By 1880, Rudolf was assisting his father in producing the glass models, including the production of 131 Glass sea creature models for the Boston Society of Natural History Museum (now the Museum of Science). These models, along with the ones purchased by Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, were seen by Professor George Lincoln Goodale, who was in the process of establishing and building the Harvard Botanical Museum 's collection. In 1886, Goodale, traveled to Dresden to meet with the Blaschkas and request a series of glass botanical models for Harvard. Some reports claim that Goodale saw a few glass orchids in the room where they met, surviving from the work two decades earlier. Although initially reluctant, Leopold eventually agreed to send test-models to the U.S. Despite being badly damaged by U.S. Customs, Goodale appreciated their craftsmanship and showed them widely.