Research Libraries Enter the Machine Age

This article details the struggles of Syracuse University in the early 1970s with the opening of a new library amidst a plethora of problems. Parallels are drawn to the problems of growing catalogs and fledgling mechanization that faced the New York Public Library at the same time. Also mentions the then-nascent MARC format and OCLC

William Lescaze and the Machine Age

In this article, the author talks about the history of modern architecture, and in particular William Lescaze\u27s contributions. He gives the reader background about the Machine Age in America, and how Lescaze evolved in his art, eventually dedicating his life to Formalism and the International Style

A tale of (at least) two cities

Modernism is built on a foundation of the double, the facsimile and similitude – the repetitions of the machine age. Model T-Fords, Motel chains and Fast Food restaurants are the most obvious – most digestible? – remnants of the modernist production line. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Walter Benjamin in his Arcades Project captures some of the cultural artefacts of reproduction. Neatly noted, transcribed and stored on index cards, this was published posthumously

Unit organization of the topic "The beginnings of the machine age"

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1949. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

The instrument in space: The embodiment of music in the machine age

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The body exists in space and time. It moves through cultural spaces and temporal rhythms. In the combination of instantiated actions and environmental conditions a context is created, this through embodiment. In this thesis I will attempt to link definitions of embodiment with the process of creating and performing new sound theatre works that involve live interaction with media technology. I will also examine terms such as inscription or incorporation and their application to processes of learning and memory within a particular context of inter-disciplinary skills. Finally, in the light of this genre, I will approach the problematic of analytical procedures that change the very parameters of embodied knowledge. The term sound theatre could be defined as a shift of play between music, image and text, incorporating elements such as gesture, choreography, audio and visual technology into a compositional dialogue. However this approach demands a re-examination of the spatial and temporal aspects involved in such inter-activity and their consequent relation to the performer. Taking the starting-point of sound and movement within the body of the performer, my research involves investigations into medial extensions of embodiment that have developed through a discourse with machines. This project takes an essentially practical basis for its research in the form of collaborations with musicians and practitioners of media technology towards a creative product. The result is a series of written compositions, each of which examines a different aspect of sound theatre. The valuable exchange that takes place during such a situation of experimentation becomes equally as important as the final product, providing much of the material framework for issues such as terminology and analytical procedures that concern my investigation

The challenge to democracy III. The family farm in the machine age

The family farm is the most fundamental economic institution in American civilization. It has given character to the whole of American life. This is true of the family farm in all parts of the country. It has stimulated idealism, economic and social reform, nationalism and independence. It has strengthened democracy and individualism. The influence of the family farm in shaping the development of American social institutions hardly can be overestimated. The farm family has been regarded as characteristic of all that is good in family life. It has made important contributions to democracy and to representative government by putting democratic theories into practice on a large scale. The farm family makes democracy a truly national achievement in our country. The importance of the family farm as a fundamental concept of the American way of life is based on two definite and interrelated assumptions: first, that the family farm, as conceived by the founders of the republic, is the comer stone of a democratic rural America; and, second, that it is the tangible expression of a sound philosophy of agriculture without which we cannot have a sound nation. The family farm constitutes today, as it has in the past, the fulfillment of the hopes and the aspirations of millions of people

February 1954

Dear Brother: If the unsung heroines of the typewriter and the mailing machine hold out, it is possible that you will receive these random notes shortly before Ash Wednesday. By the way, if you have any of these secretaries, typists, mimeograph girls, or other functionaries assisting you in the work of your congregation, have you ever stopped to say a word of gratitude to these noble slaves of the machine age? A few weeks ago a brother told me he takes time out from his other duties twice a year to write a personal note of gratitude to the people in his congregation who work but who have never stood in front and held major offices—the quiet secretaries, the sexton with the creaky shoes, the chairman of the house committee of the bodies Aid — the silent ones — the ones who do the work of Martha with the devotion of Mary. I am sure that a little note to them from their pastor once or twice a year will do much to encourage them in their work for the Kingdom..

Technological parables and iconic illustrations: American technocracy and the rhetoric of the technological fix

This paper traces the role of American technocrats in popularizing the notion later dubbed the “technological fix”. Channeled by their long-term “chief”, Howard Scott, their claim was that technology always provides the most effective solution to modern social, cultural and political problems. The account focuses on the expression of this technological faith, and how it was proselytized, from the era of high industrialism between the World Wars through, and beyond, the nuclear age. I argue that the packaging and promotion of these ideas relied on allegorical technological tales and readily-absorbed graphic imagery. Combined with what Scott called “symbolization”, this seductive discourse preached beliefs about technology to broad audiences. The style and conviction of the messages were echoed by establishment figures such as National Lab director Alvin Weinberg, who employed the techniques to convert mainstream and elite audiences through the end of the twentieth centur