SIA structure and history
The SIA was founded in 1967, influenced directly by IA in the UK through several individuals. It was also affected by the simultaneous development of Historical Archaeology in the US; in fact, SIA was, to an extent, a reaction to that development. It is an organization dominated by enthusiasts, museum and government employees, but enjoys a good mix of archaeologists and academics. The founding fathers coalesced around some salvage documentation projects such as Hudson River Valley near Troy, NY. SIA is characterized by scholarship (SIAN quarterly, and IA biannual), annual conferences and tours, and 10 local chapters scattered across the country.
The chapters vary in their degree of involvement, from hosting meetings and tours to spearheading site initiatives like those discussed here in Nordrhein-Westphalia. We have almost 2000 members, including about 50 in Europe.
SIA was founded at the same time as the Historic American Engineering Record, an arm of the National Park Service, a unit related to its older sister the Historic American Building Survey. HAER engages in documentation to high standards with photos, measured drawings, and historical narratives designed to last 500 years, deposited in the Library of Congress. HAER pays particular attention to sites owned by the Federal government, but their brief extends beyond that boundary (for example, they conduct bridge inventories for Departments of Transportation, Dam studies for Corps of Engineers, statewide surveys in co operation with various agencies, and site studies such as the Quincy Mining Company in Michigan and a variety of sites in Birmingham, Alabama). HAER runs an annual program with student interns (architects, historians, engineers, occasional archaeologist), some recruited through ICOMOS.
Preservation or Interpretation initiatives -
National sponsorship
Perhaps the best example is Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts. This is the first US national park dedicated to industry. It was founded in the decaying mill town of Lowell, MA, where 19th century multiple use of the falling water spurred the American Industrial Revolution.
Dozens of mill buildings and an exceptional canal system were on the brink of demolition as the textile industry moved south and abroad. Political action stimulated a renaissance with Federal, State, and corporate investment, coincident with a boom in high technology and the movement of such companies as DEC and Wang into the region. The National Park and State park, the Textile Museum and other sites have had a huge impact on the area, creating jobs, stabilizing environment, bringing thousands of visitors, and celebrating the industrial culture of the area.
Another example is America's Industrial Heritage Project, which started with a bang, but is whimpering under the dark cloud of political patronage. Located in Pennsylvania, this large scale undertaking involved a number of independent sites and agencies, but coordination is proving to be very difficult.
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The latest example of a national effort is the Keweenaw National Historical Park. Located in the far northern reaches of Lake Superior, this area had little political power to influence Federal involvement, but the rich resources present caught the imagination of the bureaucrats. This is a new concept, a so called partnership park, with little or no Federal ownership. It includes ±25 members; museums, local historical societies. The Federal experts do the planning, put in some people, such as an architectural historian, gradually purchase or lease some key sites, but push hard to generate local/state level developments. This park has had mixed success after eight years (some structures saved, but most of the budget is consumed within the Federal bureaucracy).
Preservation/interpretation initiatives: local/corporate
Sloss Furnaces, in Birmingham Alabama, has been a success story for IA and the interpretation of industrial heritage. A large blast furnace complex in the southern iron district, Sloss was adopted by the city in response to extensive local interest, has been the focus of careful recording and documentation, and has succeeded in staying viable by arranging a series of alliances with various local constituencies. Among the most important adaptations have been the conversion of one of the large casting sheds to a public events venue, with flexible seating and exhibit furnishings, and a partnership with the arts community that is distinguished by a series of Iron Art events that reach a national audience, as well as regular local sessions of moldmaking and casting. These efforts and the city´s support have assured the site s future and allowed them to interpret key parts of the rich heritage of iron production in the American South. Sloss was the first attempt at doing something of that scale, and it succeeded partly because they didn´t believe that it would fail!
Undertaken by Bethlehem Steel on the site of their original plant, Bethlehem Works is the latest and largest initiative, and is still in planning and implementation phase. Bethlehem Steel shut down the hot end of their hometown plant in 1995, closed coke plants and sold off steel making businesses by 1998. Operating began at this site in 1857. Facing huge cleanup costs and significant community impact, Beth Steel decided to try innovative means to use the site and revitalize the community. Toward that end, they are developing, on the 1600 acre site, an intermodal freight terminal, a mixed use industrial park, and Beth Works, a family oriented theme park and museum complex. This effort will involve $ 40 m of corporate cleanup, $ 5 m federal transportation upgrades, and $ 13 m infrastructure improvements through the city, using a combination of funds. The industrial museum will be funded by Bethlehem Steel and a variety of external funds.
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Beth Works is on a 160 acre parcel within the larger site and includes the major historical iron working facilities. They have employed a park developer to generate design ideas, and have affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution to create a National Museum of Industrial History. The 1883, 330,000 square foot Machine Shop will contain over 100 artifacts, most of them from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition at the Smithsonian; large industrial engines, tools, and artifacts celebrating the first 100 years of US industrial development. An adjacent 250,000 sq ft open hearth shop will eventually house the Iron and Steel Showcase, much of it filled with artifacts collected by Beth Steel during its history. Plans call for innovative use of the remainder of the site, including moving visitors on the ore and slag railroad, an IMAX cinema, pools and ice rinks established in cooperation with local universities, and a hotel/convention complex, all designed to take advantage of approximately 2m sq ft under roof in historically significant buildings.There is room to quibble about details, historicity, and motives, but the imaginative reuse of this complex, following a thorough documentation project conducted by HAER, is a landmark example for American IA and brownfields development. The NMIH concept will also bring out the Centennial Exhibition objects, which otherwise would not be available to the public for the forseeable future. Beth Steel is, by the way, a Corporate Member of SIA, with a number of its staff joining as individuals, as well!
There are some notable failures, such as the Hulett unloaders in Cleveland Ohio, an unfortunate example of the failure to preserve important industrial sites, despite extensive efforts on the part of professionals and community activists alike. Designed and built in the 1890s, these bulk unloaders were used to remove iron ore shipped from the Lake Superior district, destined for the steel mills of the Midwest. The operated until 1992, and have been the focus of an intensive preservation campaign since that time. Unfortunately, the controlling agencies have decided to remove them from their prominent lakefront location, mothballing two units for possible re erection in a riverfront park, in a setting where they would never have been used.
Future lies in education and cooperation
MTU program: postgraduate degree in IA, with archaeology, architectural history, history of technology, some high tech gps/gis/remote sensing, and lots of hands on work in Midwest, the Carribbean, and Alaska.
We serve 10-12 students at a time, with backgrounds in archaeology, history, architecture, engineering. Students spend two years of study and practical experience. All have progressed into jobs or doctoral studies, working in museums, government preservation agencies, private consulting firms, or prestigious universities such as Brown and Arizona.
Networking via organizations such as SIA is necessary
It connects like minded souls (I never realized there was anyone else who cared!). We can learn from the mistakes and successes of others; this is exactly what brought me to the Ruhrgebiet in the first place! We can benefit from the remarkable connectivity of the new communication technologies; this is how I learned of the German Route of Industriekultur! Networking will allow like minded groups to coalesce for political clout that is clearly a necessary and a central ingredient in successes and (conversely) absent in most failures.
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