Wiki for Dr. McClurkens Courses

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====== Readings from Smith and Clancy (Include title of reading you are commenting on) ======

Among the documents in this volume, I found the essay by Fern Van Bramer, “How Electricity Affects Economy in the Home and Adds to the Happiness of the Family,” to be particularly interesting because it was written by a fifteen-year-old and because it presents electricity not just as a particular form of modern convenience but at the same time as a moral and emotional force, which is capable of reinforcing family life and social order through the introduction of "brightness" and "lightness". One could even argue that the essay turns electricity into a fetishized commodity. By presenting electricity as something that can make one's house equivalent to "the home of the millionaire", it masks and hides class inequality. Thus, it might subsequently lead to framing consumption as moral virtue and happiness as something purchasable. - Nikolai Kotkov

“How Electricity Effects Economy in the Home and Adds to the Happiness of the Family” 
The article mentions how electricity is becoming affordable for the everyday working man. It reads almost like a sales pitch for electricity, shaming people for not purchasing it, and saying your family would just be a lot happier at home if you did. - Justin H.

I found "Colonial Radio Saves Wasted Motion" quite interesting as it highlights the emphasis on work efficiency. This work efficiency is forefront in the technical education provided to the girls in the school, and it is stated that this method of teaching is "for their benefit" more broadly, which I believe shows that these practices were intended to be learned and taken into the home as they become wives, indicating the gender roles that this workplace was still adhering to, despite providing work for women. - CJ Nemetz

I was really interested in Van Bramer’s article “How Electricity Effects Economy in the Home and Adds to the Happiness of the Family” because the author takes the perspective of looking at the benefits of electricity in the ways it upholds gender roles and social structures within the home. It’s interesting to see this being reflected in the words from the consumer perspective since we’ve looked at some advertisements (more so for the telephone) in class. - Grayson Donohoe

In reading the of “How Electricity Effects Economy in the Home and Adds to the Happiness of the Family (Prizewinning Essay, 1917), I thought it was interesting how light was given and the power of electricity was given a very warm and happy connotation. I think this is the first time I have read about someone’s opinions on light or electricity being something different than being helpful for production or for purely commercial/business values. Instead it’s giving the prospective from a family and how it adds warmth and beauty to their home. The light brings their family together, adding more happiness in their lives. Though in the end it does lead into talking about how the electronic toys with instructive features will lead their sons into a job in the future.- Izzy Ellenberger

I found Van Bramer's article "How Electricity Effects Economy in the Home and Adds to the Happiness of the Family" fascinating. In the second paragraph, the author indirectly blames women's unwillingness to spend their money on using electricity to "beautify" their homes for their unhappiness and frustrations with their husbands spending time in "unwholesome places". Van Bramers insistence that electricity, through toys, education and qualities of warmth and light, could only serve to better home life shines a light (hah!) on what may have been a prevailing sentiment at the time, and the ideas of younger people in the early 20th century. - Abby Firestone

The reading's, "How electricity affect economy in the home and adds to the happiness of the family", goal is to convince homeowners to add lights to the home, because it will boost family happiness. It was interesting to see how the reading was trying to convince family's the benefit. It also seems like it want the wives and mothers to invest in the invention for the sake of the family. It also discourages unwanted behavior. - Ashley Palin

I found the "Colonial Radio Saves Wasted Motion, 1934" article interesting in the way that functionality and heightened efficiency was adopted into the factory's female school for training. Emphasis on the benefits for workers as well as the company if motion study is at the forefront, this is not a "speed up," but mores a way to produce more work and less fatigue. The idea that "wasted motions are needless motions" stood out to me in particular, with the Colonial Radio Corporation seeking to gain the lead against "average factory operation." Pretty interesting read. - Izabella Martinez

Having read "Colonial Radio Saves Wasted Motion" from 1934 was a very interesting read considering the time it took place.  By '34, the US is in the grips of the Great Depression and money is tight.  This company, Colonial Radio, seems to be not only employing women into the workforce, unique for the time, but also training them so that they wouldn't use wasted motion in their work.  Compared to other lessons about factory work, where the companies could better hire workforce that is untrained and unskilled, this group focuses on training them for a bit on how to better build these radios, which could apparently translate to being used outside the workforce.  - David Y.

For the reading on “How Electricity Effects Economy in the Home” from 1917, I was intrigued by its assumption that electricity would automatically make all aspects of family life far better despite it not really providing any real data on this. I would love to do more research into the electric toys that supposedly provide children with “instructive merits” that will keep them from “blind alley” jobs when they grow older, since this is quite a huge claim to make. - Noah Rutkowski

====== Ruth Cowan, Social History of American Technology ======

The article by Ruth Cowan demonstrates the development of American views on technology from the colonial era to the twentieth century. One of the most interesting aspects of this work is that it synthesizes many of the readings we have encountered throughout the course. Cowan discusses the debates over machinery during the revolutionary period (Jefferson, Hamilton, Coxe), discusses the Hudson River School (and hence sublime) and the influence of Romanticism on conceptions of technology, and even addresses Taylor’s ideas on industrial efficiency. - Nikolai Kotkov

Cowan discusses how Americans have perceived technology, from the colonial era, to the advent of the phrase "technology", and beyond. I found the section on the blending of romanticism and technology quite interesting, and how that resulted in the start of technologically utopian fiction we see from the time period and even into this day. - CJ Nemetz

I was surprised by the stance some of the founding fathers had, where the only "virtuous” work was farm work. I would have expected otherwise given the amount of tools and weapons used during the revolution. - Justin H.

It was interesting how Cowan depicted Americans’ perceptions of technology over time. The romanticism aspect she discusses connects back to some of our previous discussion, like the railroad, about how Americans’ in the nineteenth century were starting to see technology as a sign of progress and growth. - Grayson Donohoe

Cowan's discussion of the American perception of technology, specifically the way that romanticism played into it is interesting in part because I can see a direct connection between romanticism and the reactions and ideas of people like Fern Van Bramer (from the previous reading)or train enthusiast (mikol!). The massive amounts of art depicting trains, hundreds of thousands of pages of writing about trains, and the fact that they revolutionized American commerce and life the way they did are only a few examples of ways that the romanticism of tech in America almost pushes tech along. - Abby Firestone

I thought that intertwining romanticism with technology was interesting. We see with this through how the people were against the new technologies as it was targeting a skilled persons livelihood. They viewed the machinery as taking away the skill from the work and in the ideals of the Romantics it would be stripping peoples creativity and of being human. - Izzy Ellenberger

Cowan shows how American views of technology evolved from the colonial era through industrialization, highlighting the tension between progress and human creativity. Her discussion of Romanticism reveals how technology came to be seen not just as machinery, but as a symbol of imagination and transformation. This blend of cultural ideals and innovation helped shape both public perception and artistic expression around technological change. -James Clayberg

I found the section on "Technology and Art" interesting, the notion that industrialization would improve peoples lives translated into artwork from the period. Finding the new landscape inspiring, enthralling, and visionary. We see this especially with (now classic) American iconography like the Brooklyn Bridge, which we've talked about in class. I've enjoyed learning about public perception of technological innovations and how those change as time goes on. - Izabella Martinez

Cowan challenges the comforting narrative that household technology automatically lightened women’s work. She shows that while innovations like washing machines and vacuum cleaners changed how housework was done, they didn’t necessarily make it easier or shorter. Instead, they raised expectations for cleanliness and reinforced the idea that domestic labor was primarily women’s responsibility. What I find most powerful is how Cowan exposes this hidden form of industrialization the home becoming a private “factory” run by unpaid labor. For me, this reading highlights how technology can transform social norms as much as it changes physical work. The modern appliances that promised freedom actually deepened dependence on gendered labor divisions, just in more efficient ways. Cowan’s analysis reminds us that progress is never purely mechanical it’s cultural and moral, built into the assumptions about who should benefit from new machines and who is expected to serve them. - Todd Holman

It doesn't really surprise me that when new technology is being pushed to help advance humanity, it's going to be met with an opposite force pushing back due to concerns or desires to use traditional methods.  Looking at the sphygmomanometer is a prime example, yet Cowan also made an excellent point about how traditional methods could have some faults as well, especially with how different people are.  (Btw, I remember learning about reading pulses with the finger method.) - David Y.

I honestly found this reading to be one of the most interesting ones from the entire semester so far. I loved the discussion of how religion and colonization impacted views on what counts as “natural,” and I found their application to technology to be fascinating in their contradictions and limitations. Since I’m an English major, I’ve only ever looked at Romanticism through the lens of literature, but I really liked getting to see its wider effects on attitudes about technology over time. - Noah Rutkowski
====== Nye, 133-137 ======

This chapter discusses the transformation of the American urban landscape by examining different modes of transportation: primarily streetcars, trolleys, and eventually automobiles. In particular, the author pays special attention to the ideas of engineers and urban planners who did not predict that automobiles would become the means of mass transportation. - Nikolai Kotkov

Despite the conclusion encompassing the entire chapter, I still found it quite fascinating. Nye states that the streetcar was both an agent of division in an urban planning sense but uniquely democratic and unifying on its own, due to its accessibility; he notes that this factor is what set forth southern segregation laws on streetcars, and most definitely into other aspects of public life. - CJ Nemetz

The chapter looks at the reasons for the rise of street cars and then the reasons for their decline. It focuses on the planners and 'experts' that predicted the opposite of the outcome to street cars. It looked at the belongingness that street cars first had of fully participating in the life of a city. But then later the turn of unnecessary need. Almost tying into the rise of the individualistic importance to America and the rise of the automobile. - James Clayberg

In this chapter it talked about how streets and railways were adapted for various forms of transportation such as buses, trucks, and automobiles. It also addressed how they adapted technologies such as the trolly by changing the wheels to rubber which allows the mode of transportation to move without the need of rails.- Izzy Ellenberger

It’s interesting how city planners predicted cars would prevent congestion on the streets, compared to the street car. This has made me very curious to what traffic or congestion was like in cities prior to the automobile for them to draw this conclusion. - Justin H.

I found it interesting how many people grew to dislike the streetcars. They would complain about them, but now many people look back on streetcars with nostalgia. I know the light rail has become popular in Europe, and wonder if it will in the US as well. - Hannah H

This chapter talked about the transformation of transportation, and their effect on the transformation of American cities. I thought it was interesting how overtime, many people came to prefer more individual modes of transportation, but now when we look back on it, many Americans want to return to more widespread public transport. - Abby Firestone

The Steamboat excelled against traditional paths, the Railroads excelled against Steamboats, and Trolley Lines grew to better move people in closer areas that Railroads didn't.  When the automobile came around, it helped gave people more flexibility and mobility to places that other methods couldn't do.  What interested me in the reading was how people didn't think the automobile wouldn't surpass the streetcar at all.  It likely was due to the early designs, expenses and unreliability of these early models, but when better models like the Ford Model T comes around, it spelt the end of the growing streetcar empire.  - David Y.

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