Organizational Notes: The Detroit Meeting, 7-10 October 1999

The Society for the History of Technology held its forty-first annual meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Detroit's Renaissance Center, 7-10 October 1999. Hans Weinberger chaired the program committee; other members were Brett Steele and Michael Allen. Members of the local arrangements committee were Bob Casey (chair), Donna Braden, Judith Endelman, Leo Landis, William Pretzer, Joe Schultz (Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village); Donn Werling (Henry Ford Estate); Charles Hyde and Mike Smith (Wayne State University); Greg Field (University of Michigan, Dearborn); John Staudenmaier (University of Detroit Mercy). The meeting was supported by the Dibner Fund, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, the University of Detroit Mercy, the Ford Motor Company, and the Rouge Steel Company.

Sessions

How Do We Write the History of Technology?
Organizer: Mikael Hård, Technische Universität Darmstadt
Chair: Keld Nielsen, The Danish Museum of Electricity
Papers: "Macro History and the Quest for Synthesis," Tom Misa, Illinois Institute of Technology; "Historical Sources and Narrative Form, or How to Write the History of Diesel Engineering," Mikael Hård; "Toward a General History of Technology in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century, or How to Write a Contextualist History of Technology," Johan Schot, Universities of Twente and Eindhoven; "Historians of Technology and Their Audiences: Whom Do We Write For and How?" John Staudenmaier, S.J., University of Detroit Mercy
Commentator: Ruth Oldenziel, University of Amsterdam

From the Horse to the Car: New Perspectives on the Motorization of Transport
Organizer: David Kirsch, University of California, Los Angeles
Chair: Gijs Mom, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Papers: "Horse Substitution and Motorization of Transport: Results of Recent Research Against the Background of Transport Historiography," Clay McShane, Northeastern University, and Gijs Mom; "Diffusion and Substitution: Consumers and the Spread of the Car in the Netherlands," Peter-Eloy Staal, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven; "Betting on the Wrong Horseless Carriage: The Urban Electric Vehicle Revisited," David Kirsch and Gijs Mom; "Horses and Mules in the United States, 1860-1920," Philip M. Teigen, National Library of Medicine
Commentator: Joe Corn, Stanford University

Collaborators, Competitors, or Both? Technological Development and the Politics of the Anglo-American Alliance During the Mid-Twentieth Century
Organizer: Chris Eldridge, Lehigh University
Chair: John Kenly Smith Jr., Lehigh University
Papers: "Electronic Eyes for the Allies: Anglo-American Cooperation on Radar Development During World War II," Chris Eldridge; "Suspicious Allies: Wartime Aviation Developments and the Anglo-American International Airline Rivalry, 1939-45," Erik Benson, University of Georgia; "Cold War at 30,000 Feet: Anglo-American Aircraft Diplomacy and Technology Control in the Early Cold War," Jeffry A. Engel, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Commentator: Alex Roland, Duke University

Farming the Colony, Colonizing the Farm: Agricultural Technology and the Colonial State
Organizer: Suzanne M. Moon, Cornell University
Chair: Deborah Fitzgerald, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Papers: "The Co-production of Technology and National Identity: Intensive Agriculture and the Making of the Jewish Identity in Palestine," Samer Alatout, Cornell University; "Science and Agriculture, Shall the Twain Meet? The Case of Rice Breeding in Colonial Indonesia," Harro Maat, Wageningen Agricultural University; "Production, Technology, and Immigration and the Jamaican Colonial State: Modes of Production as State Ideology in the Post-Emancipation Era," Gary Gunnels, Auburn University
Commentator: Suzanne M. Moon

Swords into Plowshares? Civilian Uses of Military Knowledge
Chair: Robert Ferguson, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Papers: "U.S. Navy-trained Engineers in the Private Sector, 1865-1880," Brendan P. Foley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; "SAGE's Child: (Semi) Automating Air Traffic Control," Erik M. Conway, National Air and Space Museum; "Does Defense R&D Really Constitute an Economic Burden and Useless Expenditure?" Renaud Bellais, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale
Commentator: Arthur Molella, National Museum of American History

Strategies and Styles: Launching Technological Trajectories
Chair: Arwen Mohen, University of Delaware
Papers: "Designing a New National Technology Telescope: Technological Choices and Scientific Priorities, 1974-1984," W. Patrick McCray, University of Arizona; "Technological Trajectories in the Making: Two Case Studies from the History of Wind Power...