The Dawn of Innovation

AS THE BOOK’S DEDICATION SUGGESTS, I OWE A LARGE DEBT TO BOB Gordon and Carolyn Cooper for their willingness to take questions, suggest sources, act as sounding boards, even read and criticize lengthy drafts. Bob, a former chairman of the Yale metallurgy department, knows everything about iron and steel and is a founding father of industrial archaeology. Carolyn, who is also at Yale, is the go-to authority on nineteenth-century American woodworking and an expert on Thomas Blanchard. I imposed myself on Carolyn when I was working at the Whitney archive at Yale. She was helpful and introduced me to Bob to clear up some metallurgical point. I sent each of them additional questions from time to time, at first cautiously and infrequently, but since they always responded so generously, I was soon quite unconscionable in my impositions.

I’ve always been impressed with the willingness of academics, even the most senior, to take over-the-transom questions from outsiders. Scholars and curators who have been helpful in ways great and small include, in no particular order, Winifred Rothenberg, Patrick Malone, Richard Barbuto, Angela Lakwete, Barbara Tucker, T. J. Stiles, Stanley Engerman, Mark Hilliard, Don Hoke, Liz Economy, Matt Pottinger, Jack Brown, Richard Colton, Bill Brown, Quintin Colville, and Doron Swade. Gary Beam, a former tall-ship sailor, helped me on naval matters, while Steve Bookout and Tim Crowe taught me enough to evoke my sincere admiration for their nearly-lost craft. Needless to say, neither Bob nor Carolyn, nor any other of the good people I imposed on, bears any responsibility for the errors and deficiencies in the final product.

Friends who read and commented on all part of versions of the manuscript include Gordon MacInnes, Jon Weiner, Chris Reid, and Charles Ferguson. And although I don’t have their names, archival staff at Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut State Library, the Connecticut Historical Society, the National Park Services archives at Waltham and at the Library of Congress, and the Public Library of Scoville, Connecticut, always took an interest in what I was doing and were helpful in guiding me to sources. The MaRLI Scholars program at the New York Public Library gave me more convenient access to that institution’s great collections, plus full access to the libraries of Columbia University and New York University. It is an experimental program, one I hope is made permanent.

A special pleasure of this book was working with my daughter-in-law, Jenn Morris, who interrupted her burgeoning artistic career to execute the illustrations for this book. A bonus was that she has a better mechanical eye than I do and saved me from a number of errors.

I have long been spoiled by the people at PublicAffairs, so thanks yet again to Peter Osnos, Susan Weinberg, Clive Priddle, and especially Melissa Raymond, who does the dirty work to ensure a book really happens. Beth Wright of Trio Bookworks was a careful and considerate copy editor.