Students are required to read the assigned materials in the following table before each class session. Most assigned readings are from the course textbooks:
Cowan, Ruth Schwarz. A Social History of American Technology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780195046052.
Smith, Merritt Roe, and Gregory Clancey, eds. Major Problems in the History of American Technology. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. ISBN: 9780669354720.
Students must also read a book selected from a list of acceptable titles, and write a review as described in the assignments section.
- List of acceptable books for review (PDF)
For students who are not familiar with American history and need to familiarize themselves with the subject, a helpful introduction is: Maier, Pauline, et al. Inventing America: A History of the United States. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2005. ISBN: 9780393926750.
Films viewed in many class sessions are also listed in the table.
- Tips on how to evaluate films, from the 1999 version of this course (
PDF)
(Note: film review essays are no longer assigned for the course.)
| Lec # | Topics | READINGS | FILM VIEWING |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | A Man, A Plan, A Canal - Panama | |
| 2 | What is Technology? | Smith and Clancey. pp. xiii-xv (preface) and 2-15 (Marx, Winner, and MacKenzie essays.) Cowan. pp. 1-4 and 201-18. | |
| 3 | Technologies of Colonization and Conquest | Cowan. pp. 5-27. Smith and Clancey. pp. 26-60. | |
| 4 | Crafts and Craftsmanship in Early America | Cowan. pp. 28-65. | The Gunsmith of Williamsburg. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 59 min. 1969. |
| 5 | Paul Revere: Technologist? Guest Speaker: Prof. Rob Martello (Olin College) | ||
| 6 | Politics and Early American Industrialization | Smith and Clancey. pp. 103-42. Cowan. pp. 67-91. | |
| 7 | The Role of the State in Early American Industry | ||
| 8 | Social and Political Implications of the New Technology | Smith and Clancey. pp. 144-89. | |
| 9 | The Transportation and Communications Revolution First Reading Quiz | Cowan. pp. 93-118. Smith and Clancey. pp. 191-232. | |
| 10 | Art and Industrialization | Cowan. pp. 208-18. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Celestial Railroad." (Download "The Celestial Railroad," contained in a version of the text Mosses from an Old Manse and Other Stories, from Project Gutenberg.) Notes on "The Celestial Railroad." (PDF) | |
| 11 | The Emerging Culture of Engineering in America | Cowan. pp. 119-47. Smith, Merritt Roe. "Becoming Engineers in Early Industrial America." Working Paper 13, Program in Science, Technology and Society, MIT, 1990. | The Iron Road. 59 min. |
| 12 | Technology in the Civil War Era | Cowan. pp. 149-99. Smith and Clancey. pp. 234-55. | |
| 13 | Technology in the Civil War Era (cont.) | Foley, Brendan. "Naval Roots of American Mechanical Engineering." Draft of thesis/paper in production. | Brooklyn Bridge. 58 min. |
| 14 | Human Machines? Frederick W. Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management | Smith and Clancey. pp. 267-311. | Clockwork. Produced and directed by Eric Breitbart. 28 min. 1982. |
| 15 | Automobility and Mass Production | Cowan. pp. 221-48. Smith and Clancey. pp. 312-54. | |
| 16 | Second Reading Quiz | ||
| 17 | Mass Production | Chaplin, Charles. Modern Times. 1936. | |
| 18 | Hobbyist Worlds and Technological Enthusiasm in Modern America Guest Speaker: Kieran Downes (MIT) | Smith and Clancey. pp. 355-82 and 510-15. Cowan. pp. 273-92. | |
| 19 | Aeronautics and the Systems Approach Guest Speaker: Dr. Deborah Douglas (MIT Museum) | Cowan. pp. 249-56. | |
| 20 | Technology and Art at the Apex of the Machine Age | Cowan. pp. 213-18. | |
| 21 | World War II: A Technological Turning Point? Guest Speaker: Dr. Brendan Foley (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) | Cowan. pp. 256-70 and 310-18. | Clip from Twelve O'Clock High. Scene 13 - Strategic Bombing Campaign aerial combat footage - approx. 10 min. |
| 22 | World War II: A Technological Turning Point? (cont.) | The Day After Trinity | |
| 23 | A New World: Technology in Cold War America | Smith and Clancey. pp. 427-69. Cowan. pp. 292-99. Noble, David F. "Social Choice in Machine Design." In Case Studies on the Labor Process. Edited by A. Zimbalist. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780853455196. | Automation. CBS documentary with Edward R. Murrow. c. 40 min. 1957. |
| 24 | Computers and Control: The Apollo Program Guest Speaker: Sandy Brown (MIT) | Smith and Clancey. pp. 471-96 and 516-18. Cowan. pp. 292-99. | |
| 25 | Nature's Revenge: Technology and the Environment | Smith and Clancey. pp. 383-426. | Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Produced for PBS's The American Experience, 1993. |
| 26 | The Brave New World of Biotechnology Guest Speaker: Victor McElheny (MIT Knight Fellows Program) | Cowan. pp. 301-26. |