Integrating Technological and Social History: “Engines of Change” at the National Museum of American History

Abstract

Exhibit Reviews INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY: “ENGINES OF CHANGE” AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY M I C H A E L SIRA T T O N Curators and historians now recognize the failings of the traditional “power hall” or machinery gallery as a means of interpreting the Industrial Revolution. Many museums in Europe and North America feel embarrassed by their galleries of beam engines and machine tools, spotlessly clean and detached from any function, let alone any social context. However, they are also aware that steam engines and whirring machinery are more appealing than graphic panels explaining changes in death rates and worker incomes. “Engines of Change,” at the Smith­ sonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) in Washington, D.C., represents one of the first exhibitions to make a concerted effort to integrate technological progress with broader his­ torical issues, using videos, models, room reconstructions, and “inter­ active” elements to maintain the interest of the general public as well as the specialist.1 The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry pioneered semioperational and interactive exhibits, while innumerable historical societies have sought to link industrial and social issues in the interpretation of the history of particular cities. Some British muse­ ums have taken the cheap option of simply augmenting labels about valve gear and steam pressure with tabulated information about the functions and working contexts of exhibits. More concerted attempts to present a balanced viewpoint on the benefits and injustices of industrialization are liable to drift into clichéd images. Photographs contrast “then” and “now,” while most audiovisuals are dominated by Dr. Siraiiox is leclurer in industrial archaeology at the Ironbridge Institute, a collaboration between the University ol Birmingham anti the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. He thanks David de Haan and Bal tic Trinder lor their comments. 'A sixly-nine-page illustrated booklet, also titled Engines of Change, by curator Steven I.ubar accompanies the exhibition.© 1991) by the Society lor the History ol Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/90/31 02-0005S01.00 271 272 Michael Stratton heroic images of wealth and ingenuity, tempered by slides of Doré’s London slums or children crawling under spinning machines. Such audiovisual programs, to be found in many British industrial museums, pale when contrasted with the blunter, more contentious multiprojector show presented by the National Park Service at Lowell, Massachusetts, introducing visitors to the American cotton-milling capital before they set out on tours by foot, tram, or boat. The most recent British attempt to place technology in a broad historical context is the audiovisual show set in the East Hall of the Science Museum in London. This archetypal power hall, with the finest collection of steam engines in the world, has functioned since the 1920s as an introductory display for visitors. To give the hall a more contemporary appeal and place the prime movers in a contemporary context, a series of banners has been suspended within the central atrium; they display projected images of power stations and refineries to help the visitor make connections about the relevance of the museum and its objects.2 The NMAH has taken a more solidly museological approach to integrating its displays on engineering, transport, or printing within a historical context. The museum has already gained a strong record in tackling “difficult” issues of social history through exhibits such as “We the People”; hence, the prospect of its integrating the two separate camps of technological and social history was greeted with eager anticipation. But the title “Engines of Change” reflects the stance taken by the curators responsible for its creation, giving a primacy to invention, technology, and industry that social historians or demographers might question. “Engines of Change” is structured, with fluctuating rigor, around a series of themes. The first, “American Technology Realized: Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851,” provides an introductory benchmark (see fig. 1) hv focusing on the point when Britain first became aware of America’s technological prowess. Original exhibits, models, and en­ gravings portray some of the key products of American inventiveness, such as the McCormick reaper, which signaled the American lead in the mechanization of agriculture. Visitors tend to linger in this section, seeing it as a...