Methodology

Historians of technology use many of the same research methods as other historians: reading books, visiting archives, perusing personal papers whenever possible. But they also study artifacts, sometimes in museum or “historical village” settings, but also in situ, as in the case of industrial archaeologists who reconstruct the operations of abandoned mills, quarries, and machinery. There are even re-enactors who build replicas of trebuchets or triremes from ancient (often vague) descriptions in order to understand how they worked. In facilitating such “hands-on” research, museums and exhibitions do more than cater to a public eager to learn about material progress; they also contribute to serious scholarship.