Paul Stankard discusses Frank Wheaton and the American Paperweight Guild, and the Paperweight Weekend. Oral history interview with Paul Stankard, March 23, 2018, Stankard Studio, Mantua, New Jersey. Clip length: 02:13

Paul Stankard: Frank Wheaton really enjoyed my work. When Pat [Stankard] and I were—when the children were young in the late—I think Wheaton Village  [now Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, New Jersey] opened in 1970—I was still working in industry. I would take Pat and the kids and we would go down and look at Wheaton Village and I would watch them make paperweights. That was the main theme down there, they were making paperweights. And there were public demos and all. So I had a chance to talk to Frank. And Frank went to a Paperweight Collectors Association convention and was taken aback by—the focus was on the antique French and the American paperweight makers were kind of like—we were anxious to share our work. But there was this idea that they were not even close to what was—what had been done by the French. So Frank—I remember talking to Frank about starting the American Paperweight Guild along with Reese Palley, a art dealer in Atlantic City. So Reece Palley Frank Wheaton—and I was involved a little bit—started the American Paperweight Guild. The second conference was at Wheaton’s and it was a huge success. So every two years in between the Paperweight Collectors Association convention, Wheaton had their paperweight weekend. And it was a magnet for all the American paperweight makers [laughs]. And it also was a—became successful because the collectors supported it. And the collectors didn’t have to pay ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars to buy an antique French paperweight. They could buy something—they could buy a Paul Stankard for six hundred bucks. Or they could buy a Charles Kazian for maybe a thousand dollars. So it was really fascinating to see this paperweight—Wheaton Village’s paperweight weekend change the culture of the paperweight collecting world.