The Rise of the American System of Manufactures, 1800-1870

The most significant series of events in 19th-century American technological history was the evolution of techniques, ideas, and institutions known today as the American System of Manufactures (ASM). It was therefore fitting that this important meeting, the first attempt to synthesize the works of many historians over the last twenty years, should honor Bern Dibner and the opening of the Bern Dibner Rare Book Library at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of History and Technology (MHT). With the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the meeting convened on March 16-18, 1978, under the innovative direction of Otto Mayr, MHT's curator of mechanisms. He sees in the published proceedings of the conference the best work available and a temporary substitute for the ultimately desired definitive synthesis. Mayr limited the participants to those active in the field and instructed them to deliver loosely structured talks aimed at stimulating discussion. No papers were circulated prior to the meeting, only very brief outlines. Mayr further urged the speakers to be influenced by the group discussion and to incorporate relevant ideas in the final versions of their papers. Since no microphones were desired, no recordings of the conference were made. If the high quality of the discussion at this symposium is an indication of the success of these innovations, then planners of future symposia might well consider imitation. The impressive list of ten speakers and some twenty-five other invited conference participants speaks highly of Mayr's organizational work. Eugene Ferguson (University of Delaware) reviewed the state of scholarship on the ASM. He passed quickly over the theoretical economic explanations (e.g., H. J. Habakkuk), and emphasized those

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