More industrial archaeology. Pennsylvania's mighty Bethlehem Steel company was sold last week. Apart from the small matter of what will happen to the firm's employees, conservationists are fighting to save the five mighty 17-storey furnaces at the Bethlehem Works (CNN story, which will probably expire soon). The history of Bethlehem Steel. Image gallery courtesy of the Society for Industrial Archaeology. More images on the company's official website: I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII. Another good gallery.

Can such relics of outdated industry be retained? Economically speaking, the answer is probably not. However, major industrial plants grew to symbolise the community they supported (or even created) - physically and mentally - meaning that there is an increasing desire to retain more than mere memories when the industry moves on. See, for example, the Magna Centre, the Parc de la Villette or the Zeche Zollverein colliery (more pics).

Elsewhere. The Twentieth Century Society's latest journal, focusing on the Sixties, comes highly recommended. Some great images at Lomoblog, but the site is something of a work in progress (also a bit too crisp to be produced by an actual Lomo? Not sure. Thus far, our experiments with the Supersampler have only been about 30% effective. Some scans soon, perhaps). Another photoblog: Bingwalker.

Photo agency Veer has a good creative weblog, the Skinny. Is, gulp, newthings a Culture Blog? Not sure, especially since places like Portage continue to get all the good links: visit the splendid Mondrian Machine for a case in point.posted by things at 08:11 / 0 comments