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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Industrial history
Glass plays an essential role in our lives and has done for
centuries. Glass has not always been so ubiquitous and this book
charts the development of the English glass industry from the
medieval period to recent times. Medieval glass was a scarce,
luxury material used to furnish the tables of the wealthiest
members of society, and to glaze only churches and palaces. The
industry was small and largely based in rural areas, where the
necessary raw materials (in particular wood for fuel) were
abundant. In the 16th century, glass manufacture increased and
benefited from technological development (largely brought by
immigrant glass makers). This encouraged a drop in prices for
customers which probably helped to increase the demand for glass.
Throughout the 17th century the English glass industry was
transformed by the use of new coal-fuelled furnaces, and raw
materials, especially seaweed and lead. By the 18th century, glass
was routinely used to glaze houses even for the less wealthy
members of society, store wine and beer, and serve drinks. The
scientific analysis of glass and glass working waste from this
period has advanced considerably in recent years and has enriched
our understanding of the raw materials and technologies employed in
glass manufacture.
Drawing on the papers presented at CEEJA's* first international
conference addressing the long-neglected field relating to the
generation, dissemination and application of technical knowledge in
Japan from the Edo to the Meiji periods, this volume provides a
valuable selection of new research on the subject, from Hashimoto
Takehiko's detailed examination of Tanaka Hisashige's 'Myriad Year
Clock', Regine Mathias's paper on mining and smelting, and Erich
Pauer's overview of Japanese technical books in the pre-modern era,
to Suzuki Jun's detailed account of boiler-making in late
nineteenth-century Japan. * Centre Europeen d'Etudes Japonaises
d'Alsace, 2017
Forbidding canyons, raging rapids and menacing rocks--this was the
daily challenge that faced whitewater men who worked the wild
rivers and creeks to bring freight and supplies to northern BC in
the years before the Grand Trunk Railway. In particular, the Grand
Canyon of British Columbia's Fraser River was infamous for
swallowing at least 200 luckless occupants of rafts and small craft
between the years 1862-1921. "Sternwheelers and Canyon Cats:
Whitewater Freighting on the Upper Fraser" is the story of the
"Canyon Cats" who made their living running the Grand Canyon and
other equally dangerous waterways; men such as George Williams,
affectionately known to his peers as "The Wizard of the River," and
Frank Freeman, a powder expert who tamed the wildest water by
blowing out many of the worst boulders and logjams thereby allowing
safer passage for the scows, sternwheelers, rafts and boats that
travelled the murky river.
A total of twelve steamers worked the upper Fraser River during the
period 1862-1921 and the dangers faced by these vessels and their
steel-nerved captains are legend. It was a perilous existence
hauling supplies to the isolated construction camps of the GTP
Railroad and in retrospect it seems ironic that these steamers were
made obsolete by this same railway upon its completion.
"Sternwheelers and Canyon Cats: Whitewater Freighting on the Upper
Fraser" is a chronicle of the men whose feats almost defy belief
and whose contribution to BC history has gone long unrecognized.
It is 1615. Shakespeare is still alive and the country is at peace.
James 1 of England (James VI of Scotland) has been on the throne
since the childless Elisabeth I died in 1603. He claimed the throne
by virtue of the fact that he was direct in line of descent from
Henry VII, his great-grandfather. The English Navy, which had been
founded as a standing force by Henry VIII and had defended the
country from several Spanish Armadas during the Elisabethan era,
had been neglected. It needed rebuilding and this meant new ships
and plenty of stout English (and Welsh) oak. Luckily for James, one
of his closest advisors was an admiral, Sir Robert Mansell, who
having given up his naval career and become an industrialist and
entrepreneur (as well as a Member of Parliament), saw an
opportunity to secure his new-found business of coal mining and
glass-making. Mansell applied to the King to grant him a patent
forbidding the use of timber for smelting (mainly iron and glass)
and on 23 May 1615 the papers were signed. Thus, with the stroke of
his quill, the king started the industrial revolution that turned
the British Isles from an agrarian economy, based upon wool, water
power and wind power, to one where coal and steam brought about
unimaginable developments in trade and industry. It was following
the signing of the 1615 patent that glassmaking in Britain went
from a peripatetic, nomadic business which chased the fuel from
clearing to clearing in the dwindling forests, to one where the
fuel travelled to the kilns. By virtue of the fact that kilns
didn't have to move as the wood ran out, they could be bigger and
better, brick-built with chimneys and flues, which made the glass
stronger and more durable. It was into this exciting, changing
world of glassmaking that Sir Kenelm Digby developed his strong
verre Anglais bottles which enabled the production of (lightly)
sparkling bottle-fermented ciders and wines. The Knight who
invented Champagne is the story of King James I, Admiral Sir Robert
Mansell and Sir Kenelm Digby and the part they played between 1615
and 1630 in revolutionising the production of glass. The changes
they helped bring about led to the development and production of
stronger glass that could be used for making bottles that would
withstand the pressure caused by a secondary-fermentation in the
bottle. By 1662 we know that it was common practice by cidermakers,
vintners and coopers to add raisins and sugar to wine and cider at
bottling to start a secondary fermentation in the bottle. All of
this happened several years before Dom Perignon, often credited
with 'inventing Champagne', took up his position as cellarer at the
Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers.
The hands of Cornish miners bore scars of one of the most
sophisticated traditions of hard-rock mining in the world.
Toughened "Cousin Jacks" brought generations of toilsome
underground experience to the Americas from one of the oldest
mining regions of the world. Once here, their skill with granite
and ore won their fame as the industrial elite of western mining
camps. Heirs of a perfected system of excavation, a valuable
terminology, and the technical edge of a culture immersed in
sinkings, stopes, and winzes, they were the world's best hard-rock
miners. Pioneers in American mine operation, Cornish miners
utilized tribute pay to raise output and made themselves partners
with a grueling industry. Expertise made them company men,
superintendents, captains, and drillers, with their success
dependent almost entirely on their own initiative, coolness, and
skill. They are part of a culture that has survived because its
very roughness gave a resilience and durability that could be
transplanted and take root in an alien soil. The courage and
determination of these "Cousin Jacks" in their struggle against
overwhelming odds is dramatically illustrated in numerous personal
stories. The Atlantic crossing, and the journey overland to the new
mining districts, were exhausting trials. Although their skill in
working with rock and water was soon recognized, the extremes of
weather and temperature, strange sicknesses, the constant danger of
accidents, and the lawlessness of the camps, all made life hard to
endure. Many did not survive to send home for their families, yet
the majority persevered to spread their legendary mining skills and
to bring social as well as religious stability to mining areas that
extended from Wisconsin to California. In the continent-wide search
for bonanzas, Cornish miners and their families played a vital part
in the opening-up of the American West, and in the shaping of
modern industrial America. The author follows them across the
Atlantic to the lead mines and farms of Wisconsin, along the trails
to Oregon and Death Valley, the Sierras and the Sacramento in
California, then to the copper and iron ranges in the Hiawatha
country of Upper Michigan; from there to the silver and gold
canyons of the Rockies and the notorious Comstock Lode in Nevada,
and finally to the deserts of Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. Originally
published in 1967, this new edition contains an updated
introduction by Dr. Todd. With extensive footnotes and index,
handsomely printed on acid-free paper stock with cloth cover which
is stamped in gold foil on the spine and cover.
Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula juts into Lake Superior, pointing
from the western Upper Peninsula toward Canada. Native peoples
mined copper there for at least five thousand years, but the
industrial heyday of the "Copper Country" began in the late
nineteenth century, as immigrants from Cornwall, Italy, Finland,
and elsewhere came to work in mines largely run from faraway cities
such as New York and Boston. In those cities, suburbs had developed
to allow wealthier classes to escape the dirt and grime of the
industrial center. In the Copper Country, however, the suburbs
sprang up nearly adjacent to mines, mills, and coal docks. Sarah
Fayen Scarlett contrasts two types of neighborhoods that
transformed Michigan's mining frontier between 1875 and 1920:
paternalistic company towns built for the workers and elite suburbs
created by the region's network of business leaders. Richly
illustrated with drawings, maps, and photographs, Company Suburbs
details the development of these understudied cultural landscapes
that arose when elites began to build housing that was
architecturally distinct from that of the multiethnic workers
within the old company towns. They followed national trends and
created social hierarchies in the process, but also, uniquely,
incorporated pre-existing mining features and adapted company
housing practices. This idiosyncratic form of suburbanization
belies the assumption that suburbs and industry were independent
developments. Built environments evince interrelationships among
landscapes, people, and power. Scarlett's work offers new
perspectives on emerging national attitudes linking domestic
architecture with class and gender identity. Company Suburbs
complements scholarship on both industrial communities and early
suburban growth, increasing our understanding of the ways
hierarchies associated with industrial capitalism have been built
into the shared environments of urban areas as well as seemingly
peripheral American towns.
While the histories of gold, silver, and copper mining and smelting
are well studied, lead has not received much scholarly attention
despite a long history of both Native American and European desire
for the ore. Over time, native peoples made lead ornaments in
molds; French and American settlers used lead to form musket balls;
red lead became an important production element for flint and
crystal production; and white lead was used in making paint until
the mid-twentieth century. Gray Gold aims to broaden understandings
of early colonial and Native American history by turning attention
to the ways that mining-and its scientific, technological,
economic, cultural, and environmental features-shaped intercultural
interactions and developments in the New World. Backed by
remarkable original sources such as firsthand mining accounts,
letters, and surveys, Mark Chambers's study demonstrates how early
mining techniques affected the culture clash between Native
Americans and Europeans all the while tracking the impact increased
mining had on the environment of what would become the states of
Illinois and Missouri. Chambers traces the evolution of lead mining
and smelting technology through pre-contact America, to the
amalgamation of aboriginal processes with French colonial
development, through Spain's short occupation to the Louisiana
Purchase and ultimately the technology transfer from Europe to an
efficient and year-round standard of practice after American
assumption. Additionally, while slavery in early American industry
has been touched on in iron manufacturing and coal mining
scholarship, the lead mining context sheds new light on the history
of that grievous institution. Gray Gold adds significantly to the
understanding of lead mining and the economic and industrial
history of the United States. Chambers makes important
contributions to the fields of United States history, Native
American and frontier history, mining and environmental history,
and the history of science and technology.
An epic World War II story of valor, sacrifice, and the Rangers who
led the way to victory in EuropeIt is said that the right man in
the right place at the right time can make the difference between
victory and defeat. This is the dramatic story of sixty-eight
soldiers of the U.S. Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion, D Company- Dog
Company- who made that difference, time and again.From D-Day, when
German guns atop Pointe du Hoc threatened the Allied landings and
the men of Dog Company scaled the ninety-foot cliffs to destroy
them to the thickly forested slopes of Hill 400, in Germany's
Hurtgen Forest, where the Rangers launched a desperate bayonet
charge across an open field, captured the crucial hill, and held it
against all odds. In each battle, the men of Dog Company made the
difference. Dog Company is their unforgettable story- thoroughly
researched and vividly told by acclaimed combat historian Patrick
K. O'Donnell- a story of extraordinary bravery, courage, and
determination. America had many heroes in World War II, but few can
say that, but for them, the course of the war may have been very
different. The right men, in the right place, at the right time-
Dog Company.
During the mid-nineteenth century, a quarter of a million
travelers-men, women, and children-followed the "road across the
plains" to gold rush California. This magnificent chronicle-the
second installment of Will Bagley's sweeping Overland West
series-captures the danger, excitement, and heartbreak of America's
first great rush for riches and its enduring consequences. With
narrative scope and detail unmatched by earlier histories, With
Golden Visions Bright Before Them retells this classic American
saga through the voices of the people whose eyewitness testimonies
vividly evoke the most dramatic era of westward migration.
Traditional histories of the overland roads paint the gold rush
migration as a heroic epic of progress that opened new lands and a
continental treasure house for the advancement of civilization.
Yet, according to Bagley, the transformation of the American West
during this period is more complex and contentious than legend
pretends. The gold rush epoch witnessed untold suffering and
sacrifice, and the trails and their trials were enough to make many
people turn back. For America's Native peoples, the effect of the
massive migration was no less than ruinous. The impact that tens of
thousands of intruders had on Native peoples and their homelands is
at the center of this story, not on its margins. Beautifully
written and richly illustrated with photographs and maps, With
Golden Visions Bright Before Them continues the saga that began
with Bagley's highly acclaimed, award-winning So Rugged and
Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California,
1812-1848, hailed by critics as a classic of western history.
Lockheed has been one of American's largest corporations and most
important defense contractors from World War II to the present day
(since 1995 as part of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company). During
the postwar era, its executives enacted complicated business
responses to black demands for equality. Based on the papers of a
personnel executive, the memoir of an African American employee,
interviews, and company publications, this narrative history offers
a unique inside perspective on the evolution of equal employment
and affirmative action policies at Lockheed Aircraft's massive
Georgia plant from the early 1950s through the early 1980s. Randall
L. Patton provides a rare, perhaps unique, account of African
American struggle and management response, set within the context
of the regional and national struggles for civil rights. The book
describes the complex interplay of black protest, federal policy,
and management action in a crucial space in the national economy
and within the South, contributing to business history, policy
history, labor history, and civil rights history.
For centuries lime was an essential ingredient in many aspects of
life and work - such as farming, building and manufacturing - and
the kilns in which lime was produced were a familiar sight across
the country, not just in areas where limestone naturally occurred.
The importance given to the industry is illustrated by the number
of painters, notably Turner and Girtin, who chose to paint lime
kilns either as the main focus or as an incidental element, and by
the number of literary figures who brought lime burning into their
novels. Lime Kilns: History and Heritage starts by discussing the
uses and importance of lime, and how it has been portrayed
artistically, then describes how lime kilns changed over time, from
simple clamp kilns through small farmers' and estate field kilns to
large commercially operated kilns. It is illustrated with
contemporary and modern photographs, paintings and plans drawing on
examples from across Britain. David Johnson has published and
lectured widely on lime burning and is regarded as an authority on
the subject.
International Arms Trade has always been a powerful and
multi-functional constituent of world politics and international
diplomacy. Sending military advisors abroad and promoting arms
sales, each legitimizing and supporting the other, became
indispensable tools of alliance-making starting from the eve of the
First World War until today. To the German Empire, as a relative
latecomer to imperialistic rivalry in the struggle for colonies
around the word in the late 19th century, arms exports performed a
decisive service in stimulating and strengthening the German
military-based expansionist economic foreign policy and provided
effective tools to create new alliances around the globe.
Therefore, from the outset, the German armament firms' marketing
and sales operations to the global arms market but especially to
the Ottoman Empire, under the rule of Sultan Abdulhamid II, were
openly and strongly supported by Kaiser Wilhelm II, Bismarck and
the other decision-makers in German Foreign Policy. Based on
extensive multinational archival research in Germany, Turkey,
Britain and the United States, Arming the Sultan explores the
decisive impact of arms exports on the formation and stimulation of
Germany's expansionist foreign economic policy towards the Ottoman
Empire. Making an important contribution to current scholarship on
the political economy of the international arms trade, Yorulmaz's
innovative book Arming the Sultan reveals that arms exports,
specifically under the shadow of personal diplomacy, proved to be
an indispensable and integral part of Germany's foreign economic
policy during the period leading up to WW1.
In the past 100-plus years, forestland ownerships have gone through
two structural changes in the US and other parts of the world: the
accumulation of industrial timberlands between 1900s and 1980s and
the transformation of industrial timberlands to institutional
ownerships afterwards. This book is about the history and economics
of these two structural changes with the emphasis on the latter.
The scale of both changes is unprecedented and truly revolutionary,
impacting tens of millions of acres of private landholdings and
billions of dollars of investment and affecting industrial
structure, forest management and policy, research and development,
community welfare, and forest sustainability. Looking though a
historical count of key events, players, prevailing management
philosophies, public policy, and institutional factors, the author
of this book searches for an economic explanation and assesses the
impact of these two changes. Its main contributions are three
folds. First, it explains why industrial firms were able to profit
from owning large areas of forest lands in the first place and how
institutional investors could purchase these lands later. Many
details of the history that could have otherwise been lost are
revealed in this book for the first time. Second, it compares
private and public equity timberland investments with respect to
risk-adjusted returns as well as such other dimensions of interest
to investors and forest managers including alignment of interests,
capacity to exploit market inefficiencies, and their forest
management and conservation records. Finally, it provides
thoughtful commentary into the future of institutional timberland
investments and global forest sustainability. This book is required
reading for anyone interested in understanding the workings of the
modern forest sector in the U.S. and elsewhere, forest investment,
and forest sustainability.
Now widely recognized as a novelist and essayist, working-class
writer Ethel Carnie Holdsworth first published as a poet. The three
books collected here demonstrate her growth in this genre from her
early poems, written when she worked full time in the mill, to her
last book of poetry, Voices of Womanhood, which realizes her mature
insights into the lives of working-class women. Carnie Holdsworth's
poetry provides both a unique perspective on British life in the
early twentieth century and an invaluable testament to the
experiences of her gender and class.
The remote Kimberley region of Western Australia has a rich history
and unique geography. In the 1960s De Beers, the world's largest
diamond company, sent gem-hunters to the area but they came away
empty-handed. It was a vast region to survey, and they'd overlooked
something vital. A few years later, a team of Australian geologists
with a tiny budget searched for even tinier mineral clues. Those
clues led them to the earth's largest diamond deposit and the
world's richest source of rare pink diamonds. Based on in-depth
research and interviews-including with Alan King Jones, Bill Leslie
and 'the father of Australian diamonds', Ewen Tyler-Argyle: The
Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds details the almost
overwhelming challenges with realising a diamond mining venture in
Australia, shows how these obstacles were overcome, and explores
the mine's impact and legacy.
The Hawaiian pineapple industry emerged in the late nineteenth
century as part of an attempt to diversify the Hawaiian economy
from dependence on sugar cane as its only staple industry. Here,
economic historian Richard A. Hawkins presents a definitive history
of an industry from its modest beginnings to its emergence as a
major contributor to the American industrial narrative. He traces
the rise and fall of the corporate giants who dominated the global
canning world for much of the twentieth century. Drawing from a
host of familiar economic models and an unparalleled body of
research, Hawkins analyses the entrepreneurial development and
twentieth-century migration of the pineapple canning industry in
Hawaii. The result is not only a comprehensive history, but also a
unique story of American innovation and ingenuity amid the rising
tides of globalization.
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