“Glass itself is older than man, as old as the earth. The first glass was fused in the fires that built the continents, natural glass formed from masses of silica by volcanic action; chemically, it is very much the same as manufactured glass. A most common natural glass is obsidian; there is an entire mountain of it in Yellowstone Park. Usually black and translucent, obsidian can easily be chipped or flaked into long, sharp pieces. Over 25,000 years ago, men fashioned these pieces into weapons and tools; in time, mirrors, jewelry, and even ceremonial masks were carved or ground from this hard natural glass.”

—from The Corning Glass Center, a beautiful hard-cover souvenier book published by Corning Glass Works in 1958. Penned by perhaps the first anonymous corporate technical writer in New York State history—no writer or editor is mentioned.