Mechanical thinning and fracturing techniques for preparing thin glass samples for direct‐transmission electron microscopy are discussed. A modification of the Doherty and Leombruno procedure for mechanically thinning ceramic materials is described. These techniques make possible more reliable electron microscope studies of fine‐scale submicrostructure in glass systems. Electron microscope observations on fused silica, an alkali borosilicate glass, and some binary silicate glasses are reported and discussed in terms of present understanding of glass struct