Give us this day our daily bread platter

McKee and Brothers plain glassware in “The City” pattern, purchases by Laura and Almanzo Wilder for their first Christmas together.

“…There was such a pretty set advertised, a sugar bowl, spoon-holder, butter dish, six sauce dishes, and a large oval-shaped bread plate. On the bread plate raised in the glass were heads of wheat and some lettering which read “Give us this day our daily bread.” – The First Four Years

One of the most popular Little House “collectibles” of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans is pieces in the same glassware pattern as those purchased by the Wilders for their first Christmas together, especially the “oval glass bread plate” with the words “Give us this day our daily bread” around its rim.

In The First Four Years, readers were first introduced to the set, which included not only the plate, but other pieces. The bread plate did survive the 1889 fire destroying the Wilder’s tree claim house; it’s on display at the Laura Ingalls Wilder / Rose Wilder Lane Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. While studying the glassware, researcher Richard Fisher noticed two of the sauce dishes on display separately in the museum and identified them as part of the Christmas glassware, so these have been moved to be near the Wilders’ plate.

Almanzo and Laura’s glassware was made by the factory of McKee and Brothers Glassworks, located in Pittsburgh, run by Thomas McKee and brothers Frederick and James. They made all sorts of glassware, including window glass, telegraph insulators, and pressed glass dinnerware. According to researcher Gilbert Beeson, their “City” set of plain (meaning largely undecorated) glassware was pictured in a catalog of 1882, although it was introduced the previous year. Many pieces had two squared handles with a circular medallion at the corner; the pattern is sometimes listed as “crossed discs/disks” today. The top edge of open pieces was scalloped. McKee was in business until 1899.

Either the Wilders bought open stock pieces and only the ones they wanted, or they bought a set with many more pieces and Laura only mentioned a few of them in The First Four Years. Other pieces made in the pattern were large and small covered compotes, pitcher, celery dish, pickle dish, egg cups, one-handled mugs, and three sizes of footed compote dishes. The spooner was also available with an etched flower design on it.

OVAL GLASS BREAD PLATE. In at least one early catalog picture, the bread plate illustrated is different from the one on display at Rocky Ridge Farm. The Wilders’ bread plate is identical to the one shown in the picture here; the rim is flat, the letters have stippling inside the outline of each letter, and the head of the wheat sheaf faces to the left when the words are in a position to be read. Some plates were printed with smooth glass between the letter outlines, so it you want to buy a plate exactly like Laura’s, look for that stippling!

glass table set (FFY) sugar bowl spoon-holder, see spooner butter dish sauce dishes oval glass bread plate

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