Networks

The Stained Glass Association of America is a 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation acting as a professional trade association. By virtue of this distinction, SGAA is devoted to the improvement of business conditions in the stained glass industry. Founded as The National Ornamental Glass Manufacturers Association, now The Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA) was organized in July 1903 by a group of stained glass craftsmen to promote and protect the art of architectural stained glass. During the course of the more than 115-year history of the organization, this effort has grown to include all architectural glass arts. Otto W. Heinigke wrote in 1923 that the purpose of the Association stated in its constitution is “in all lawful ways to promote the welfare of its members and bettering of trade conditions generally.” (Ornamental Glass Bulletin, June, 1923)

John G. Lloyd in Stained Glass in America lists eight points of the early aims of the Association:

1. To put an end to cutthroat competition that did nothing more than encourage poor quality and discourage honest craftsmanship
2. To educate the public and help churches and architects to have a better understanding of stained glass
3. To promote real aesthetic values and standards for the craft
4. To combat low quality and low prices of foreign competition
5. To promulgate friendship and understanding among the craftsmen themselves
6. To counteract the pressure of organized labor that, at the time, caused unsettled conditions in a largely unorganized craft-industry
7. To establish economic standards that would end the practice of ridiculously low pricing that came about through ignorance of how to figure a job
8. To raise the standards of the craft both artistically and economically