Industry has been more than a simple influence on our society, environment and landscape. It has shaped who we are and where we live, and it has brought about social change on an unprecedented scale in an unbelievably short period of time. But Chronos doesn’t discriminate and buries it all, so a discipline emerged after World War II (when the retooling of industry began to destroy elements of an earlier industrial time) to make sure this collective heritage wasn’t lost. That discipline is Industrial Archaeology.
Industrial Archaeology focuses on buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure and documents within their social and historical contexts. It provides technical information on obsolete processes not obtainable from other sources, and its subject matter covers everything from bridges to factories to railroads to mines to dams to workers’ housing.
- Sydney steel plant rail mill. Nova Scotia Museum.
- Kregel Windmill Company Factory – Public domain, Library of Congress
- Abandoned factory by Luca Rossato. CC Flickr Commons
- Jas. B. Smith & Co’s. blank book manufactory. Public domain, Library of Congress
- Voelklingen Sttelworks. The Association for Industrial Archaeology.
- Allenby Bridge building. Public domain, Library of Congress
- Abandoned stablishment, by Paolo Margari. CC Flickr Commons
- Pietromassimo Pasqui. CC Flickr Commons
- Abandoned factory by Luca Rossato. CC Flickr Commons
- Stamping Process – Public domain, U.S. Library of Congress
- Underground reservoir, Caluire Waterworks. The Association for Industrial Archaeology.
- Bucket Excavator – East Germany