2025 Special Exhibits:
“John S. O’Connor, Dorflinger’s Design Genius.”
O’Connor joined Christian Dorflinger’s Wayne County Glass Works in 1867 to establish the cutting department at the new factory in White Mills. This exhibit highlights several of Dorflinger’s famous and popular designs developed under O’Connor’s leadership of the Dorflinger cutting department from 1867-1890. In addition, the exhibit features notable examples of glass designs by O’Connor’s own firm in Hawley, Pennsylvania beginning in 1890. The exhibit also includes several O’Connor family pieces.
“Dorflinger Colognes.”
This exhibit features twenty examples of cologne bottles produced by the Dorflinger companies and their workers. These include several Brilliant Period cut glass colognes in color and unusual examples of stone engraved and “Rock Crystal” colognes. Some are small, jewel-like examples; others are large and impressive. Several are personalized with engraved Sterling silver stoppers and mounts.
“Images of White Mills, and the Dorflinger Factory and Workers.”
This exhibit features historic photographs of the village of White Mills and the Dorflinger factory from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries taken by Louis Hensel and others. The exhibit also includes a series of photographs of the Dorflinger workers. This exhibit will be on display from June 25 through September 7, 2025.
Special Concert by Invitation
On Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 2:00 PM, the “Xuberg Duo” of Miles Fellenberg and Alice Chenyang Xu will present a program of classical music for four-hand piano at the Dorflinger Factory Museum. This will be the second appearance at the Dorflinger Factory Museum by this delightful pair of accomplished pianists from Boston, Massachusetts.
2025 Walter B. Barbe Memorial Lecture Series:
| June 29, 2025 2:00 P.M. |
Norwood Viviano, Contemporary Glass Artist. Recast Cities: White Mills. This special lecture will discuss the artist’s groundbreaking series of contemporary cast glass sculptures tying the current urban landscape of a particular area to its industrial past. |
| July 6, 2025 2:00 P.M. |
Jim Asselstine, Director, Dorflinger Factory Museum. Dorflinger Colognes. This lecture will discuss the museum’s special exhibit of Dorflinger cologne bottles. There will be a meeting of the ACGA Northeast PA Chapter at 1:00 PM before this lecture. |
| August 3, 2025 2:00 P.M. |
Mary Ann Moran Savakinus, Director, The Lackawanna Historical Society. Local Ukranians. This lecture will discuss the role of people with Ukranian heritage in the history of this region. |
| August 16, 2025 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. |
Kurt Reed, Curator, Dorflinger Factory Museum. The Complete Dorflinger History. This extended lecture will discuss the history of the Dorflinger companies from the Brooklyn years until the White Mills Factory’s closing in 1921. Please note the special time and date for this lecture. Light refreshments will be served. |
| September 7, 2025 2:00 P.M. |
Jim Asselstine, Director, Dorflinger Factory Museum. The Hensel Collection of Glass Photographic Negatives. This lecture will discuss the extensive work of Louis Hensel in recording the places and history of this region. |
| October 5, 2025 2:00 P.M. |
Sarah Piccini, Assistant Director, The Lackawanna Historical Society. A Scarcity of Caskets: The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This lecture will discuss the impact of the 1918 pandemic on our region. |
Dorflinger White Mills Brilliant Weekend:
The Dorflinger Factory Museum will hold its annual White Mills Brilliant Weekend on September 18-21, 2025. The Brilliant Weekend includes an opening reception in the Dorflinger Factory Museum, a Dorflinger Glass Symposium featuring a day of lectures and banquet, and a Glass Dealer Show & Sale with six of the leading American cut glass dealers in the country. Advance registration is required for the Brilliant Weekend, and there is a registration fee of $125 per person, which includes all event activities. The Glass Dealer Show & Sale is open to the public with a $5 per adult admission charge. Additional details on the lecture program and registration materials will be available shortly.