Industrial Englightenment in the West Midlands: Matthew Boulton, James Watt and the Soho Manufactory 1760- 1820

西米德兰兹的工业启蒙：马修·博尔顿、詹姆斯·瓦特和苏荷制造厂 1760-1820

• 批准号: AH/E503403/1
• 负责人: Peter Jones
• 金额: $ 3.72万
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FE503403%2F1
• 关键词: Industrial; Englightenment; West; Midlands; Matthew

A project to test the validity of the idea of an Industrial Enlightenment as applied to Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century. The investigation takes the form of a case study of the cultural history of Birmingham and the Black Country towns between 1760 and 1820. It is based principally on the private correspondence of Matthew Boulton and James Watt with their families, friends, acquaintances and collaborators. The business archives of the firm Boulton & Watt are also used, as are a large number of published visitor accounts. In the 1770s Boulton's show case metal ware manufactory at Soho just outside Birmingham was regarded as the biggest single-site factory in the western world. Travelers came from all over Europe and the Americas to tour the workshops and to admire the efficient use of labour and machinery to mass produce buttons, buckles and plated goods. Taken together, these sources offer a unique opportunity to explore how the Enlightenment- in its English dimension -empowered men like Matthew Boulton and James Watt to harness the scientific knowledge that was accumulating so rapidly in the eighteenth century to industrial processes.This research builds upon recent advances in our understanding of the cultural uses of Newtonian science, and it places those advances within the wider context of middle and upper-class consumption of fashion-sensitive ornamental goods. Whilst the research can only testify to the existence of an Industrial Enlightenment of the West Midlands, it is hoped that the approach adopted here will prompt historians to take a fresh look at other urbanising and industrialising regions, both in Britain and on the continent of Europe. The commercial, industrial and scientific activities of Matthew Bolton and his partner James Watt were by no means restricted to the West Midlands as this study will demonstrate. The project therefore points to ways in which research pursued according to an Industrial Enlightenment agenda might be taken in a comparative direction in the years to come.

一个项目，以测试的有效性的想法，工业启蒙运动适用于英国在18世纪后半叶。调查的形式是对1760年至1820年间伯明翰和黑人乡村城镇的文化历史进行个案研究。它主要基于马修·博尔顿和詹姆斯·瓦特与他们的家人、朋友、熟人和合作者的私人通信。Boulton & Watt公司的商业档案也被使用，还有大量已发布的访问者帐户。在18世纪70年代，博尔顿在伯明翰郊外的索霍区的金属制品制造厂被认为是西方世界最大的单一工厂。来自欧洲和美洲各地的游客参观了车间，并欣赏了大量生产纽扣，装饰和电镀产品的劳动力和机器的有效使用。这些资料加在一起，提供了一个独特的机会来探索启蒙运动--在其英语维度上--是如何授权马修·博尔顿和詹姆斯·瓦特这样的人利用十八世纪如此迅速积累的科学知识来进行工业生产的。这项研究建立在我们对牛顿科学的文化用途的理解的最新进展之上，它将这些进步置于中产阶级和上层阶级对时尚敏感的装饰品消费的更广泛背景下。虽然这项研究只能证明西米德兰兹郡工业启蒙运动的存在，但希望这里采用的方法将促使历史学家重新审视英国和欧洲大陆的其他城市化和工业化地区。马修博尔顿和他的合作伙伴詹姆斯瓦特的商业，工业和科学活动绝不限于西米德兰兹郡，因为这项研究将证明。因此，该项目指出了在未来几年中，根据工业启蒙议程进行的研究可能会在比较的方向上进行的方式。

项目成果

Industrial Enlightenment: Science, Technology and Culture in Birmingham and the West Midlands 1760-1820

工业启蒙：1760-1820 年伯明翰和西米德兰兹郡的科学、技术和文化

• 发表时间: 2009
• 作者: Jones Peter M.