"Experimentation, preplanning, coordination, continuous research, willingness to make changes, boldness, standardization, high productivity, specialized tools for specialized work, mass production at low cost, an industrialist marketing his product, a university graduate participating in industry... these elements emerge in Whitney's conception of his Armory; by 1851, they will define the American System of Manufacturing."
—Robert R. Macdonald, Museum of the City of New York
In 1798 our young nation lacked refined materials, advanced tools and skilled workers. We were dependent for products of precision manufacturing on foreign imports. One generation of entrepreneurs chartered a new course for manufacturing and America.
Factory, an exhibition at the Eli Whitney Museum, will explore the Connecticut origins of the modern American factory. It will explore historic products of precision manufacturing: axes, guns, locks and clocks. It will showcase new technologies. In Factory, experience of the past will illuminate issues for the present.
Photography by Robert Lisak www.robertlisak.com
