The Mission of the Industrial Museum in the Postindustrial Age

Abstract

suggest some new roles for them, it is helpful to remind ourselves that industrial museums have from their beginnings been pioneers in reinventing themselves. At the time of the founding of the first industrial museums in the United States, art museums had for the most part begun to abandon founding missions that focused on improving standards of design and contributing to the moral uplift of society, and had begun to develop a more internally focused agenda of research and connoisseurship. By the same token, most historical museums had retreated into a quiet and comfortable antiquarianism. The founders of America's industrial museums were themselves pattern breakers. In their view, the new museums they would create would be different. First and foremost, these new museums would be driven by a