Awards
- Joint winner for Hagley Business History Prize 2005.
- Joint winner of Hagley Business History Prize 2005 (United States)
Overview
In 1926, the Carriage Builders' National Association met for the last time, signaling the automobile's final triumph over the horse-drawn carriage. Only a decade earlier, carriages and wagons were still a common sight on every Main Street in America. In the previous century, carriage-building had been one of the largest and most dynamic industries in the country. In this sweeping study of a forgotten trade, Thomas A. Kinney extends our understanding of nineteenth-century American industrialization far beyond the steel mill and railroad. The legendary Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company in 1880 produced a hundred wagons a day - one every six minutes. Across the country, smaller factories fashioned vast quantities of buggies, farm wagons, and luxury carriages. Today, if we think of carriage and wagon at all, we assume it merely foreshadowed the automobile industry. Yet, the carriage industry epitomized a batch-work approach to production that flourished for decades. Contradicting the model of industrial development in which hand tools, small firms, and individual craftsmanship simply gave way to mechanized factories, the carriage industry successfully employed small-scale business and manufacturing practices throughout its history. The Carriage Trade traces the rise and fall of this heterogeneous industry, from the pre-industrial shop system to the coming of the automobile, using as case studies Studebaker, the New York-based luxury carriage-maker Brewsters, and dozens of smaller firms from around the country. Kinney also explores the experiences of the carriage and wagon worker over the life of the industry. Deeply researched and strikingly original, this study contributes a vivid chapter to the story of America's industrial revolution.
Full Product Details
Author: Thomas A. Kinney (Assistant Professor of History, Bluefield College)
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Volume: 20
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.70cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.748kg
ISBN: 9780801879463
ISBN 10: 0801879469
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 08 December 2004
Recommended Age: From 17
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
General
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
A work of great value... Kinney offers a sophisticated analysis of the growth and eventual collapse of this mostly forgotten major US enterprise, and he presents his findings in a readable fashion. Choice 2005 An indispensable resource for anyone interested in the manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles... An important read for transport historians. -- Merri Ferrell Journal of Transport History 2005 Contrary to popular perception, it was... the low-cost horse-drawn vehicle that introduced Americans to personal transportation. -- Ed Duggan Journal of American History 2005 A significant work that brings fresh insights to the study of industrialization. American Historical Review 2006 A valuable resource that does much to advance our understanding of how industrialization affected work processes, labor relations, business organization, and consumption. Enterprise and Society 2006 With these well-organized tools, clear explanations, and absorbing narratives, Kinney provides Indiana and United States historians with an erudite and insightful contribution to the history of transportation technology. -- Philip M. Teigen Indiana Magazine of History 2007 Kinney has completed an outstanding history of the American carriage industry. This volume belongs on the bookshelf of any serious student of 19th century industry, technology, and labor. -- Charles Hyde Industrial Archaeology 2006 Kinney reconstructs this once vibrant yet largely forgotten industry. -- Daniel Claro Winterthur Portfolio 2008
It is an important book, of size, depth, and scope well beyond what else has been written about the American nineteenth-century carriage and wagon industry. - Carolyn C. Cooper, Yale University
Author Information
Thomas A. Kinney is assistant professor of history at Bluefield College in Virginia.
