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Fallible guardian: The social constr...

Schwantes, Benjamin Sidney Michael.

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Fallible guardian: The social construction of railroad telegraphy in 19th-century America.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Fallible guardian: The social construction of railroad telegraphy in 19th-century America./
Author:	Schwantes, Benjamin Sidney Michael.
Published:	Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, : 2008,
Description:	263 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-12, Section: A, page: 4846.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International69-12A.
Subject:	American history. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3337423
ISBN:	9780549924975

Fallible guardian: The social construction of railroad telegraphy in 19th-century America.
Schwantes, Benjamin Sidney Michael.

Fallible guardian: The social construction of railroad telegraphy in 19th-century America. - Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2008 - 263 p.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-12, Section: A, page: 4846.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008.

This dissertation argues that a deterministic popular rhetoric of 19 th-century mechanical and electrical sublimity has obscured the complex and nuanced social, financial, and technological relationships that developed between users of railroad and telegraph technologies. In order to successfully analyze the agents that shaped the development of both industries in the United States, it is necessary to recognize that these technologies were socially constructed and evolved as parts of larger technological systems that encompassed social, economic, and technological components. By examining how these components interacted and shaped the development of the railroad and telegraph industries, this dissertation situates both technologies within the broader framework of American industrial growth and expansion in the 19th century. It demonstrates that uncertainty, mutual suspicion, and cautious experimentation, rather than systematic, linear development dominated the process by which railroad officials and telegraph promoters established working social, financial, and technological partnerships.

ISBN: 9780549924975Subjects--Topical Terms:

2122692
American history.

Fallible guardian: The social construction of railroad telegraphy in 19th-century America.
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245 1 0 $a Fallible guardian: The social construction of railroad telegraphy in 19th-century America.
260 1 $a Ann Arbor : $b ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, $c 2008
300 $a 263 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-12, Section: A, page: 4846.
500 $a Adviser: Susan Strasser.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008.
520 $a This dissertation argues that a deterministic popular rhetoric of 19 th-century mechanical and electrical sublimity has obscured the complex and nuanced social, financial, and technological relationships that developed between users of railroad and telegraph technologies. In order to successfully analyze the agents that shaped the development of both industries in the United States, it is necessary to recognize that these technologies were socially constructed and evolved as parts of larger technological systems that encompassed social, economic, and technological components. By examining how these components interacted and shaped the development of the railroad and telegraph industries, this dissertation situates both technologies within the broader framework of American industrial growth and expansion in the 19th century. It demonstrates that uncertainty, mutual suspicion, and cautious experimentation, rather than systematic, linear development dominated the process by which railroad officials and telegraph promoters established working social, financial, and technological partnerships.
520 $a When Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrated the first telegraph line in 1844, American railroad officials did not immediately perceive telegraphy as a useful tool for managing railroad operations, such as monitoring train locations, communicating with station agents and train crews, issuing operating instructions, and preventing collisions. Nor did American telegraph entrepreneurs understand how to successfully promote their new technology to railroad managers in the antebellum era. Only through a lengthy process of trial and error did users of both technologies gradually establish financial and technological ties.
520 $a The first three chapters of the dissertation examine the role of social, technological, and economic agents in shaping partnerships between railroad officials and telegraph promoters in antebellum America. The fourth chapter examines how the development and growth of the United States Military Railroad and Telegraph Corps during the American Civil War revealed the underlying tensions between pro-telegraph and anti-telegraph railroad officials and led to compromises between military railroad and telegraph officials on how telegraph technologies would be used for railroad operational management during the conflict. The fifth and sixth chapters address how rapidly expanding railroad traffic in the postwar era forced civilian railroad officials to adopt telegraphic train dispatching technologies in a largely ad hoc manner. The rapid process of adoption led to inconsistent management practices and technological standards and increased the risk of deadly train collisions. These problems were only resolved at the end of the century through a slow standards-setting process directed by railroad officials from numerous companies. By the end of the 19th century, railroad and telegraph officials established working technological and financial partnerships, but railroad managers never embraced telegraphic management practices. The rapid transition away from telegraphic train dispatching discussed in the final chapter highlights the lingering tensions between both industries in the early 20th century and demonstrates that railroad officials remained concerned that telegraph technology could undermine strict managerial protocols and introduce unacceptable risks to railroad operations. These conclusions strike at the heart of the deterministic rhetoric of technological sublimity and show that neither technology possessed a natural affinity for the other, nor were they inherently linked as technological partners in American industrial development.
590 $a School code: 0060.
650 4 $a American history. $3 2122692
690 $a 0337
710 2 $a University of Delaware. $b Department of History. $3 1037294
773 0 $t Dissertation Abstracts International $g 69-12A.
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791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2008
793 $a English
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