After the college closed, the museum relocated to New Bedford in part due to the city's rich heritage of glassmaking.

The earliest example of glass on display is a core-formed vessel of eastern Mediterranean origin dating from 600 BCE.

The museum's collection of American political glass, featured in a special installation at the New Bedford City Hall, is the largest of its kind on public display, numbering more than 500 items.

Popular permanent exhibits in the museum galleries include "Contemporary Paperweights: The Schimmelpfeng Collection" and "Atomic Green Vaseline: Uranium Glass in Everyday Life."

Another important resource at the museum is the Virginia Shaw Rockwell Research Library, which contains more than 6,000 publications on the subject of glass.