'A method for safe transmission': the microscope slides of the American Postal Microscopical Club.

IF 0.7 1区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE British Journal for the History of Science Pub Date : 2021-12-01 DOI:10.1017/S0007087421000534
Lea Beiermann
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

In the 1870s, microscopy societies began to proliferate in the United States. Most of these societies attracted microscopists from surrounding cities, but the American Postal Microscopical Club, modelled on the British Postal Microscopical Society, used the postal system to connect microscopists scattered across the country. Club members exchanged microscope slides and notes following a chain-letter system. The main objective of the club was to teach its members how to make permanent slides. Preparation and mounting methods required technical skill, which was, as even club members had to admit, difficult to learn without personal instruction. Yet members developed ways to share craft knowledge through the post. Drawing on the private notes of a member and published reports on the slides circulated, this paper challenges the widespread assumption that the generation of craft knowledge depended on the co-location of artisans. It argues that microscopists' knowledge of preparation methods was intertwined with their skill in building and navigating information infrastructures, and that by tracing these infrastructures we gain a better understanding of how craft knowledge travelled in the late nineteenth century.

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“一种安全传输方法”:美国邮政显微俱乐部的显微镜载玻片。
在19世纪70年代,显微镜学会开始在美国蓬勃发展。这些协会大多吸引了来自周边城市的显微镜专家,但美国邮政显微镜俱乐部,模仿英国邮政显微镜协会,利用邮政系统将分散在全国各地的显微镜专家联系起来。俱乐部成员按照连锁信的方式交换显微镜载玻片和笔记。俱乐部的主要目的是教会员如何制作永久幻灯片。准备和安装方法需要技术技巧,即使是俱乐部成员也不得不承认,如果没有个人指导,很难学会。然而,会员们想出了通过帖子分享工艺知识的方法。根据一位成员的私人笔记和在幻灯片上发布的报告,本文挑战了一种普遍的假设,即工艺知识的产生取决于工匠的共同位置。它认为,显微镜学家对制备方法的知识与他们建立和导航信息基础设施的技能交织在一起,通过追踪这些基础设施,我们可以更好地了解19世纪后期工艺知识的传播方式。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.80
自引率
12.50%
发文量
59
期刊介绍: This leading international journal publishes scholarly papers and review articles on all aspects of the history of science. History of science is interpreted widely to include medicine, technology and social studies of science. BJHS papers make important and lively contributions to scholarship and the journal has been an essential library resource for more than thirty years. It is also used extensively by historians and scholars in related fields. A substantial book review section is a central feature. There are four issues a year, comprising an annual volume of over 600 pages. Published for the British Society for the History of Science
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