Scope and Contents

Records of the Society, including officers' files, grant files, journals, newsletters, editorial files, records relating to SIA's activities such as tours and conferences, films, photographs, and posters.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 11 series.

Series 1: Annual Meetings, 1971-2002

Series 2: Fall Tours, 1972-2002

Series 3: International Conferences, 1973-1994

Series 4: , 1985-2018

Series 5: Editors' Files, , 1982-1994; undated

Series 6: SIA Newsletters, 1971-2020

Series 7: SIA Publications, 1971-2003

Series 8: Grants, 1981-1992

Series 9: Awards, 1998-2001

Series 10: Local Chapter Reports and Activities, 1978-1999

Series 11: Addenda, 1965-2017

Historical Note

The roots of the Society for Industrial Archeology can be traced back to a seminar on industrial archeology held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, on April 11, 1967. Kenneth Hudson, the prominent British archeologist, was the featured speaker and main attraction. More than 30 people attended this day-long seminar, including state and federal government officials involved in historic preservation; museum professionals from the Smithsonian, other technology museums, and a handful of historic sites and parks; and representatives of several engineering societies. The sessions concentrated on what was being done in Great Britain and on the Continent to promote the study of industrial archeology, and what needed to be done in the United States. This seminar planted the seeds for the eventual founding of the SIA, seeds which germinated for more than four years before bearing fruit.

The SIA was officially born at the conference held at the Smithsonian Institution on October 16, 1971. Paul E. Rivard, then director of the Old Slater Mill Museum, proposed a meeting to develop means to improve the exchange of ideas and information among people working in the "new" field of industrial archeology. Ted Sande, Philadelphia architect and doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, and Robert M. Vogel, curator of mechanical and civil engineering, Smithsonian Institution, organized the meeting. Nearly 50 people involved in the field attended this all-day conference, including architectural historians, historical archeologists, historians of technology, museologists, and preservationists. They came from museums, state and federal agencies, universities, and historical societies (see the appendix for a list of attendees). The same interesting collection of individuals, institutions, and interests remain well-represented in the SIA to this day.

(Extracted from , Vol. 17, No. 1 1991 Copyright 1991-1999, The Society for Industrial Archeology) Compiled and Edited by Charles K. Hyde.