Chair: Paul Israel

Panelists: Molly Berger
Aaron Alcorn
Bernhard Jim
Arwen Mohun

Session Description and Rationale:

For more than forty years, Carroll Pursell has had a unique influence on the development of the history of technology and its connections to a variety of other fields. That influence has been expressed not only in his many books and articles, but also in less obvious ways. Students, colleagues, and newcomers have all shared the experience of finding that one of Carroll Pursell’s good ideas, vividly expressed in a conversation or lecture, became the spark for a book or an article or a lecture or some other project of our own. Those ideas came not only out of Carroll’s fertile imagination, but also out of extraordinarily wide-ranging intellectual interests, from the military industrial complex to feminist theory. In the same way, Carroll Pursell has often been first in line to acknowledge other people’s good ideas, enthusiastically encouraging us to nurture our own enthusiasms and strongly-held beliefs.

As SHOT celebrates its fiftieth anniversary by looking back at where we came from and forward to where we want to go, this panel addresses both themes. In addition to celebrating Carroll’s role in shaping the field, it is designed to demonstrate an unacknowledged side of historiography: the profound intellectual influence of generous sharing, teaching, mentoring, and listening.

Panelists will tell a brief anecdote about one of Carroll’s enthusiasms, then give a concrete example of where that enthusiasm and/or bit of encouragement led.