When Pete Whiteford collected his first milk bottle in 1980, it was just one more regional antique to add to his collection.
“I collect anything from Harford County ? postcards, advertisements, dogs tags, can labels ? and my father was a dairy farmer in the 1930s, and back then Harford was one big dairy farm, so milk bottles made sense,” Whiteford said.
In case anyone thinks Whiteford focuses too much on his Harford County collection, he boasts possession of 17 of the 24 known bottle varieties from Carroll County farms, and he owns more than 3,000 bottles in total, including a wall with one from each state.
“I have one unique bottle misspelled Wistminster, which is actually from Westminster,” he said.
Whiteford could talk day and night about milk bottles, and it is this passion that persuaded the Carroll County Farm Museum to pick him to launch its 2006 Learning Lunch Series this May.
“At the farm museum, we try to get people to reconnect with their heritage. We are celebrating the museum?s 40th anniversary, and looking back to a time when the county had many milk farms,” said museum administrator Dottie Freeman, who can remember as a schoolchild going to the dairy and getting milk with cream on top on the doorstep.
Of more than 960 varieties of Maryland milk bottles in circulation, Whiteford says he has 615. “Some have the names of the big milk companies; others have the names of small family producers,” Whiteford said.
Before the proliferation of cartons, milk-makers and distributors fought a battle of prestige to have their names inscribed on glass milk bottles. “The Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore even had its name inscribed on the bottles it offered patrons,” Whiteford said.
Has Whiteford?s bottle hobby diminished the desire for milk in his diet? Not a chance. “I drink skim milk in cereal every morning and eat way too much ice cream,” he said.
Where to see…
Pete Whiteford will speak at the Carroll County Farm Museum Learning Lunch from noon to 1 p.m. May 1.
» Tickets: $2 per person; museum members can enter free.
