technology and culture Book Reviews 443 rately hinted at the value of the work. The index is also useful and reasonably thorough. Though historians will still want to consult more traditional bibliog raphies, such as those produced in the 1970s by the Agricultural History Center, the Hurts have provided a solid, up-to-date bibliogra phy with an innovative approach and extensive list of sources. Mark R. Finlay Dr. Finlay is an assistant professor of history at Armstrong State College. His disser tation was on the history of German agricultural experiment stations, and he has published articles on agricultural science in Europe and the United States. A Practical Introduction to Videohistory: The Smithsonian Institution and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Experiment. Edited by Terri A. Schorzman . Malabar, Fla.: Krieger, 1993. Pp. xi + 243; illustrations, notes, appendixes, bibliography, index. $30.75. “Videohistory,” as defined in this book, “is the video recording of visual information as primary historical evidence and involves a historian in shaping the original inquiry” (p. vii). It is an oral history interview recorded on videotape, with picture as well as sound. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Smithsonian Institu tion sponsored a five-year “experiment... to work out new guidelines and methodologies” for videohistory (p. vii). In existence from 1986 to 1992, the Smithsonian Videohistory Program focused on the theme “Science in National Life.” It undertook twenty-two projects, including topics in astronomy, aviation, biology, computers, conserva tion, genetics, medicine, national security, nuclear weapons, paleontol ogy, robotics, space science, and watchmaking; a list ofthe projects and the interviewees appears in an appendix. A PracticalIntroduction to Vid eohistory is the final report ofthe program. Edited by program manager Terri A. Schorzman, the book contains articles by her and several par ticipating historians and curators and one media producer, as well as useful appendixes. In addition to this book, the Smithsonian Videohis tory Program created historical documents in the form of videotapes and transcripts of interviews—270 hours on tape—and this documen tation is on deposit in the Smithsonian Institution Archives. In advising on the development of the Smithsonian Videohistory Program, Nathan Reingold stressed the role of a trained scholar in establishing the analytical structure of an interview, and the impor tance of collecting source materials in the history of science. The administrative, technical, and scholarly collaborators heeded this ad vice. In one case study Stanley Goldberg discussed his extensive expe rience with videohistory as applied to the Manhattan Project, record ing individuals and groups, on site or in studio, with or without artifacts. He amply demonstrated the interviewer’s importance to both content and style. Steven Lubar and Carlene Stephens gathered videotaped information about robotics and watchmaking, respec 444 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE tively. Stephens documented the dynamic process of making watches at the Waltham Clock Company in Massachusetts, and she discovered a reliance on handwork that is overshadowed in published literature preoccupied with automatic machinery. For her, videohistory became a tool for finding and using historical evidence in objects, for docu menting and studying our material culture. Lubar used videohistory to document museum acquisition of robots, but he noted a tension between documentation and investigation. Covering how-to and why, this PracticalIntroduction is indeed practi cal. Its emphasis is on the video and visual side of interviews, and it thereby assumes some knowledge of traditional interview techniques and the associated problems, like faulty memories and biased partici pants. Among the questions addressed is: Do you need to capture simultaneously, in Brien Williams’s words, “the observed present and the recollected past?” (p. 145). Will you capture unique visual data? Will videotaping, with the presence of the technical crew and equip ment, distort the interview process? Will the benefits outweigh the costs of production? An appendix contains worksheets, checklists, and sample documents, covering recording formats, equipment, per sonnel, planning, production, transcription, finding aids, archival re quirements, budget, release forms, and even set design. The Smithson ian Videohistory Program concluded that videotaping interviews is most useful in recording three types of historical information—(1) the interaction ofpeople with objects, places, or other people; (2) personal ity and body language; and (3) a process or the function of...