The West Point Foundry began as the brainchild of Gouverneur Kemble (1786-1875), who turned from his family's mercantile background to become an iron founder and in particular into an ordnance contractor for the US military. Kemble partnered with General Joseph Gardner Swift (1783-1865), his brother William Kemble (1795-1881), and a number of other family acquaintances in New York to raise the capital to build the foundry, though an initial start-up grant from the US Navy was fundamental to their success. The West Point Foundry Association, incorporated in 1817, built a foundry from scratch in Cold Spnng, NY, across the river from the US Military Academy at West Point. The diary recounting its initial construction and organization from 6 June to 1 July 1817 transcnbed on pp. 14-23 in this issue. This article is an introduction to the context of starting an iron foundry in the early Republic. In addition, the personalities involved are explored, especially on the source of the technical know-how, financial and personal connections both locally and nationally, and the role of the US Navy in supporting its foundation.
IA, the Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original material concerning the study, conservation and interpretation of industrial heritage, especially its physical manifestations. Broadly conceived, the journal’s coverage extends to artifacts, structures, sites, processes, and landscapes related to the processes and products of industrialization. It includes both the physical and the social dimensions of industrial heritage, and provides both explanatory and descriptive material published as articles, research notes, and book reviews. It is the primary forum for scholarly discussion of matters related to industrial heritage in North America, though its reach and readership is global, and the journal occasionally publishes international articles in addition to North American.
IA is published by the Society for Industrial Archeology (SIA), which is the principal North American membership organization for the field of industrial archeology, a field dedicated to the documentation, analysis, preservation, and interpretation of the physical manifestations of industrial heritage. Members of the SIA include professionals, scholars, and avocational historians who engage in the study and conservation of the material culture of industrial societies, past and present. The SIA’s headquarters are housed in the Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI. The department sponsors graduate programs in Industrial Archaeology and Industrial Heritage and also edits and produces IA on behalf of the SIA.
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IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
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