What you can (and can’t) do with what you find here.
We built the Glass Database to be open, curious, and community-driven—but that doesn’t mean everything inside it is free to reuse however you’d like. This page lays out how content is handled, what’s okay to share, and what deserves a little more care.
We’re building this to be a reliable, trusted source for researchers, collectors, and curious browsers alike. It’s not just an archive—it’s a reference, and one we take seriously.
🔍 What’s in the mix?
This site contains:
- Original descriptions and structure created by The Glass Database team
- Contributions from people who register and share their knowledge
- Historical materials gathered from archives, old catalogs, or donated materials
Some of this content is fully public domain. Some is contributed by living users. Some has unclear origins but meaningful value. We try to mark everything clearly—and treat it all with respect.
✅ What you’re free to do
- Explore the archive. No login required. No paywall. Dive in.
- Share short excerpts. Writing a paper? Sending a note to a friend? Grab a quote or two with a link back.
- Use entries for personal or non-commercial research. Collectors, students, curious minds—you’re welcome here.
🚫 What’s not okay
- Copying or rehosting full entries elsewhere. The work of researching and verifying content takes time. Please don’t mirror full records on other sites, books, or catalogs.
- Using user-submitted images without permission. If a contributor shares an image, they still hold the copyright. They’ve allowed us to show it here—but not anywhere else. You can’t download, hotlink, or reuse an image unless you’ve got direct permission from them. We can’t grant it on their behalf.
- Embedding images off-site via direct links. Linking to a database page is absolutely fine—preview thumbnails may appear on social media or in messaging apps, and that’s by design. But copying or embedding image URLs directly into other sites, platforms, or documents is not permitted. If an image shows up off-site, it should only be because the page itself was shared.
- Asking to remove published content. Once a submission is reviewed and added to the archive, it becomes part of the public record. That permanence helps keep the system stable and trustworthy.
📎 Linking is welcome—but image use isn’t
We love it when people share pages from the archive. You’re encouraged to link directly to an object or entry—when you do, we may include a small image preview in your link. That’s totally fine.
What’s not okay is grabbing image URLs or downloading pictures for your own reuse. Every image belongs to its original contributor, and their permission is needed for anything beyond this site. We can’t grant that on their behalf.
✍️ If you contribute to the site…
- You keep the copyright to your work
- You give us permission to display it on this site, including previews that may appear when someone shares a link
- You can be named or stay anonymous
- You can’t request removal once your submission is published
📌 How to cite us
If you’re quoting from the archive, we’d appreciate a simple credit like:
> The Glass Database, www.theglassdatabase.com (accessed 2025)
If anything’s unclear or you need specific permission to reuse something, we’re happy to talk—just know that in many cases, the right to say yes or no belongs to the original contributor.