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Finding Aid

Glady Levis-Pilz Collection

MSS-313

Size: .25 lin. feet
Provenance: Received from Gladys Levis-Pilz, October 2016

Access: open

Collection Summary: Collection of Levis family letters and newspaper clippings related to the family and Illinois Glass Company

Subject(s): Glass Industry, Business and Commerce

Related Collections:   Owens-Illinois Records, MSS-200; Edward Levis Collections, MSS-218

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Lauren White, October 2016

Biographical Sketch

The collection primarily relates to Robert H. Levis, and his brief biography follows:

Robert Harry Levis was born in Alton, Illinois, on May 2, 1862, one of seven sons of Illinois Glass Company founder Edward Levis. Like his brothers, he learned about the glass-making business from the ground up, eventually rising to become company treasurer. He was the last president of Illinois Glass before it merged with the Owens Bottle Company of Toledo in 1929 to form Owens-Illinois, Inc. He died October 14, 1950.

Additional biographical information on members of the Levis family can be found in the Owens- Illinois, Inc. Company Records, MSS-200 as well as the Edward Levis Family Collection, MSS-218.

Scope and Content Note

 This collection contains a small selection of items related to the Levis family of the Illinois Glass Company.

There are five samples of Correspondence from the Levis family, primarily to and from Robert H. Levis I. Included are letters to his wife, Mary, whom he addresses as “Bunch,” and letters sent from William E. Levis while he was serving in WWI.

Also of note are the Newspaper Clippings. Dating from the 1920s to 1973, the newspaper articles cover the Levis family and the Illinois Glass Company – again, primarily focusing on Robert H. Levis I. Included are his obituaries.

Finally, there is a small set of Miscellaneous items: Robert H. Levis’ ticket to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, which includes a photograph of Levis, and Levis’ Elks Lodge Membership card from 1950.

Folder List