Victorian teas return Palatine to its early days

You might call it the Victorian version of a Tupperware party.

Only instead of plastic containers, the Palatine Historical Society is breaking out its collection of historic glass for its 22nd annual series of Victorian teas.

Offering glimpses of the precious pieces like hors d'oeuvres to each guest, volunteers circulated among the tables on the ground floor at the historic Clayson House, built in 1873.

The annual teas, one of the society's major fundraisers, are built around a different theme each year. The theme this year, which also is the village's 150th anniversary, is glass, and society members drew upon the organization's extensive collection for their presentation.

Guests viewed everything from jewelry, including glass beads, necklaces and a hat pin holder, to eyeglasses, medicine bottles and a glass train once filled with candy.

Society member Carolyn Mangold explained the significance of each item, including "carnival glass."

"The glass was cheaply mass produced and was literally given away at carnivals and fairs as prizes in shooting galleries and ball throwing contests," she said.

Among the more curious items were "pap" bottles. Mangold said such bottles were used to feed babies mixtures of milk or water boiled with various ingredients like tapioca, flour, crackers or bread.

The pap bottle was boat-shaped with two hollow handles, through which the pap was blown into the baby's mouth.

Mangold also described the arduous process involved with blown glass.

"Creating a hot enough fire to make glass was not easy. It took two weeks to achieve a wood fire hot enough to melt the material into glass," she said.

For guest Linda Davidson, the blown glass figures conjured up childhood memories.

"When I was little, I used to have little blown glass figures. That just always intrigued me so much," she said.

Others appreciated the variety of pieces in the society's collection.

"I love knowing that they have this storeroom of archival stuff and that they can choose a topic and pull pieces out and share that with us," said Holly Petersen, a volunteer with the historical society.

More teas are scheduled at noon and 3 p.m. on April 16 and 17.