The Making of the Glencairn Methuselah Window

Lawrence Saint

A written record kept from December 13, 1927 to May 17, 1928 by Lawrence Saint, a stained glass artist who made windows for Bryn Athyn Cathedral and later Washington National Cathedral. Most of it concerns the making of the Methuselah window, later installed in the living room/library of Glencairn, the home of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn (now Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA). This window is a copy of the original in Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England.


Methuselah window

This notebook is located in the Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn Archives, Bryn Athyn, PA. For the sake of simplicity, in the online version we have numbered the pages consecutively instead of using the original page numbers. While the notebook is not signed by Saint, the handwriting is a match, and a letter Raymond Pitcairn wrote to Samuel Caldwell in Canterbury, England, confirms he was working on this window.

At the present time, Lawrence Saint is working on a copy of the Methuselah window of Canterbury. We are using a Canterbury border from a window, portions of which he copied while he was over last, and we have had to make up a panel of scroll work at the bottom of the window. I should greatly appreciate all the facts and historical information which you may have on the Methuselah window, and shall be very happy to compensate you for the time required to write this up for me. (Raymond Pitcairn to Samuel Caldwell. December 23, 1927. The Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn Archives, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, PA.)

Shortly after completing the window, Saint left Bryn Athyn for Washington, D.C. to work on stained glass windows for the National Cathedral.

Notebook cover

Inside Cover Page 21 Page 42 Page 63
Page 01 Page 22 Page 43 Page 64
Page 02 Page 23 Page 44 Page 65
Page 03 Page 24 Page 45 Page 66
Page 04 Page 25 Page 46 Page 67
Page 05 Page 26 Page 47 Page 68
Page 06 Page 27 Page 48 Page 69
Page 07 Page 28 Page 49 Page 70
Page 08 Page 29 Page 50 Page 71
Page 09 Page 30 Page 51 Page 72
Page 10 Page 31 Page 52 Page 73
Page 11 Page 32 Page 53 Page 74
Page 12 Page 33 Page 54 Page 75
Page 13 Page 34 Page 55 Page 76
Page 14 Page 35 Page 56 Page 77
Page 15 Page 36 Page 57 Page 78
Page 16 Page 37 Page 58 Page 79
Page 17 Page 38 Page 59 Page 80
Page 18 Page 39 Page 60 Page 81
Page 19 Page 40 Page 61 Page 82
Page 20 Page 41 Page 62 Back Cover