Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material and immaterial evidence associated with past and present industrial processes.Industrial Archaeology: Principles and Practice, Peter Neaverson and Marilyn Palmer, Routledge, 1998, chapter 1, pages 1-2.
The CBA Practical Handbook of Industrial Archaeology. Marilyn Palmer, Michael Nevell & Mark Sissons, Council for British Archaeology, York, 2012, chapter 1, page 1-2. This can be either the material culture of a manufacturing process from any period or, more often, the study of the process of industrialisation through material evidence. This evidence includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, documents, and other items associated with the production, manufacture, extraction, transport, or construction of a product or range of products. It also includes the landscape impact of industrialsiation, both rural and urban. It is related to but, separate from, the study of industrial heritage. The field of industrial archaeology incorporates a range of disciplines including archaeology, architecture, construction, engineering, historic preservation, museology, technology, urban planning and other specialties, in order to piece together the history of past industrial activities and their impact on society. The scientific interpretation of material evidence is often necessary, as the written record of many industrial techniques is often incomplete or nonexistent. Industrial archaeology includes both the examination of standing structures and sites that must be studied by an excavation.The Texture of Industry, Robert B. Gordon and Patrick M. Malone, Oxford University Press, 1994, Chapter 1
The field of industrial archaeology developed during the 1950s in Great Britain, at a time when many historic industrial sites and artifacts were being lost throughout that country, including the notable case of Euston Arch in London. In the 1960s and 1970s, with the rise of national cultural heritage movements, industrial archaeology grew as a distinct form of archaeology, with a strong emphasis on preservation, first in Great Britain, and later in the United States and other parts of the world. During this period, the first organized national industrial heritage inventories were begun, including the Industrial Monuments Survey in England and the Historic American Engineering Record in the United States. Additionally, a number of regional and national IA organizations were established, including the North American-based Society for Industrial Archeology in 1971, and the British-based Association for Industrial Archaeology in 1973. That same year, the First International Conference on the Conservation of Industrial Monuments was held at Ironbridge in Shropshire. This conference led, in 1978, to the formal establishment of The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (commonly known as "TICCIH") as a worldwide organization for the promotion of industrial heritage. The members of these and other IA groups are generally a diverse mix of professionals and volunteers who share a common interest in promoting the study, appreciation and preservation of industrial archaeology and industrial heritage resources.
Industrial archaeology topics and sites
Industrial archaeology, that is the archaeology of industrialisation, covers a wide range of topics, from early ironworks and water-powered mills, to large 20th century factories, as well as ancillary sites and structures such as worker housing, warehouses, and infrastructure.
Generally, the four largest IA categories are: Extractive (also known as "basic materials", which includes mining, quarrying, petroleum, lumbering, etc.), Manufacturing (mills and factories, including their power systems and machinery), Public utilities (water, sewer, electric, gas, etc.), and Transport (canals, railways, roads, aviation, bridges, tunnels, etc.).
Additionally, the topic of power generation (water, wind, steam, electric, etc.), while applicable to each of the four major IA categories, is sometimes considered its own category.
The work of industrial archaeologists has led to greater public awareness of industrial landscapes and industrial heritage, including the creation of industry museums and the inclusion of sites on national and international historic cultural registers in many parts of the world. Notable examples include the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Engelsberg Ironworks and Lowell National Historical Park, among many others.
History of industrial archaeology
Early developments One of the earliest forerunners of the mid-20th-century IA-movement was the Sheffield Trades Technical Societies, established in 1918 at the University of Sheffield to preserve elements of that city's industrial history. In 1920, the Newcomen Society was founded in Great Britain to foster the study of the history of engineering and technology, including many relics of the Industrial Revolution, such as steam engines, canals, iron bridges, machinery, and other historical artifacts. The Newcomen Society also established the Journal of Industrial Archaeology in 1964, first national IA-publication in the UK. Another early development was the formation of the Cornish Engines Preservation Committee (CEPC) in 1935, to rescue the Levant Mine and Beam Engine in Cornwall.
During the early 20th century, the historic preservation movement in the United States was still in its infancy. Most of the historic sites that received any attention were related to presidents and political figures, or the early colonial period. However, in 1925, one of the first industrial museums in the United States opened at Old Slater Mill, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, at the site of the first successful textile mill in the country, built in 1793. The museum was founded by a group of business leaders with ties to the New England textile industry, during a period of decline due to Southern competition. The Old Slater Mill Association had the foresight to restore the old mill to its early 19th-century appearance, and fill it with a representative collection of textile machinery. In 1966, Old Slater Mill was declared a National Historic Landmark. In the early 1970s, Paul E. Rivard, then the director of the Old Slater Mill museum was one of the key figures in the founding of the Society for Industrial Archeology.
Another notable example of an early industrial archaeology site (one that predates the widespread IA-movement), is the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Saugus, Massachusetts. It is the site of the first integrated iron works in North America, and was reconstructed in the 1950s after extensive archaeological excavations that began in the late 1940s by Roland W. Robbins.
Beginnings of the IA movement The term "industrial archaeology" was popularised in Great Britain in 1955 by Michael Rix of Birmingham University, who wrote an article in The Amateur Historian, about the need for greater study and preservation of 18th and 19th century industrial sites and relics of the British Industrial Revolution.World Industrial Archaeology, Kenneth Hudson In 1959, Council for British Archaeology (CBA) established an industrial archaeology research committee. The CBA soon developed a standardized record card for industrial monuments, which it distributed to volunteer groups around the UK. In 1965, the National Record of Industrial Monuments (NRIM) was created as a central archive for the record cards that had been collected by Angus Buchanan at the University of Bath.Industrial Archaeology:A Handbook, Palmer, Nevell & Sissons, 2012 By the late 1960s, a number of local industrial archaeology groups had been formed in the UK, including the Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology in 1963, the Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society in 1967, and the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society in 1968, among others. The primary mission of these local IA groups during this period was recording the remaining relics of industrial history, especially those deemed to be most at risk from urban redevelopment schemes. Depending on the condition of the site or artifact, recording typically consists of compiling a brief summary of the site's history through available records, including old maps or photographs, followed by detailed onsite measurements, drawings and photographs of the existing conditions of the site. Generally, a report is prepared and copies are filed in a public archive for the benefit of future generations. Most recording trips are intended to obtain a general overview of existing conditions, and are not meant to be an exhaustive study.
One of the first areas to be the subject of a systematic study of industrial archaeology was the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, United Kingdom. This landscape developed from the 17th century as one of the first industrial landscapes in the world, and by the 18th century had a range of extractive industries as well as extensive iron making, ceramic manufacturing, and a series of early railways. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust was established in 1967, and the significance of the Ironbridge Gorge was recognized in 1986 with its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1963, British journalist Kenneth Hudson published the first IA text, titled Industrial archaeology: an introduction. Four years later in April 1967, Hudson spoke at a seminar at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., at what is considered the birth of the IA-movement in the United States. The seminar, which was attended by an audience of historic preservationists, museum professionals and others, focused on what was being done to promote the study of industrial archaeology in Great Britain and in Europe, and what needed to be done in the United States. By this time, a number of select historic industrial sites had been recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), which until then had mainly concentrated its efforts on architecturally significant sites. In 1967, the notable New England Textile Mills Survey (NETMS) was performed under the HABS umbrella, led by Robert M. Vogel, curator of the Division of Mechanical and Civil at the Smithsonian Museum of History and Technology. The NETMS was the first large-scale, industrial recording project by HABS.Vogel, Robert M., Historical Archaeology, The New England Textile Mill Survey, Vol. 1, 1967, page 34. It was followed by the New England Textile Mill Survey II in 1968.Sande, Ted, Technology and Culture, The National Park Service and the History of Technology: The New England Textile Mill Survey, Vol. 14, No. 3, July 1973 The full reports from the 1967 and 1968 textile mill surveys are now available for public viewing on the Library of Congress website, including the Amoskeag Millyard in Manchester, New Hampshire, which was drastically altered soon after the survey was completed.
The success of the 1967 and 1968 mill surveys led to the formation of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) in 1969, in conjunction with the American Society of Civil Engineers. Since then, thousands of industrial / engineering sites and structures throughout the United States have been recorded by HAER, and are on record at the Library of Congress for public benefit.
1970s-1980s