For more than 25 years, a collection of food jars has been on display at the Museum of Troy History. These colorful jars are not just pretty containers; they tell the story of how food was prepared and preserved in the past.
Most of the jars in the museum’s collection are food canning jars. Canning, the method of preserving food in glass jars, was once a yearly ritual in Miami County homes. It was sometimes referred to as the annual “canning chore.” Though people still can food at home, far fewer individuals do it today than in the past. Long ago, late summer and early fall once represented “harvest time”—when crops growing in local gardens and fruit trees were preserved for winter eating. Housewives often told their friends how much food they had “put up” (canned for the winter use.) Fruits and vegetables were canned in pint or quart-size glass jars for dinner table use, made into jams and jellies or occasionally made into juice or wine. The museum’s jars represent all sorts of uses for preserving home grown (or local) food.
Most of the glass jars in the exhibit are from George and Eva Carey, who donated their 500-piece jar collection to the museum in September 1990. Though the collection carries the names of both George and Eva, it was apparently George who collected the jars over a 22-year period after his retirement from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1969. (For most of his life, George was involved with aviation. He was a licensed pilot, who in the 1930s had worked at WACO—the Weaver Aircraft Company in Troy. In the 1940s, he served in the US Army Air Corps as an aircraft repair/maintenance man.) An article written by Jan Horn about the Carey collection describes George’s fascination with the glass jars and gives details of his life. The article is a part of the museum jar display.
George Carey’s interest in canning and jars is believed to have started when he was a small boy. George was born on his father’s Miami County dairy farm in 1909. He was the son of John Warren and Clara Mae Carey.
According to the Horn article, Carey was first introduced to canning when he helped his mother with her “canning chore” at the age of five. “His job was to hold down the jar lids with a fat stick while she poured on the sealing wax. It was hot in the kitchen, but he loved the thick steamy smell of ripe peaches and boiling syrup and he liked being a helper.” A jar with such sealing wax is on display at the museum, but it is not part of the Carey collection.
In the May 21, 1908 edition of the Miami Union newspaper local housewives—mostly from Casstown—discussed how and why they canned. Mrs. Joisan Knoop believed it was the economical thing to do: “One quart of home canned fruit will go almost as far as two quarts that you buy in the grocery store, by reason of the bought cans containing more syrup than fruit.” Mrs. E.H. Drake felt it was important to know how the food one served was handled. “It is a satisfaction to know how the contents of the cans were handled when put in the can and makes them worth more to know they are clean.” Recipes for canning cherries from Mrs. H.S. Clyne of Casstown and Mrs. Charles Davis of Fletcher are published in the newspaper. Mrs. Davis described a process using “one pint of good alcohol and five cents worth of salicyclic acid” to preserve fruits such as strawberries, plums, and cherries. The Troy-Miami County Public Library Local History Library has a copy of this newspaper on microfilm. It is available for viewing at the library at 100 West Main Street in Troy.
Jars in the exhibit are from a wide variety of manufacturers. The most recognizable jar manufacturer names are Ball, Mason and Kerr. There are several interesting facts about these jars. The Ball company logo changed over the years. Ball jars can be dated by the way the logo is written on the jar. Online sources show the various ways the logo was written and the time period that each Ball logo was used on the jars. The Mason jar was invented by Philadelphia tinsmith John Landis Mason. He received a patent for his jar in 1858 and a trademark for it in 1871. A few jars in the Carey collection have the name “Van Vliet” on their sides. These jars were made by Warren R. Van Vliet of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. His jars were believed to preserve food better than other canning jars. Museum visitors might see a jar by Joel Haines of West Middleburg, Ohio. He was also the designer of an early lunch box. He received a patent for it on March 15, 1867.
Most of the jars have numbers on the bottom from one to ten. These are the manufacturer’s mold number. Most glass jar producers have about ten molds to shape the jars. The number on the bottom tell which mold was used. One old story says that the jars with the number “13” on the bottom were considered bad luck and were often broken. People who now collect glass jars say that the superstition about the number 13 on the jars is just an “old wives tales.” There is nothing to it. In fact, some collectors look for jars with 13 on the bottom to add to their collections.
Another old wives tale/superstition warned young men that courting a woman whose “wax jars” were broken meant the woman would be a bad-tempered wife. Young men were to beware of such women.
Some food jars at the museum have patent dates from the late 1850s and early 1860s. People often mistakenly that think that the patent date refers to the date a jar was made. The patent date refers to the date that the U.S. patent office gave the patent for the jar style. The jar could have been manufactured long after the patent date. The patent date does, of course, mean that a jar was not produced before the patent date time period.
Colored jars were considered better for canning than clear glass jars because it was thought that they blocked harmful light from getting into food. The museum collection has jars in several colors, though most jars are clear. Some jars have the words “safety” or “protector” on the sides to indicate they would keep food safe.
The glass jar collection is available for public viewing at the Museum of Troy History, 124 East Water Street in Troy. It is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00pm to 5:00pm, April through December. Tours are also available by appointment. For more information, check the museum’s website: museumoftroyhistory.org.
For further information about this article, contact The Troy Historical Society at (937) 339-5900 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
