Joel A Tarr
Biographic Data
| ID | 548740 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joel A Tarr |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joel A |
| FAMILY NAME | Tarr |
| SIGNATURE | TARR J A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carnegie Mellon University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6153-3896 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 66 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 98 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 65 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1964 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Making pain social
Recent developments in pain science, buttressed by findings from neuroimaging, have supported the view that pain is a thoroughly biopsychosocial phenomenon, one that is differentially distributed in inequitable ways. However, the social aspects of pain are still poorly articulated and understood. While pain science has struggled to make sense of what is social, social science has sometimes relied too heavily on the phenomenological experience of …
History (and stories) of off-grid technologies
International audience
Cities and the Mobility of Nature
Despite the sizable body of work on natural disasters, environmental historians have neglected the extent to which small-scale and slow-moving landslides have shaped American cities. The impact of landslides on cities has been misunderstood because of a focus on disasters, the large-scale, sudden failures that disrupt lives and make the news, to the exclusion of long-term damage and influence caused by slow movement. Focusing on Cincinnati and Pi…
Conflicted American Landscapes by David E. Nye
Reviewed by: Conflicted American Landscapes by David E. Nye Joel A. Tarr (bio) Conflicted American Landscapes By David E. Nye. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021. Pp. ix + 201. David Nye is an outstanding and prolific historian of the social construction of technology. Among his numerous books are Technology Matters (2006), America as Second Creation (2003), Consuming Power (1998), American Technological Sublime (1994), and Electrifying America (1990…
Illuminating the streets, alleys, parks and suburbs of the American City
During the nineteenth century American cities transitioned from offering minimal services to providing services through networked infrastructures. Among these were street lights fueled largely by coal gas produced by manufactured gas plants and distributed by pipe line and later by electricity, both arc and incandescent. Because of fuel and construction costs, manufactured gas was expensive and uneven, and gas networks were confined to business s…
In Memorium
David Stradling and Richard Stradling. Where the River Burned
The study of urban environmental history has been growing rapidly in the last generation. The literature in the field has been marked by the publication of a set of edited collections that feature essays on aspects of the environmental history of a particular city on topics such as air and water pollution, rivers, landscape alterations, and the destruction and reshaping of natural elements. Other monographic volumes have explored the environmenta…
Boom and Bust in Pittsburgh Natural Gas History
Joel A. Tarr, Karen Clay, Boom and Bust in Pittsburgh Natural Gas History: Development, Policy, and Environmental Effects, 1878–1920, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 139, No. 3 (October 2015), pp. 323-342
Environmental legacy
Toxic Legacy
The manufactured gas industry provided cities in the United States with energy for light and power during much of the period from approximately 1850 to 1950. This article explores the history of the effects of this industry on air, land, and water environments; it also examines attempts by the courts and municipal and state governments to regulate gas-waste pollution and the industry's response. The article concludes by exploring the heritage of …
The Horse as an Urban Technology
Freight and passengers have always needed to be transported in urban areas, even before the advent of motor vehicles. This paper describes the role that horses played in 19th century urban transportation. Although the railroad was efficient at transporting goods and people over long distances, much intracity transport was done through the use of horses. Cities depended on horse for internal freight movement, public transportation, private travel …
What Books Should be More Widely Read in Environmental History
Devastation and Renewal
The Decline of the Urban Horse in American Cities
Urban horses were phased out gradually, function by function, over the course of a century. Between 1850 and 1880 the number of urban horses grew dramatically, since most freight on the new railroad network required local delivery and rapidly growing cities required more passenger service. The displacement of the horse was slow: for stationary purposes beginning around 1830, for street railways from 1885 to 1895, for light passenger use from 1895…
The Sanitary City
The Sanitary City represents the culmination of Martin Melosi's years of pioneering scholarship on urban infrastructure and the urban environment. This body of work fully justifies the characterization of Melosi as a "historical innovator." [End Page 391] The Sanitary City is a major work of scholarship—a comprehensive, perceptive, well-written, lavishly illustrated, and attractively published book. And, although it draws upon Melosi's past writi…
The Metabolism of the Industrial City
The concept of metabolism has been adopted from biology and refers to physiological processes within living things that provide the energy and nutrients required by an organism as the conditions of life itself. These processes can be described in terms of the transformation of inputs (sunlight, chemical energy, nutrients, water, and air) into biomass and waste products. While essentially a concept originating in science, I have found it useful as…
A Note on the Horse as an Urban Power Source
Introduction to the Special Issue
Environmental Activism, Locomotive Smoke, and the Corporate Response
In the early 1900s, a powerful antismoke movement in Chicago forced the Pennsylvania Railroad to develop strategies for reducing public protest against the company, limiting fines, and blocking legislation forcing railroads to electrify. The company pursued a policy of least steps, by retrofitting locomotives with ameliorative technology, through fuel substitutions, and by training firemen and engineers in efficient combustion methods. By 1909, h…
At the Intersection of Histories
At the Intersection of Histories: Technology and the Environment Jeffrey K. Stine (bio) and Joel A. Tarr (bio) When is a trend a trend? In July 1997 Technology and Culture devoted a full issue to the theme of technology and the environment. The five articles that made up the issue—and that, as the editors noted, had arrived unsolicited at more or less the same time, making their focus on the single broad theme of the environment seem serendipitou…
The search for the ultimate sink
Patterns and Policy Choices in Infrastructure History
The United States, England, and France have used a variety of forms to deliver urban services and infrastructures over time. Historically, government has been the dominant factor in the delivery of infrastructures for which no user fee is charged, whereas a variety of forms have been followed when there are user fees. This article examines changing forms of service delivery systems in the areas of water supply, mass transportation, and electrical…
Managing Danger in the Home Environment, 1900-1940
Joel A. Tarr, Mark Tebeau; Managing Danger in the Home Environment, 1900–1940, Journal of Social History, Volume 29, Issue 4, 1 July 1996, Pages 797–816, h
Environmental History Review. Vol. 18, No. 1
The Importance of an Urban Perspective in Environmental History
The Metabolism of the Industrial City
The concept of metabolism has been adopted from biology and refers to physiological processes within living things that provide the energy and nutrients required by an organism as the conditions of life itself. These processes can be described in terms of the transformation of inputs (sunlight, chemical energy, nutrients, water, and air) into biomass and waste products. While essentially a concept originating in science, I have found it useful as…
Technology and the rise of the networked city in Europe and America
At the Intersection of Histories
At the Intersection of Histories: Technology and the Environment Jeffrey K. Stine (bio) and Joel A. Tarr (bio) When is a trend a trend? In July 1997 Technology and Culture devoted a full issue to the theme of technology and the environment. The five articles that made up the issue—and that, as the editors noted, had arrived unsolicited at more or less the same time, making their focus on the single broad theme of the environment seem serendipitou…
The Importance of an Urban Perspective in Environmental History
The City and the Telegraph
The Separate vs. Combined Sewer Problem
Environmental Activism, Locomotive Smoke, and the Corporate Response
In the early 1900s, a powerful antismoke movement in Chicago forced the Pennsylvania Railroad to develop strategies for reducing public protest against the company, limiting fines, and blocking legislation forcing railroads to electrify. The company pursued a policy of least steps, by retrofitting locomotives with ameliorative technology, through fuel substitutions, and by training firemen and engineers in efficient combustion methods. By 1909, h…
Changing Fuel Use Behavior and Energy Transitions
Joel A. Tarr, Bill C. Lamperes; Changing Fuel Use Behavior and Energy Transitions: The Pittsburgh Smoke Control Movement, 1940–1950: A Case Study in Historical
The Horse as an Urban Technology
Freight and passengers have always needed to be transported in urban areas, even before the advent of motor vehicles. This paper describes the role that horses played in 19th century urban transportation. Although the railroad was efficient at transporting goods and people over long distances, much intracity transport was done through the use of horses. Cities depended on horse for internal freight movement, public transportation, private travel …
Curriculum in Applied History
Research Article| July 01 1987 Curriculum in Applied History: Toward the Future Peter N. Stearns, Peter N. Stearns Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The Public Historian (1987) 9 (3): 111–125. https://doi.org/10.2307/3377191 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Pee…
Industrial wastes and public health
This article has focused on the relatively low priority accorded industrial wastes compared to human wastes by the public health community in the period from 1876 through 1932. The critical reason for this prioritization was the potential for acute health effects from human wastes as compared with the belief that industrial wastes had only indirect effects. State departments of health normally only responded to industrial wastes when they endange…
A History of American City Government
Journal Article A History of American City Government: The Conspicuous Failure, 1870–1900. By Ernest S. Griffith. New York: Praeger and A History of American City Government: The Progressive Years and Their Aftermath, 1900–1920. By Ernest S. Griffith. New York: Praeger Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 62, Iss…
J. R. Walsh of Chicago
The rise and fall of a “political” banker is traced here against the interaction of businessmen and machine politicians in turn-of-the-century Chicago, Illinois
Toxic Legacy
The manufactured gas industry provided cities in the United States with energy for light and power during much of the period from approximately 1850 to 1950. This article explores the history of the effects of this industry on air, land, and water environments; it also examines attempts by the courts and municipal and state governments to regulate gas-waste pollution and the industry's response. The article concludes by exploring the heritage of …
The Decline of the Urban Horse in American Cities
Urban horses were phased out gradually, function by function, over the course of a century. Between 1850 and 1880 the number of urban horses grew dramatically, since most freight on the new railroad network required local delivery and rapidly growing cities required more passenger service. The displacement of the horse was slow: for stationary purposes beginning around 1830, for street railways from 1885 to 1895, for light passenger use from 1895…
Technology and the City
Urban Americans depend upon technological systems which com pose infrastructure of modern city: waterworks, sewers, transit services and networks, large port and airport facilities, communications networks, and energy sup plies (1). The word infrastructure itself was coined in late nineteenth-century France to refer to logistical support systems such as supply depots and railroads upon which military increasingly depended. An army's infrastructur…
Water and Wastes
Joel A. Tarr, James McCurley III, Francis C. McMichael, Terry Yosie, Water and Wastes: A Retrospective Assessment of Wastewater Technology in the United States, 1800-1932, Technology and Culture, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Apr., 1984), pp. 226-263
Community and Communications
Journal Article Community and Communications. By Seymour J. Mandelbaum. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972. 153 pp. Notes. $5.95.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 60, Issue 1, June 1973, Pages 164–165, https://doi.org/10.2307/2936388 Published: 01 June 1973
Managing Danger in the Home Environment, 1900-1940
Joel A. Tarr, Mark Tebeau; Managing Danger in the Home Environment, 1900–1940, Journal of Social History, Volume 29, Issue 4, 1 July 1996, Pages 797–816, h
The Toilet Papers
History of Public Works in the United States, 1776-1976
Journal Article History of Public Works in the United States, 1776–1976. Ed. by Ellis L. Armstrong, Michael C. Robinson, and Suellen M. Hoy. (Chicago: American Public Works Association, 1976. xv + 736 pp. Maps, illustrations, charts, tables, suggested readings, and index. $20.00.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Vo…
Retrospective Technology Assessment
The Historian and the City
Journal Article The Historian and the City. Edited by Oscar Handlin and John Burchard. (Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press and Harvard University Press, 1963. xii + 299 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $7.50.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Long Beach State College Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 50, Issue 4, March 1964, Pages 712–713, https://doi.org/10.2307/1916682 P…
J. R. Walsh of Chicago
The rise and fall of a “political” banker is traced here against the interaction of businessmen and machine politicians in turn-of-the-century Chicago, Illinois
A Historian and the Federal Government
Research Article| August 01 1969 A Historian and the Federal Government Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Pacific Historical Review (1969) 38 (3): 329–335. https://doi.org/10.2307/3636104 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Searc…
Indiana In Transition
Journal Article Indiana In Transition: The Emergence of an Industrial Commonwealth, 1880–1920. By Clifton J. Phillips. (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau and Indiana Historical Society, 1968. xiv + 674 pp. Maps, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth, $7.50; Paper, $4.50.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of …
A Study in Boss Politics
Journal Article A Study in Boss Politics: William Lorimer of Chicago. By Joel Arthur Tarr. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971. xi + 376 pp. Maps, illustrations, tables, appendixes, bibliography, and index. $12.50.) Get access Zane Miller Zane Miller University of Cincinnati Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 59, Issue 1, June 1972, Pages 187–189, https://doi.org/10…
A Study in Boss Politics
Community and Communications
Journal Article Community and Communications. By Seymour J. Mandelbaum. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972. 153 pp. Notes. $5.95.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 60, Issue 1, June 1973, Pages 164–165, https://doi.org/10.2307/2936388 Published: 01 June 1973
A History of American City Government
Journal Article A History of American City Government: The Conspicuous Failure, 1870–1900. By Ernest S. Griffith. New York: Praeger and A History of American City Government: The Progressive Years and Their Aftermath, 1900–1920. By Ernest S. Griffith. New York: Praeger Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 62, Iss…
Urban Growth and the Circulation of Information
History of Public Works in the United States, 1776-1976
Journal Article History of Public Works in the United States, 1776–1976. Ed. by Ellis L. Armstrong, Michael C. Robinson, and Suellen M. Hoy. (Chicago: American Public Works Association, 1976. xv + 736 pp. Maps, illustrations, charts, tables, suggested readings, and index. $20.00.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Vo…
Retrospective Technology Assessment
The Social Impact of the Telephone
Journal Article The Social Impact of the Telephone. Ed. by Ithiel de Sola Pool. (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1977. x + 502 pp. Maps, illustrations, charts, tables, appendix, notes, references, and index. $15.95.) Get access Joel A. Tarr Joel A. Tarr Carnegie-Mellon University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 65, Issue 3, December 1978, Pages 839–840, https://doi.org/10.2307/…
Retrospective Technology Assessment-1976
The Separate vs. Combined Sewer Problem
The Ungovernable City
The Pittsburgh Meeting, October 18-21, 1978
Organizational Notes THE PITTSBURGH MEETING, OCTOBER 18-21, 1978 Over 175 members registered for the twenty-first annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 18-21, 1978. The meeting was notable not only for the quality but also for the quantity of the scholarly papers presented; the number of papers necessitated, for the first time in the society’s history, the holding of simultaneous…
The Toilet Papers
The City and Technology. Special Issue of the "Journal of Urban History" Vol. 5 (May 1979)
Coal and Natural Gas
Although there has been considerable speculation by scholars, the media, and policy-makers about the eventual content of U.S. energy policy, its social effects, and the public response to its impacts, almost no attempts have been made to inform such speculation by examination of past instances of energy-related alterations. The United States today faces problems involving energy supplies and usage which will directly affect future social patterns…
The Technological Conscience
Changing Fuel Use Behavior and Energy Transitions
Joel A. Tarr, Bill C. Lamperes; Changing Fuel Use Behavior and Energy Transitions: The Pittsburgh Smoke Control Movement, 1940–1950: A Case Study in Historical
A Retrospective Technology Assessment
Health in the City
Sanitation Strategy for a Lakefront Metropolis
From Streetcar to Superhighway
History (23 works) · Political science (23 works) · American Environmental and Regional History (21 works) · Engineering (21 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Computer Science (16 works) · History (15 works) · Library science (14 works) · Geography (12 works) · Economics (11 works)