Forging ahead : the Ames family of Easton, Massachusetts and two centuries of industrial enterprise, 1635-1861

This dissertation uses the Ames Family of Easton, Massachusetts as a case study on development of business and industry in early nineteenth century America. From English iron-working roots transplanted to America in 1635 the artisan tradition of blacksmithing dominated the Ames family for generations. Oliver Ames was trained as a smith, but when he came to Easton in 1803 to focus on the manufacture of shovels, he made an important step in the evolution from artisan and craftsman to industrialist, a common transition well exemplified by Oliver Ames's life. The Ames story demonstrates that the "Industrial Revolution" was no revolution at all. It was a gradual and fluid evolution from one way of doing business to another, an evolution in which many older methods and beliefs (the importance of farming, the dependence on kin, devotion to the community, conservative capital investments...) served men like Oliver Ames well. Common mischaracterizations of industrial development as revolutionary slights the importance of early nineteenth century industry; encourages an inaccurate focus on the romantic nature of small, rural mills; and discourages any impulse to examine in detail the ways in which early industry operated and played a part in industrial development. In fact, the management and operation of many of these facilities was far more complex than is typically recognized. Many of the earliest industrialists struggled to understand and manage complicated issues such as labor, raw materials, shipping, sales, international trade, economics, technological and scientific understanding, and the impact of business on family and community.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Galer, Gregory

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Merritt Roe Smith.

• Program in Science, Technology and Society.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29897

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29897