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Design and History of Everyday Objects
This guide is meant as a starting point to help designers, or other researchers, trace the origins of an everyday object. Note that resources span a wide range of disciplines including history, sociology, marketing, business histories, material culture, patents and the history of technology, as well as design. For further assistance please ask a Librarian.
Cameo
A list of the entirety of the Library's resources; you can begin here to view the materials available at CMU. Try the "Word or Phrase" search for broader search results. You can also browse the Library holdings by subject heading using the "Subject" search. Here are some suggestions of subjects to try:
- Inventions history
- Technology history
- Design industrial
- Inventions
- Technology popular works
For books on Product Design, browse the 745 call number area on the shelves or through the "Call Number Browse"
Encyclopedia Britannica Online (Full-Text)
If you can find an article on your item in an encyclopedia, reading it early in your research process can often provide you with useful basic information to point you in the right direction for your later research. America : History and Life
Includes citations to articles and books on U.S. and Canadian historical topics, including companies and inventors. Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (Some Full-Text)TIP: Try using a subject search, if that is too narrow use a keyword search instead.
Includes interviews, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, discussions, corrections, continued articles, new product reviews, new product announcements, technically valuable editorials and letters, tables, charts, diagrams, buyers' guides, directories, and conference proceedings published since 1983 on science and technology topics.
Business and Industry (Some Full-Text)TIP: To find articles written before 1983 use the print version: Applied Science & Technology Index. HUNT REF-1 (shelved by title)
Can be used to find articles, published since 1994, in trade journals and business publications about recent developments of products or specific companies.
Includes citations for articles, published since 1973, in design and craft journals on designers, crafts people and firms. Historical AbstractsTIP: Use the advanced search feature for more efficient searching options
Provides citations for articles and books, from 1450 to the present, on historical topics. InfoTrac Web (Some Full-Text)TIP: Utilize subject headings in relevant records to continue your search.
Provides a variety of business and trade journals as well as other news sources. MedlineTIP: Keyword search for your object and the words history or design.
Includes citations for selected bio-medical articles written from 1965 to the present. Try this database for tracing the influence of ergonomics on the development of everyday objects. ProQuest Direct (Many Full-Text)TIP: Try combining your object name with the words ergonomic or design as a "keyword" search.
Provides citations for historic and current business, history and national newspaper articles. TIP: Try opening the "topic search" option, and searching for the word "inventions" and your object.
- Search for both the singular and plural forms of your object
Example: clock, clocks
- Try broader or related terms that might describe your object
Example: timepieces, hourglass
- Combine the name of your object with the words "history" or "inventions"
Example: clocks and history
- Identify time periods having to do with the history and development of your item
Example: 20th century and inventions
- Identify the cultural origins of your object and try combining them with the word "inventions"
Example: American Indian and inventions
- Trying the "advanced search" option in some databases can help you navigate the searching options more effectively
- Ask a Librarian for help!
TIP: Be sure to use the timelines included in some of these works, they can be helpful in understanding the context of your object's development
These books each encompass a number of different everyday objects and can serve as a good source of preliminary information on your object. More specific and detailed sources of information can be found by searching Cameo and Periodical Databases.
- Antonelli, Paola. Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design. New York: Regan Books, 2005.
On Order Discusses common designs of 100 modern objects that are used all over the world. Up close detailed photographs of each item are shown to highlight the tactile quality in design.
- Byars, Mel. The Design Encyclopedia. London : L. King ; New York : Museum of Modern Art, 2004.
FA-REF-4 745.4 B99DA Contains brief biographical information on many designers as well as a bibliography for further information on each designer.
- Busch, Akiko. The Uncommon Life of Common Objects. NY: Metropolis Books, 2004.
HUNT STACKS-4 745.2 B97U Short essays on the designers and recent developments of common objects including: the stroller, cereal box, backpack, desk, mailbox, vegetable peeler, telephone, refrigerator, snow board, camera, medicine cabinet, and white plastic lawn chairs.
- Cole, David J., Eve Browning, and Fred E.H. Schroeder. Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.
HUNT REF-1 608 C68E Brief entries of a few paragraphs each about various objects, often mentioning inventors and other key figures in the object's development. This work includes a thorough index and bibliography.
- Dowswell, Paul. Great Inventions, Everyday Life. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2002.
On Order Contains two-page descriptions of everyday inventions including the year of their invention, images of the items, and a brief history of the development. Some inventions included are the lock, central heating, mechanical clock, watch, flush toilet, lawn mower, refrigerator, light bulb, elevator, electric iron, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, spray can, pop-up toaster, Teflon, ballpoint pen, microwave oven, Velcro, and self-stick notes.
- Edwards, Owen. Elegant Solutions. New York: Crown Publishers, 1989.
HUNT STACKS-4 745.2 E26e Brief entries on the origins of everyday objects and products with black and white photographs of each.
- Fagan, Brian M., ed. The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2004.
ENGINEERING & SCIENCE STACKS 609.3 S497 Filled with color pictures and entries ranging from half-page to three pages. Extensive bibliography divided into categories for further sources. Types of inventions included are technologies, shelter & subsistence, transportation, hunting, warfare & sport, art & science, and personal adornment.
- Lindsay, David. House of Invention : The Extraordinary Evolution of Everyday Objects. New York, N.Y. : Lyons Press, 2000.
ENGINEERING & SCIENCE STACKS 609 L74H Brief histories of everyday household items including the mailbox, microwave, pencil, pen, Scotch tape, post-its, zippers, yo-yos, blue jeans, condoms and the slinky, among others.
- Molotch, Harvey Luskin. Where Stuff Comes From : How Toasters, Toilets, Cars, Computers, and Many Others Things Come to be as They Are. New York : Routledge, 2003.
ENGINEERING & SCIENCE STACKS 620 M72W Traces the modern design process from the formation of an idea to the everyday object in a consumer's home. Mentions some specific objects, but is mostly about the general process.
- Panati, Charles. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. New York : Harper & Row, 1987.
Hunt REF-1 031 P18E One to two page descriptions of the origins of over 500 objects, customs and traditions.
- Petroski, Henry. The Evolution of Useful Things. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
ENGINEERING & SCIENCE STACKS 609 P49E Includes items such as forks, zippers, paperclips, pins, and tools. Each chapter combines the histories of three or four items into a narrative. Limited number of images, all black and white. Includes a lengthy bibliography.
- Rose, Sharon and Neil Schlager. How Things are Made: From Automobiles to Zippers. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2003.
ENGINEERING & SCIENCE STACKS 670 R79H Complete with a denim-clad cover, this resource contains information on the history, manufacture, materials, quality control, future evolution. Includes additional reading for many common household and technical objects. Some items included are the automobile, blue jeans, combination lock, compact disc, eyeglasses, lipstick, pencil, postage stamp, rubber band, sunscreen, and super glue.
- Rubin, Susan Goldman. Toilets, Toasters & Telephones: The How and Why of Everyday Objects. New York: Browndee Press, 1998.
ENGINEERING & SCIENCE STACKS 683.8 R89T This book contains short chapters on each everyday object it discusses, including a history of the development and many black and white pictures of the object in its different forms. Some items included are toilets, sinks, bathtubs, stoves, toasters, refrigerators, laundry machines, irons, vacuum cleaners, telephones, typewriters, pens and pencils.
- Travers, Bridget ed. World of Invention: History’s Most Significant Inventions and the People Behind Them. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1994.
HUNT REF-1 608 W92 1ST 1994 Discusses specific inventions and inventors in short sections.
These volumes, located on the 4th floor of Hunt Library by the reference section, are an excellent source of object images, both modern and historical. The resources listed below may be particularly helpful for your research:
- Bender, Lionel. Invention (from the series Eyewitness Books). New York: Knopf, 1991.
HUNT FA-PIX-4 703 E97 Vol.27 Large color images of items with small captions citing dates and important people related to the object.
- Bragonier, Reginald. What's What, a Visual Glossary of the Physical World. Maplewood, NJ: Hammond, 1981.
HUNT FA-PIX-4 031 B81W Contains black and white images of objects and labels all the parts of them. Images are mostly modern.
- Corbeil, Jean-Claude and Ariane Archambault. The Macmillan Visual Dictionary. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
HUNT FA-PIX-4 703 M167 Color images of objects, with all the parts of them labeled. No text descriptions, history or dates.
- Diderot Encyclopedia
HUNT FA-PIX-4 Containing illustrations of many 18th and 19th century machines and items, a good way to trace the development of various processes.
- Dorling, Kindersley. The Visual Dictionary of Everyday Things. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
HUNT FA-PIX-4 423.1 C78FAC Black and white images of objects labeled bilingually in both English and French.
- Sears Roebuck Catalogues from 1897, 1902, 1927, the 1930's, and 1956/7.
HUNT FA-PIX-4 Reprints of catalogues originally published by the Sears Roebuck Company which contain images of goods for sale ranging from small household items to large appliances. An excellent source for images of developing objects in the early twentieth century.
- The Very Best English Goods. Introduced by Alison Adburgham, Army & Navy Co-operative Society.
HUNT FA-PIX-4 659.133 A74V A facsimile of the original catalogue of Edwardian fashions, furnishings, and notions sold at the Army & Navy Co-operative Society store in London, published as catalogue no. 84, 15 Mar. 1907, under title: Rules of the society and price list of articles sold at the stores.
Resources From Other Libraries
Starting your project early leaves you time to utilize the resources of other libraries through Interlibrary Loan. You can also search the catalogs of other local libraries, such as the University of Pittsburgh Library System and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which are both within walking distance, to find other resources.
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July 17, 2006 -- http://www.library.cmu.edu/Research/Arts/Design/Everyday.html
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