intro

The Industrial Artifacts Review is a web site devoted to industrial artifacts and the people and events associated with them. Essentially, the site is concerned with the fascinating subjects we never studied in history class—i.e., inventions, technology and engineering—because the majority of our textbooks were written by political historians.

Industrial artifacts are explored here via photographs, design patents, works of art, videos, magazine articles, collectibles, books and trade literature. The connections between these focal points are in turn explored at every opportunity. The web site is a "review" in the sense that it offers another look at the artifacts within our industrial heritage. It's all about circling back.

Initially, the content of this site was determined by chance and serendipity. Since May 2010, the site has been largely driven by the anniversaries of significant events in industrial and technological history. These are commemorated on a daily basis along with appropriate quotations. So now the content is determined by structured serendipity.

rationale 

Exploring the past is now easier than ever, thanks to the arrival of digital technology and the miracle of the internet. An immense legacy of artifacts, images, printed material and sound recordings is becoming increasingly accessible in the form of digital files, hence the web site's subtitle: "Techno files for  technophiles." Never have so many resources been at our fingertips, and almost all of the material is shared freely, with commercial motives generally an afterthought.

This web site is deliberately kept very basic. Distracting animations and pop-up windows that rely on Adobe Flash aren't necessary here—they would merely overshadow the real content while hogging bandwidth. The free Google search engine is a handy feature. It works fairly well, but the results are not always complete. By all means browse through the various categories. You're bound to come across something interesting.

e-mail contact:  geordnet@rogers.com