Tube Archeology: Pathways to the Present; In Search of Shirt-Pocket Radios with Subminiature Tubes
Dr. Michael Brian Schiffer goes beyond traditional thinking, blending scientific techniques from archeologists and technology historians into a new methodology of analyzing the artifacts of vacuum tube history, and discovers the delightful surprise that portable vacuum tube radios were manufactured before transistorized radios.
This article was originally published in Learning From Things—Method and Material of Material Culture Studies, Kingery, W.D. ed., Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. It is reprinted in the Inaugural issue of the International Vacuum Tube Museum’s publication, Filling the Vacuum, with permission of the Smithsonian Institution and Dr. Michael Brian Schiffer.
Dr. Schiffer is an archeologist and the leading proponent of behavioral archaeology. He is currently the Fred A. Riecker Distinguished Professor Emeritus, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Research Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, Research Associate, Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and is on the Advisory Council of the International Vacuum Tube Museum.
Tube Archeology: Pathways to the Present; In Search of Shirt-Pocket Radios with Subminiature Tubes is a Feature Article in Filling the Vacuum. Click here to receive a complimentary copy.