The list of selected staff publications may be searched by keyword or author and can be sorted by year.
Essay on the history of collecting and exhibiting timepieces at the Smithsonian Institution.
Publications
“From Little Machines to Big Themes: Clocks, Watches and Time at the National Museum of American History.”
Material History Review (Fall 2000): 44–58.
"Schreib- und Rechenmaschinenschätze der Smithsonian Institution."
Translation by Hartmut Keil. Historische Bürowelt 10 (July 1985): 7–10.
Survey of historically significant typewriters and calculators in Smithsonian collections for a German audience.
"Before Standard Time: Distributing Time in 19th-Century America."
Vistas in Astronomy 28 (July 1985): 113–118.
Brief survey of time signals distributed by telegraph, with special emphasis on the Harvard College Observatory.
On Time: How America Has Learned to Live by the Clock.
Boston: The Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown, 2002.
Book that accompanies the NMAH exhibition of the same title.
Inventing Standard Time.
Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American History, 1983.
Booklet that accompanied a temporary NMAH exhibition of the same name.
“Revolution on Your Wrist,”
with Maggie Dennis and Amanda Dillon. Increase and Diffusion Web site. 1997.
Web site article exploring the shift from pocket watches to wristwatches in the early 20th century, and the subsequent shift to electronic timekeeping in the 1970s.
“Evidence of Technology’s Past: The Collections of the National Museum of American History”
with John Fleckner. In Clio in Museum Garb: The National Museum of American History, the Science Museum and the History of Technology. London: Science Museum Papers in the History of Technology, 1997.
Essay on the relationship of object and archival collections at the Smithsonian Institution, with special emphasis on recent collecting.
“Science and its Stakeholders: The Making of ‘Science in American Life,’”
with Arthur Molella. Athlone 6 (Exploring Science Museums 1996): 95–106.
Essay on the battles involved in presenting the history of science in an exhibition at the National Museum of American History during the “culture wars.”
“Naturwissenschaftliche Bilding ist Kein Luxus: Die Austellung ‘Science in American Life’ in Washington.”
with Arthur Molella. Translation by Andrea Lucas. Kultur & Technik 4 (1995): 51ff.
Key themes and objects in NMAH exhibition Science in American Life for a German audience.
"Videohistory at Waltham Clock Company, Waltham, Massachusetts: An Evaluation."
In Terri Schorzman, ed., The Smithsonian Videohistory Project: A Handbook, 1993.
Essay on the experience and utility of recording operating machinery and employee interviews for documenting technical, nonverbal thinking.
American Clocks
with Otto Mayr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American History, 1990.
Highlights booklet containing photos and descriptions of twenty of the most interesting clocks in the collections of the Smithsonian.
"Astronomy as Public Utility: the Bond Years at the Harvard College Observatory."
Journal of the History of Astronomy 21(1990): 21-36. Reprinted in Owen Gingerich and Michael Hoskins, Two Astronomical Anniversaries: HCO & SAO (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1990), pp. 21–36.
Article about the period between 1839 and 1865, when the observatory provided the U.S. federal government with observations for determining basic latitudes and longitudes and offered the local community a time service.
"The U.S. Topographical Engineers and Their Scientific Instruments: A Research Opportunity."
Rittenhouse 4 (February 1990): 61–63.
Research note describing records at the U.S. National Archives rich in information about the use of instruments during the mid 19th-century.
"Clockwork History: Monumental Clocks and the Depiction of the American Past, 1875–1900"
with O'Malley, Michael. Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors 32 (February 1990): 3–15.
Describes the 19th-century phenomenon of very large clocks depicting scenes from American history, with special emphasis on one in NMAH’s collections.
"The Impact of the Telegraph on Public Time in the United States, 1844–1893.”
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 8 (March 1989): 4–10.
Describes the use of the telegraph and development of special technologies for sending time signals for commercial, industrial and community purposes.
"Partners in Time: William Bond & Son of Boston and the Harvard College Observatory."
Harvard Library Bulletin 35 (Fall 1987): 351–384.
Outlines the interlocking interests of a Boston watch and clock firm with the Harvard College Observatory in the mid-19th century.
America's Forested Wetlands: From Wasteland to Valued Resource.
Durham, N.C.: Forest History Society, 2008.
A history of society's changing perceptions, values, actions, and laws pertaining to wetland environments in the United States.
"Professionalism vs. Special Interest: The Debate over Engineering Education in Nineteenth Century America."
Potomac Review 26–27 (1984–1985): 72–94.
A study of how engineering changed from a craft-oriented occupation to a professional occupation in the United States during the nineteenth century.
"United States Army Corps of Engineers."
In Government Agencies, Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Institutions, edited by Donald R. Whitnah, 513–16. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1983.
A brief history of the world’s largest engineering organization and how its missions have evolved in accord with shifting public values.
“APWA: Using History to Advance Appreciation of Public Works.”
APWA Reporter 79 (June 2012): 86-87.
Reflections on how popular opinions about the appropriate role of public enterprises have devolved since the founding of the American Public Works Association in 1937, and how historical inquiry can contribute to society’s understanding of this trend and its consequences.
“Two Defenders of Wild Lands.”
Environmental History 12 (April 2007): 375–77.
A discussion of two prize-winning documentaries—Kelly Duane’s Monumental: David Brower’s Fight for Wild America and Bonnie Kreps’s Arctic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story—and the contributions of film biographies to the teaching of environmental history.
Nelson P. Lewis and the City Efficient: The Municipal Engineer in City Planning during the Progressive Era.
Essays in Public Works History, no. 11. Chicago: Public Works Historical Society, 1981.
A biography of the New York City engineer who championed the contributions of engineers to city planning during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Going Underground: Tunneling Past, Present, and Future
with Howard Rosen, eds. Kansas City, Mo.: American Public Works Association, 1998.
A collection of essays addressing the history of tunnels and tunneling from ancient times to the present, including discussions of the politics and construction of the Channel Tunnel and the ill-fated Super-conducting Super Collider. This richly illustrated volume also includes a detailed account of the Smithsonian’s Tunnels! exhibition.
“Epilogue.”
In Echoes from the Poisoned Well: Global Memories of Environmental Injustice, edited by Sylvia Hood Washington, Paul C. Rosier, and Heather Goodall, 409–10. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006.
Reflections on the expansion and internationalization of environmental justice as a field of study.
Twenty Years of Science in the Public Interest: A History of the Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship Program.
Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994.
Examines the combined efforts of the nation’s leading scientific and engineering societies to provide technically trained staff to the U.S. Congress and its support agencies.