Dwight P. Lanmon Papers

Dwight P. Lanmon grew up in Denver, Colorado. He attended the University of Colorado and received a bachelor’s degree in physics. He then began a career in engineering, working in Los Angeles at Northrop/Nortronics and TRW Inc.

During this time, Lanmon was interested in glass and antiques, but regarded these interests as a hobby, not a potential career. However, these interests grew, and by the 1960s he was taking night courses in art history, American history, and decorative arts at UCLA. In 1966, Lanmon was accepted as a Fellow in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, a master’s degree program offered jointly by the University of Delaware and the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum near Wilmington, Delaware. He met his future wife, Ann Lorraine Welling, in this program. She was also a Fellow in the Winterthur/University of Delaware program. The couple married in 1970.

Lanmon completed a master’s thesis on the early American glass trade, titled "Glass in Baltimore: The Trade in Hollow and Tablewares, 1780-1820," and received his degree in 1968. Lanmon’s first job was assistant curator for ceramics and glass at the Winterthur Museum. He later became an associate curator, with added responsibility for conservation.

In 1972, after the Hurricane Agnes Flood inundated The Corning Museum of Glass, Lanmon was among the many museum professionals who volunteered to assist the museum’s recovery efforts. The next year, when the position of chief curator and curator of European glass before 1900 became available, it was offered to Lanmon. He accepted and joined the staff in 1973. He was promoted to deputy director, collections in 1976 and director in 1981, and he served as a member of the Executive and Acquisitions Committees from 1985 to 1992. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rockwell Museum from 1983 to 1992, serving as its president and chairman of the executive committee from 1988 to 1992 and was acting director from 1986 to 1988.

In 1992, Lanmon left The Corning Museum of Glass to return to the Winterthur as director. He retired in 1999, when he was named Director Emeritus. In his retirement, Lanmon co-authored four books on Pueblo pottery. He also wrote The Golden Age of English Glass, 1650-1775, which was published in 2011.