Hagley Museum and Library, Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Place: Hagley Museum and Library
Information: Carol Lockman, clockman@hagley.org or 302-658-2400, ext. 243
Program and Registration Form
The appearance of Ford's Model T automobile in 1908 ushered in a century in which motorized vehicles spread across the American landscape, reshaping business and commerce, creating new industries, and generating endless technological innovations. For a conference marking the Model T's 100th anniversary, the Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society has assembled thirteen papers that reflect broadly on the impact of motor vehicles since the Model T's introduction.
The conference begins on the evening of Thursday, November 6, with a keynote address by Steve Meyer (see listing for November 6). On Friday, November 7, four panels will offer insights into the impact of passenger vehicles on our society, ranging from the challenges of keeping cars working to figuring out how to deliver the mail. Other papers address how buses came to look the way they do, and why they lost women riders to cars; the politics of Boston's "Big Dig"; creating the rules of the road for drivers; the prosaic yet enduring challenge of snow removal; and the new steel technologies that made the striking cars of the mid-1930s possible. A final session will consider the international impact of the model T with presentations by American, French and Dutch scholars.
All sessions will take place in the Soda House of the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware. There is no fee to attend but registration is required. To register or to obtain more information, contact Carol Lockman, clockman@Hagley.org or 302-658-2400.