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Bibliography of the History of Technology by Eugene S. Ferguson (review)

1970; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 11; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tech.1970.a894158

1097-3729

Thomas P. Hughes,

History and Developments in Astronomy

Book Reviews Bibliography of the History of Technology. By Eugene S. Ferguson. Cambridge, Mass.: Society for the History of Technology and the M.I.T. Press, 1968. Pp. vii+347. $12.50; price to members of SHOT, $9.35. Professor Eugene Ferguson contributes substantially to the study of the history of technology with this bibliography. If this work is used in conjunction with Brooke Hindle’s bibliography, Technology in Early America, Henrietta M. Larson’s Guide to Business History, Jack Good­ win’s annual bibliography in Technology and Culture, and the annual Isis bibliography—to mention only American works—the researcher can conveniently obtain a reasonably comprehensive introduction to pri­ mary and secondary materials in the history of technology. The avail­ ability of these works is of inestimable value to the historian introduc­ ing students to the field. Until the Ferguson bibliography appeared, the keystone in the structure was missing for the historian of technology. The strength of the Ferguson volume lies in his chapters on general works, bibliographies, library lists, encyclopedias, compendia, diction­ aries, government publications, and periodicals. These chapters make up approximately half of the book, much of the other half being given to subject fields. The subject-field categories are similar to those used by Brooke Hindle and Jack Goodwin. Undoubtedly, Ferguson, Goodwin, and perhaps other scholars, in five or ten years, will review and bring up to date the subject-field chapters in the Ferguson. Ferguson sagaciously dedicated his prime effort to identifying works that encompass, or lead to, the more specialized monograph or journal article; he warns the users of the bibliography not to assume that they will find “just the title they seek” in answer to a specific question about subject matter. This warning should be heeded, for the bibliography does not list many specialized studies historians consider outstanding. For example, the student interested in the Manhattan Project will not find listed Richard Hewlett’s and Oscar E. Anderson’s The New World, 1939/1946. For studies on atomic energy, the researcher is referred by Ferguson to L. J. Anthony’s Sources of Information on Atomic Energy. Nor will the student interested in electrical technology find Matthew Josephson’s, Edison: A Biography (Edison is not even in the index). Generally, for leads to biographies, the student should turn to one of the bibliographies and indexes of biography listed by Ferguson. These particular omissions and inclusions suggest how the Ferguson may be used. Ferguson annotates many of the titles. His criticism is generally bal298 TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 299 anced. Having taught the history of technology to undergraduates and knowing the concerns of scholarly researchers, he succinctly identifies the salient and significant contribution of each work. For example, he says of Dirk Struik’s Yankee Science in the Making, “a long, generally unfocused, but not inconsiderable account of science and technology.” Of W. H. G. Armytage’s The Rise of the Technocrats, Ferguson ob­ serves, after noting that reviewers considered it weird and poor, that “nevertheless, a great amount of material bearing on attitudes toward technology . . . may be pursued through the reference notes.” Would that all authors had reviewers as fair-minded as Ferguson. Ferguson’s annotations sometimes amount to short essays; this is often the case in the sections on reference wrnrks, government publications, and manuscripts. For example, Ferguson suggests how U.S. special con­ sular reports might be used by historians of technology; in a half page he highlights technological sources in the parliamentary papers of Great Britain; and he includes a page on Abraham Rees’s Cyclopaedia (“the richest work in English for the technology of the period” [1819]). Un­ doubtedly, many historians will find reading—not simply referring to— Ferguson’s bibliography richly rewarding. Thomas P. Hughes* Ancient Egyptian Glass and Glazes in the Brooklyn Museum. By Eliza­ beth Riefstahl. Wilbour Monographs, vol. 1. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1968. Pp. 118; 13 color plates; 100 black and white illustra­ tions. $9.00. Though similar in title, this impressive volume cannot be compared with its predecessor, Glass and Glazes from Ancient Egypt, the twentyfour -page booklet published in 1948 while Mrs. Riefstahl was associate curator of the Department of Ancient Art...