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My involvement with the HutchinsonBottle Directory initiative began when thissmall notice appeared in the January 1977Old Bottle Magazine:

HUTCHINSON BOTTLE DIRECTORY

TO CATALOG OVER 12,000 BOTTLES!by Ron Fowler

© 2005 Seattle History Company

Directory. Although I hungered to re-initiatework on it, I forced myself to wait until aftermy 2002 retirement when I would be able todevote the quantity of time required by aproject of this magnitude. In late 2003 I re-prioritized several other projects and decidedto go for it; work on the Hutchinson BottleDirectory began anew January 1, 2004.

During 2004 I devoted almost 1,400 hoursto sorting, purging, and merging files, andthen building personal computer spreadsheetscontaining data on more than 11,000 differentHutchinson bottles. The total now exceeds12,000 and may reach 13,000 by the time wego to print! The project is substantially aheadof schedule, particularly because were usingpersonal computers, the Internet, and E-mailto communicate and gather data.

HUTCHINSON BOOK(S)PROPOSED – STATE BY STATE:Printer and ex-commercialphotographer Joe Nagy ofOklahoma City has plans for a state-by-state, comprehensive Hutchinsonsoda book series. He requestscollectors in Texas and Illinoiscontact him first for the purpose ofcataloguing Hutchinsons in theirparticular states…Sounds like aworthwhile project, Joe. Best wishes– Ed.

Wow; it was very exciting to envision theentire antique bottle collecting communityenjoying the use of state Hutchinsondirectories! Although I was hard-pressed tobelieve it would be practical or even possibleto produce such a series of books, I contactedJoe and quickly became a believer. In shortorder I found myself contributing informationon Oregon, Washington, and WashingtonTerritory Hutchinson bottles. My initialcontact with Joe blossomed into a long andvery enjoyable friendship (and a tremendousamount of work!).

During the next decade, hundreds ofcollectors from across North Americacontributed Hutchinson rubbings, drawings,photographs, bottle specifications, companyand state histories, and other information tothe project. I visited Oklahoma City twice,spending several days at Joe’s home andoffice preparing finished bottle drawings. Wealso exchanged almost 2,000 rubbings viamail that I turned into finished drawings.

Sadly, a terrible series of personal andbusiness misfortunes beset Joe in the late1980s and he was forced to put the projecton hold. Although he desperately hoped tofinish the books, Joe lost a valiant battle withcancer and passed away September 12, 1993.Thanks to a very thoughtful friend, most ofJoe’s files were saved and I acquired them in1994.

Based on over 30 years experience atauthoring bottle collecting books, I estimatedit would probably require five years of steadyeffort to complete the Hutchinson Bottle

PROJECT OBJECTIVESThe primary project objective is for the

Hutchinson Bottle Directory to serve as acomprehensive, detailed, accurate, andvalued source of information for the antiquebottle collecting community. It should alsofunction as a highly useful reference forantiques dealers, local historians, andhistorical archaeologists.

Hopefully the Hutchinson BottleDirectory will also be viewed as a fittinglegacy honoring Joe Nagy’s intestinalfortitude for tackling such a worthwhile andchallenging project that many thoughtimpossible to complete. Hundreds of us havecontributed to this project, and we can’t letthose years of effort go to waste!

Personally, completion of the Hutchinson

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Bottle Directory is yet another opportunityto give back to this wonderful hobby that hasprovided me with so much enjoyment for over44 years. Once the Hutchinson BottleDirectory is in print, I intend to completeseveral other major book projects that arecurrently at various stages of development.

PROJECT SCOPEJoe Nagy’s original concept for the

Hutchinson Bottle Directory included linedrawings and (some) photographs of allknown Hutchinson bottles, plus dataaccompanying each illustration to documentbottle dimensions, glass color, and rarity.Very quickly the project scope ballooned toinclude state and individual companyhistories, and much more. Informationpoured in and Joe was somewhatoverwhelmed when he estimated there wereperhaps 7-10,000 different Hutchinsonbottles.

In order to ensure this initiative doesntbecome unmanageable, I am striving to

simplify, clearly define, and tightly controlproject scope. The Hutchinson BottleDirectory will include these three basicelements:

1. Spreadsheets listing all knownHutchinson bottle variants;

2. Illustrations of each bottle; and3. Ordering information for each area-

specific antique bottle book that is currentlyin print.

HUTCHINSON SPECIALISTSOnce the information in my files was

transferred to spreadsheets, I estimated themagnitude of the effort necessary to acquireadditional bottle rubbings, photographs, andmissing data. Whew, this was definitely goingto be a huge challenge! In order to acceleratethe process of obtaining the desired quantityand quality of information needed, I set outto identify advanced Hutchinson collectorspecialists from across the continent. Thisapproach has proven successful beyond my

wildest dream. The Hutchinson BottleDirectory simply couldn’t be properlycompleted without the valued assistance andcontributions of these fine folks. Today wehave designated specialists for all of Canada,all but six of the U.S. territories and states(specialists are still needed for Connecticut,Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,Vermont, and West Virginia), and the fewforeign countries where Hutchinson bottleswere utilized.

As each specialist has been identified, Ihave been sending them a draft copy of theirgeographical area’s spreadsheet so they’llknow exactly what data has already beenobtained. This jump starts the informationgathering process and minimizes thepossibility of wasting their valuable time. Weare then working together to obtain missinginformation and data on additional bottles.Lastly we will jointly edit and quality controlthe finished spreadsheets and illustrations.

Working closely with a team of advancedcollectors from across North America isproving to be a highly rewarding andinteresting experience. Although there arevariations in approaches to collecting, wedefinitely have in common a shared, hard-to-define fondness for these wonderful glassobjects known as Hutchinson bottles.

HUTCHINSON BOTTLE VARIANTSMost collectors agree on bottle variations

such as glass color, plate shapes, and baseshapes. Beyond these basic differences,collecting preferences are a function ofpersonal taste and the definition of “variant”becomes quite fuzzy. Some collectorsdifferentiate between base, shoulder, and topshapes, various shades of aqua, bottle sizes,and other factors. There is no “right” or“wrong” approach and everyone is free tocollect however they prefer; I certainly haveno intention of dictating to others how tocollect!

Nonetheless, in order to gather data andproduce the Hutchinson Bottle Directory, itis necessary to define “variant” and establishspecific guidelines. Additional informationon the Hutchinson Bottle Directory approachto variants is available on the web site.Although everyone won’t agree with thisapproach, at least its a starting point. Thedefinition and guidelines aren’t cast in stoneand can be modified as necessary to meetcollectors needs.

PLANNED BOOK FORMATHutchinson Bottle Directory pages will

be printed in landscape fashion on 8.5" x 11"paper. Each spreadsheet page will providedetailed bottle listings and data, while thefacing page will display illustrations for thosebottles listed on that spreadsheet page.

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Sample pages illustrating the format will beposted on the web site in weeks to come.SPREADSHEETS

The spreadsheets for each country/state/territory/province list bottles alphabeticallyby city and bottler. Individual listings includeall available data on front, back, and baseembossing, mold, glass color, height,diameter, plate shape, base shape, and rarity.Detailed explanations for each data categoryare available on the web site.

Thanks to the Internet and the Hutchinsoncollector specialists I am continually addingnew listings and filling in missinginformation. We will be able to add data rightup to the as-yet-to-be-determined date ofpublication. Once the Hutchinson BottleDirectory is in print, additional bottles anddata will be identified and continually addedto the master data base. I am exploring thepossibility of offering a fee-based service toperiodically send subscribers updated pages.

ILLUSTRATIONSExtensive surveying of many long-time

Hutchinson collectors indicated that mostprefer line drawings to photographs becauseaccurate drawings better show bottle detailssuch as punctuation, plate shapes, pictures,and monograms. Obtaining useablephotographs of over 12,000 bottles isn’t

practical, and the cost of publishing themwould make the Hutchinson Bottle Directoryprohibitively expensive.

Many of the finished drawings I preparedfor Joe 20-25 years ago were missing fromhis files. When I was really on a roll, I couldcomplete ten drawings per hour, but my handstire quickly and I could only complete alimited number of drawings per day. It wouldtake far too long to complete the illustrationsat that rate, so I purchased graphics softwarethat will both speed up the illustration processand facilitate the production of high quality,professional drawings. Even with the use ofgraphics software, much work remains inorder to complete the illustrations.

OTHER BOTTLE BOOKSI am aware of bottle books

containing varying degrees ofHutchinson bottle informationfor Alabama, Arizona,California, Colorado, Florida,Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa,Kansas, Maryland(Baltimore), Michigan(Upper Peninsula),Minnesota, Mississippi,Montana, Nebraska, Nevada,New Mexico, North Dakota,Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,

Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, theTerritories, British Columbia, Nova Scotia,and Canada. Hopefully collectors will informme of others that are available.

Including advertisements for those booksthat are still in print in the Hutchinson BottleDirectory will provide collectors desiringadditional information an easy means ofobtaining it. Many of these books are hardto find and publication of the HutchinsonBottle Directory is expected to increase theiravailability to each of us!

YOUR SUPPORT IS WELCOMED!All Federation of Historical

Bottle Collectors members are encouragedto follow the Hutchinson Bottle Directoryinitiative as it matures. Heres a samplingof what youll find at thewww.SeattleHistoryCompany.com website:

· Hutchinson Bottle DirectoryOverview – this detailed project overviewdocument is continually updated asdecisions are finalized;

· Hutchinson Bottle DirectoryUpdates – track project progress and pressreleases, e.g. announcement of the targetpublication date;

· Can You Identify These UnknownHutchinsons? – these maverick bottles needto be identified and properly assigned;

· Hutchinson Stopper and “SodaPop” History – review a brief history of theHutchinson closure and the term “sodapop;” and

· Books For Sale – check out thegrowing list of advertisements and orderinginformation for state and other bottle books.

Please feel free to add the Websitewww.SeattleHistoryCompany.com to yourfavorites list and track progress on theHutchinson Bottle Directory initiative! Forany questions, please E-mail me at:HutchBook@yahoo.com.