Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology

(Note: Preface is taken from uncorrected proofs. Changes may be made prior to publication.)

All editors of encylopedias are faced with the problem of what to include. Even if the title is agreed and the numbers of volumes and pages have been decided, the sum of possible entries could be very large. In the case of the Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Technology, the editor decided that in order to construct a logical and consistent set of entries it was necessary to adopt what could be described as an "analytic framework." During the 20th-century a plethora of manufactured articles have appeared for which the real costs have continuously fallen. The products in industrialised societies have become universal, and many of the good ones are within the reach of a large proportion of humanity. In keeping with this democratic trend of the century it was decided that people and their experiences with technology should be central to the encyclopedia. Readers are urged to read the entries in the light of the humanistic core.

An examination of people and their lives led to six broad, related areas of society from which the four hundred entries that comprise these volumes could be derived. The type of analysis carried out is indicated in the following diagrams (Figure 1). The first shows the six basic areas; the second diagram is an outline of the detailed application for the category FOOD. Five or six levels of analysis allowed the definition of headers that provided the individual entries. Of course, entries could be found in two or more basic areas or could be related to others: entries in refrigerating in the domestic situation as found in food preservation would lead to entries in the technology of refrigeration per se. Thus the contents were defined.

The encyclopedia contains two types of entries. The greatest number of entries are of 1000 words, and as far as possible these standard entries are devoid of interpretation. Nevertheless, it is recognised that all history is redolent of the era in which it is constructed, and this encyclopedia is of its own particular society, that of western industrial. The factual nature of the standard entries is leavened by longer essays in which historical and interpretative themes are explored. Among other things, these essays describe and analyze the relationship between society and technology, touch on the modern debates on the nature of the history of technology, and relate what people expect of the products of modern industrial civilisation.

The encyclopedia is concerned with 20th-century technology but not with 20th-century inventions. The technologies included are those that had an impact on the mass of the population in industrial societies. So many technologies invented in the 19th century did not begin to impinge markedly on many lives until the middle of the 20th century, so they are considered to be of the 20th century. Similarly, many products in the constructed world are old conceptions, transformed by modern materials or production methods. They have found a place in the encyclopedia. The inclusion of pre-20th century products compares with the exclusion of recently developed technologies that have yet to have any effect on the mass of the public. However, the encyclopedia is not intended to be futuristic. In the 20th century, scientific engineering came to majority, and many if not all the products of modern technology can be seen to be the results of science. However, there are no entries that discuss science itself. Within the essays, however, science as science related to each subject is described.

Even with four hundred entries the encyclopedia is not canonical, and gaps will be noted. However, the standard entries, the interpretative essays, and the lists of references and further reading suggestions allow readers to appreciate the breadth and depth of the technology of the 20th-century.

Acknowledgements

A host of workers and authors contributed to this encyclopedia, and I wish to extend my thanks to every person without whom these volumes would be stillborn. My particular thanks are offered to Gillian Lindsey of Routledge. Gillian conceived the idea of an Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Technology, and appointed me to become the editor of the work in 2000. Her energy and ideas were legion, although she glossed over the amount of work for me! However, the editorship was rewarding, offering the possibility of producing a worthwhile publication with academic colleagues from around the globe. The selection of technologies and of particular subjects suggested by Gillian and me were critiqued and extended by our advisers. Their contributions, drawn from their specialist knowledge and scholarship, were invaluable. When circumstances forced my withdrawal from the active editorship, William Worthington, then with the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, stepped into the hot seat. To William I give my heartfelt thanks.

Finally I acknowledge the publishers and the 20th century, which presented all of us with the opportunity to examine and extol some of the content and effects of modern technology. Nevertheless, the encyclopedia is partial, and any omissions and shortcomings are mine.

Colin Hempstead