The companion book to an upcoming museum exhibition of the same name,
Places of Invention seeks to answer timely questions about the nature
of invention and innovation: What is it about some places that sparks
invention and innovation? Is it simply being at the right place at the
right time, or is it more than that? How does "place"--whether physical,
social, or cultural--support, constrain, and shape innovation? Why does
invention flourish in one spot but struggle in another, even very
similar location? In short: Why there? Why then?
Places of Invention frames current and historic conversation on the
relationship between place and creativity, citing extensive scholarship
in the area and two decades of investigation and study from the National
Museum of American History's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention
and Innovation. The book is built around six place case studies:
Hartford, CT, late 1800s; Hollywood, CA, 1930s; Medical Alley, MN,
1950s; Bronx, NY,1970s; Silicon Valley, CA, 1970s-1980s; and Fort
Collins, CO, 2010s. Interspersed with these case studies are dispatches
from three "learning labs" detailing Smithsonian Affiliate museums' work
using Places of Invention as a model for documenting local invention
and innovation.
Written by exhibition curators, each part of the book focuses on the
central thesis that invention is everywhere and fueled by unique
combinations of creative people, ready resources, and inspiring
surroundings. Like the locations it explores, Places of Invention
shows how the history of invention can be a transformative lens for
understanding local history and cultivating creativity on scales of
place ranging from the personal to the national and beyond.
