her of this
interesting discovery. We offered to donate
the correspondence and the copy
of the poem to the Bergstrom Museum, if the
Museum was interested in having
them.
In the subsequent
exchange of letters, Gerrie Casper
wrote that the Museum would be happy to have
the original letters to add to
the archives. She informed us that the poem
“Wangeline Bergstrom’s Husband”
was written in jest (probably in 1940) by C.
B. Clark, a long-time friend of
John and Evangeline. C. B. Clark was a son of
one of the four founders of
Kimberly-Clark Corporation in Neenah. Gerrie
Casper said that she had used
the amusing “poem” several times in
paperweight talks. She also wondered how
Mrs. Baylis had acquired a copy of the poem.
The poem is as follows:
Wangeline Bergstrom’s
Husband
Yon Bergstrom ban a Norsk lad
Who lives up on the hill
He has an album full of stamps
And works in Paper Mill.
He skol wed a girl named Wangie
She ban a D.A.R.
For her Paper Wt. Collection
She ban known both near and far.
She has the house yuck full of Wts.
It really ban a shame
Old Yon has no place for his stamps
and she ban a Colonial Dame.
She has also joined the Mayflower crowd
Which meets on Plymouth Rock
She’s one of wery wery few
Whose folks used it for dock.
The Paper Wt ban steady ting
It never yumps about
Yust quietly it do its work
And doesn’t yell or yout
But Wangie’s Wts are different
They ban just works of art
And sit in gorgeous cases:
Ay tank dis girl ban smart.
Now Wangie skol write a book
Bout Paper Wts of glass,
There’s nothing she can’t ban do
She are such clever lass.
She got so famous and
Yoined the Authors set
Old Yon’s called Wangie’s husband
And he ban mad you bet.
Yumpin Yiminy say Yon
I have lose my name
I’ll write a book about my stamps
And share my Angie’s fame.
The First Printing of Evangeline Bergstrom’s
book “Old Glass Paperweights”
is listed as 1940; The Lakeside Press,
Chicago, privately printed the
volume. The copyright date is also listed as
1940.
A Second Printing is
dated April 1948 by Crown
Publishers, New York. The copyright is listed
as 1947. The changes that had
been made between the first and second
printings included the addition of an
index, repositioning of a few color plates, a
slight change in the
pagination due to shorter pages in the later
editions, and elimination of
the photos of the Ysart paperweights.
(‘Wangie’ had realized they were
definitely not French weights.)
1963 is the date listed
for the Fourth Printing. One of
the books in our possession does not list a
printing date but it would be
logical to assume that there was a third
printing between the years 1948 and
1963. There are no further copyright
dates.
Considering the dearth
of knowledge about paperweights
when Evangeline Bergstrom wrote her book, it
is generally conceded that what
is astonishing is not that some of what she
wrote was wrong, but that so
much information in the book was correct!
For anyone interested
in paperweights, one of these
little books is not only a fine resource but
also a bit of history about the
beginnings of knowledge about glass
paperweights.
Currently, we have for
sale 3 copies of this
little volume - no jackets - as
follows:
-
Second
Printing, 1947: Good condition,
name of owner printed on the inside back
cover.
-
Fourth
Printing, 1963: Good
condition.
-
No printing
date listed: Good condition,
but a small name label on the title
page.
The
price of each book is $65.00.
With each
book, you will
receive a gift certificate in
the amount of $25.00, valid until December 31,
2003, towards the purchase of
any paperweight or book/bulletin sale totaling
$100.00 or more.
Following
publication of her book, Evangeline Bergstrom
contributed articles on
paperweights to magazines, but this was the
only book that she wrote. Two
books about the Bergstrom Paperweight
Collection “Glass Paperweights of the
Bergstrom Art Center” (1969) and “Glass
Paperweights of the Bergstrom-Mahler
Museum” (1989) give good accounts of the
paperweights plus biographical
information about Evangeline Bergstrom
herself.
