Each of my courses examines some aspect of the interaction between
humans and the environment, especially as they relate to industrial
production, consumption, and generation of waste. My
dissertation is about
the evolution of the scrap material trade in the United States over the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In it, I examine how
immigrant entrepreneurs moved from junk peddling to organizing an
industry
processing and trading scrap iron, steel, copper, aluminum, rubber,
rags, and
other materials. I conclude that recycling has its basis in
economic
motives dating back to the late nineteenth century, that demand for
recycling is dependant upon changing technological
processes to extract and reuse materials in manufacturing, and that
recycling businesses continue to bear the stigma of being nuisances
despite their efforts reducing waste in a consumptive society. Rutgers University Press
published a
revised version of the dissertation entitled Cash
for Your Trash: Scrap Recycling in America in late 2005.
Some of the themes in the book are found in my Environmental
History article "Dirty
Work: How Hygiene and Xenophobia Marginalized the American Waste
Trades,
1870-1930."
If you are interested in reading more about scrap recycling businesses, follow these links. The Steel Recycling Institute's website collects several resources on the present state of the industry. The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries' site includes a page for their bimonthly periodical Scrap.
My work involves aspects of environmental, urban, business, and
immigrant
history. If you'd like to know more about these (and related)
fields, several historical societies, journals, libraries, and archives
have online resources.
SOCIETIES
American Historical Association
Members have American and global research interests.
H-Business
This site houses a discussion list concerning the Business History
Conference.
Chicago Historical Society
Features exhibits and collections on material history.
H-Environment
Online home of the American Society for Environmental History. My
review of Theodore Binnema's book Common and Contested Ground
may be found here.
H-Urban
A large organization devoted to urban history in the United States and
abroad.
My review of Mark H. Rose's book Cities of Light and Heat
is
one of many resources found on their site.
Organization of American
Historians
A national organization devoted to American history.
JOURNALS
American Historical
Review
The journal of the American
Historical Association.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Weekly publication concerned with professional issues for academics.
Enterprise & Society
The journal of the Business
History Conference.
A
pdf of my review of David Pellow's book Garbage Wars is
available for download from this journal.
Environmental
History
The journal of the ASEH.
You may find my article "Dirty
Work" here, as well as my
review of Thomas D. Beamish's book Silent Spill: The
Organization of an Industrial Crisis.
Journal of American
History
The journal of the OAH.
Social
Science History
An interdisciplinary journal, and a publication of the Social Science
History Association. I helped edit the journal when I was a graduate
student at Carnegie Mellon.
Technology
and Culture
The journal of the Society
for the History of Technology.
LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
Archives
of Industrial Society
Collections concern life in industrial America with special emphasis on
Pittsburgh.
Carnegie
Mellon's library
This link takes you to History-related links compiled by research
librarian Sue Collins.
Hagley Museum and Library
Collections concern American business and technological history.
Harvard Business School
Baker Library's online catalog.
Heinz Pittsburgh Regional
History Center
The center for local history.
Library of Congress
Online catalog.
National Archives
The holdings of the United States government.
National Union
Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
Invaluable reference guide to archives across the United States.
Newberry Library
This Chicago-based library has a remarkable array of collections
relating to American and British history.
Northwestern
University Library
This link takes you to a list of online commercial and academic
library services at Northwestern and elsewhere.
Roosevelt
University
Library
RU's catalog of books, periodicals, electronic books, and reference
services.
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
SIL's special collections include several thousand trade catalogs; the
libraries also have unique holdings in science and technology.
Temple
University's Urban Archives
Temple has an outstanding collection of public and private documents,
mostly relating to the Philadelphia area.
University of
Chicago
Online catalog.
University of
Pennsylvania
Online catalog.