Paperweight Collectors Association of Texas

Recent Activities Of Interest

PCA TX to Exhibit Paperweights at 2003 PCA Convention

Selection committees will select the weights to be included. The committee selecting antique weights will include Jan Whitley, Clarice Tripp, James Hale, and Art Elder. The committee selecting contemporary weights is chaired by Carl Carter.

The Smith collection had been on a long-term loan to the Galleries since 1999, where they were exhibited and enjoyed by over 55,000 visitors. Serious collectors, to help expand their understanding of the paperweight art form, have also studied the Smith paperweights closely at the Forsyth.

Don died on July 24, 2001 at age 85. He delighted in his collection of paperweights, particularly when visiting collectors would come through Bartlesville, where he and Ruth lived. He was very generous in sharing his collection with the public, and loaned it frequently for public exhibitions in the Bartlesville area. In this way, Don played a very large role in introducing an awareness of paperweights to the public, and the donation of his collection to the Forsyth Center Galleries ensures this important role will continue.

The donation of the Smith paperweights is particularly important to the Forsyth Center Galleries because it compliments their exhibits of other world-class glass, which includes 19th Century English Cameo glass, Art Nouveau French Cameo glass, American Brilliant Cut Glass and Tiffany glass. The Smith donation now fills in the gap with paperweights to give the Forsyth a comprehensive collection of fine 19th-20th century glass.

Tim Novak, Director of the Forsyth Center Galleries said, "The MSC Forsyth Center Galleries and Texas A&M University are pleased and excited by the generosity of Ruth and the late Donald C. Smith. We aspire to present a first-class glass collection in a setting open to both scholars and the public. The Smith paperweight collection is an important and gratifying step in this goal. Our thanks to both Don and Ruth for this wonderful gift."

The Smith donation to Texas A&M University is a definite benefit also to PCA TX and our members, because it ensures that a major paperweight collection of such high quality is available nearby for our viewing pleasure and study. In addition, the collection may bring in paperweight experts and scholars to study them. It also ensures that an outstanding paperweight collection will remain on exhibit in Texas for the attraction and enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of visitors in the future, who may develop a new understanding and appreciation of the paperweight art form.

The donation has also catapulted the Forsyth Center Galleries into the upper-most echelons of museums exhibiting paperweights. In fact, with this gift, the museum now has the largest, most outstanding, and most significant paperweight collection west of the Mississippi!!! Other museums known for significant paperweight collections are mostly in the Northern Midwest and the Eastern Seaboard. They include the Bergstrom-Mahler in Neenah, WI, The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago IL, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, the Museum of American Glass in Wheaton Village, NJ, and the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester, NH. To this distinguished list is now added the Forsyth Center Galleries at Texas A&M University! This is a magnificent accomplishment, and is certain to bring a new recognition of excellence to the reputation of the arts in Texas. We are very grateful to the Smith family for making this generous donation and providing a permanent legacy for us all to enjoy.

Did you know that one of the 23 Charter Members of the Paperweight Collectors Association was a Texan? He was Col. Ralph B. Fairchild of San Antonio, and he was also the Texas Representative and the first Vice President of the PCA.