It is very interesting to see this issue being discussed, because it
reflects clearly the fact that IA is in the process of becoming something
more than what it has been. Malone and Gordon's new book is a great step
toward reconciling the HABS/HAER recording mode that has dominated IA in
this country with the historical archaeology focus that is making an
increasing contribution. Discussion of the West Virginia program offers a
good look into one strong theme in the current North American development
of IA; perhaps a summary of what's up at Michigan Tech might help to
understand a related but somewhat different trend. In any case, it is
something I am familiar with, and is probably not too tainted with opinion
or interpretation!
Over the past several years, a group of scholars has found their way to the
wilds of Michigan's western Upper Peninsula to teach and conduct their
research at Michigan Technological University. Founded in 1885 as the
Michigan Mining School, located in a region of copper and iron mines, this
institution is a Carnegie II (or is it IA?) ranked university, offering
PhDs in about a dozen fields. With 6700 students, about 2/3 in the college
of engineering, this is a school with strong industrial ties and a sense of
its connection to industrial heritage. When we accumulated 3 historians of
technology, a couple of archaeologists and a couple of cultural
anthropologists within the Dept of Social Sciences, all working with
industrial sites and societies, recognized the need for professional
cultural resource managers (what a term!) who knew something about
industrial sites and societies, and noted the current open niche for
graduate training in this field, we decided to fill it! In 1992 we
formally instituted an MS program, combining our interests, expertise,
setting and resources to do something we thought was needed and exciting.
We have since graduated two Master's students, both of whom found work
immediately, have 8 students with 1-2 years under their belts, 3 new
students for fall term, another historical archaeologist on faculty, a new
historic preservation/architectural history faculty member coming on this
month, and lots of research projects to do. All of our students are
supported, with Teaching and/or Research Assistantships, to varying
degrees. We're working with the Michigan Bureau of History, Wisconsin
Historical Society, US Forest Service, and several other agencies,
conducting projects that serve management and interpretive needs as well as
providing practical experience and thesis topics for our students.
While we are emphasizing the practical dimension within this program, we do
not neglect the intellectual component. The coursework required is
challenging and broad, with classes in CRM, History of Technology,
Historical Archaeology, Lab and Field Methods, Architectural History,
Anthropology of Work and Industry, and other specialized topics. All
students, whether their backgrounds and/or futures are grounded in history,
archaeology, engineering, administration or what have you, do some work in
history, some in dirt archaeology, some in CRM, some in methods. This is
one of the key elements that makes our program distinctive, I think.
Furthermore, we are seeking to define what IA is and can be by doing it,
rather than worrying too much about what it is a subset of. Malone and
Gordon's definition is excellent in its emphasis on the eclectic,
interdisciplinary nature of the study. That it is unbounded by traditional
disciplinary structures is its major strength, but has sometimes tended to
hold it back in institutions where traditional structure is necessary to
function at all. In this, IA is most like Historical Archaeology; HA has
not had, and is still struggling to find, a comfortable home in academe.
It's not quite anthropology in either the traditional 4-fields sense, and
certainly not in the current reflexive/contextual mode. But its not
straight history, nor completely comfortable even in a traditional
archaeology context. Yeah, there are a few degree-granting departments out
there, but it has taken decades of dedicated work and some will say not too
much progress has really been made in the academic realm by HA. IA has it
much worse, with its strong cadre of buffs and enthusiasts who have no
academic pretensions, and its preservation/recording tendencies putting
strict limits on its development and maturation.
The traditions in the UK and North America are somewhat different, but
certainly parallel, with the measured drawing/hobbyist crowd being
increasingly joined by dirt archaeologists, cultural anthropologists,
economic historians and others who are interested in both the hardware AND
the society that produced and was produced by it. We are seeing a dynamic
set of developments in this "discipline", developments that transcend
existing traditional discipline boundaries. One cannot characterize IA as
just what HAER does, or just what WVU's Institute does, or just what
British site recorders do, or just what Ironbridge does any longer. And,
at the risk of sounding snotty, it sure is not just a subset of historical
archaeology, either. IA is bits and pieces of all of these things, and
more, a field that attempts to make sense of all dimensions of industrial
heritage by integrating study of the documents, the artifacts, the
landscapes and the people.
Enough for now. Anyone wishing to continue this thread off the list and/or
learn more about IA, the SIA and MTU can contact me directly. If folks
want to flog it some more on the list, I'll be happy to participate.
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Patrick E. Martin, Associate Professor of Archaeology
Director of Graduate Studies in Industrial Archaeology
Editor of IA, the Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology
Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931 USA
Telephone (906)487-2070 Fax (906)487-2468 Internet [log in to unmask]
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