Vol. 39 No. 1 (2021): Large museum machines

The industrialized world is full of machines of a wast variety of forms and sizes. Humanity has imagined machines for all kinds of work with increasing pace as automatization increases. Maxchines are now an integral part of society and our common cultural heritage. Meanwhile, museums are filled with typewriters, radios, and other everyday gadgets. Large machines, however, present a tall task to heritage work. How can they be preserved as artefacts of our technological era? How are these machines used to convey ideas about industrial heritage and about its preservers? When and why is the conservation or restauration of a large machine timely, and what should one keep in mind? These issues are discussed in this special issue of Tekniikan Waiheita that engages the history of technology community with an ongoing, lively, and international discussion in the museums sector.