International Symposium on Lewis Mumford—University of Pennsylvania, November 5–7, 1987

Abstract

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON LEWIS MUMFORD— UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, NOVEMBER 5-7, 1987 JANE MORLEY If we are to get an adequate grip on our mechanized culture before we lose both our consciousness of hu­ man purpose and our confidence in being able to control our own creations—which is the state many people, including scientists and technicians, are now in—it is important to know more about the history of technology itself. [Lewis Mumford, “From Erewhon to Nowhere,” The New Yorker 36 (October 8, 1960): 184] Lewis Mumford has long recognized that insights provided by the history of technology are central to understanding the vast transfor­ mations in the environment and in mankind’s inner life and sensi­ bilities. The idea that neither technology nor culture might be fully understood without the other is at the core of Mumford’s broad vision, a vision which continues to inspire two generations of intellectuals and scholars. In 1969, the Society for the History of Technology honored Mumford with the Leonardo da Vinci Medal, for contri­ butions including his role as a founding member of SHOT and as the author of books such as Technics and Civilization (1934) and the two volumes of The Myth of the Machine—Technics and Human Development (1967), and The Pentagon of Power (1970).1 The scope of Mumford’s work, however, extends well beyond the history of technology, and his distinguished contributions to other fields such as architecture, town planning, and literature have been equally honored. Mumford is one of the great generalists of our time: a thinker and writer whose Ms. Morley, a Ph.D. candidate in history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania, is writing her dissertation on inventor and building contractor Frank Gilbreth. ‘For an early statement by Mumford on the relationship between general history and technological change, see “History: Neglected Cue to Technological Change,” Technology and Culture 2 (Summer 1961): 230-36; “The Leonardo da Vinci Medal,” ibid. 11 (April 1970): 205-13.©1989 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X789/3001-0008$01.00 122 International Symposium on Lewis Mumford 123 interests and commitments transcend disciplinary and ideological boundaries.2 Mumford as a generalist who has been concerned with the historical relationships between technology and culture was the focus of an international symposium at the University of Pennsylvania on No­ vember 5—7, 1987. The symposium was convened by Thomas Parke Hughes, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and sponsored by the University’s Program for Assessing and Revitalizing the Social Sci­ ences (PARSS).3 Participants were initially encouraged—to use Mum­ ford’s own words—not to “abide too rigorously by a gentleman’s agreement not to invade each other’s territory.” The seventeen papers were grouped into five thematic sessions, each of which was chaired by a member of the PARSS Technology and Culture Seminar; a com­ mentary was provided by a seminar member and general discussion followed. The sessions covered “History, Technology, and Culture,” “Regionalism,” “Values and Artifacts,” “Pragmatism and the Tragic Sense,” and “Historian and Moralist.” Several papers specifically addressed the interests of Technology and Culture readers and therefore warrant brief description.4 In the first session on “History, Technology, and Culture,” Arthur Molella (Na­ tional Museum of American History) placed “Mumford in Historical Context,” exploring the general technological enthusiasm of the first thirty years of the 20th century, the period of Mumford’s intellectual preparation for writing Technics and Civilization. According to Molella, this shared enthusiasm was a generational phenomenon, born of a popular fascination with the new technologies of the “Machine Age,” World War I, and the resulting “industrial wave” in its aftermath. Despite the strong social and cultural criticism expressed in Technics, “Mumford clearly savored technological processes for their own sake as unique manifestations of human ingenuity.” His appreciation for 2Sce Russell Jacoby, The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in the Age of Academe (New' York, 1987). Mumford's most recent award was in 1986, when President Ronald Reagan chose him as a recipient of the National Medal of Arts; see Irvin Molotsky, “Reagan Picks Winners of...