History of Metals in Colonial America
The story of the introduction and growth of the technology of metals in the North American colonial period entails significant developments beyond the transfer of the technology from the Old World to the New. In the struggle to create an indigenous industry, in the efforts to encourage and support the work of metals craftsmen, in the defiance of British attempts to regulate manufacturing of metals, the colonial society developed a metals technology that became the basis for future industrial growth. The author traces colonial industrial development from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries in nine chapters: "Before Jamestown," "Metals in the Early Colonies," "Copper in the Colonies," "Colonial Iron: The Birth of an Industry," "Metals Manufacture in the Colonial Period," "Colonial Iron: Regulation and Rebellion," "Metals and the Revolution," "The Critical Years," and "Reflections on the End of an Era."
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0817300538
ISBN13:9780817300531
Release Date:July 1981
Publisher:University Alabama Press
Length:232 Pages
Weight:0.78 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 6.4" x 11.3"
Age Range:18 years and up
Grade Range:Grade 12 to Postsecondary
Customer Reviews
1 rating
Excellent for iron, poor for other metals
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
This book starts with a quick look at metallurgy in pre-Columbian Central and South America, and the state of metallurgy in Europe prior to the founding of Jamestown in 1607. The book then goes into a history of metalworking in Colonial America, through to the end of the American Revolution. To a large extent, this book is a history of iron working in Colonial America. The author points out that no native sources of copper and other metals were found or developed. Later in the book, though, a small amount of time is given to explaining colonial copper, silver, tin and pewter-smithing. However, as a history of iron working, this book is possibly without peer. It fully explains colonial era smelting and forging techniques, and explains their ramifications for the new country.Therefore, if you want a book on colonial iron working, you will find this to be an excellent book. If you are interested in colonial work in other metals, then you will probably be disappointed. I give this book a qualified recommendation.
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