American Precision Museum Launches Interactive Digital Exhibit

The American Precision Museum (APM) recently launched a new interactive digital exhibit called “The Manufacturing Ledger.” The exhibit is a collection of stories and profiles about individuals whose careers were devoted to manufacturing — whether the person’s career was spent on the shop floor, engineering department, sales department or in the corporate boardroom.

The exhibit — which is designed to support and inspire the future of manufacturing — is accessible online and will soon be integrated into a physical exhibit at the museum.

The Manufacturing Ledger embraces the “people” aspect of the manufacturing history, enabling the APM to tell the full narrative of manufacturing by providing a well-designed framework and functional platform to relay sponsored profiles and pictures of an infinite number of individuals. The museum welcomes submissions from a variety of manufacturing career categories, including machine tool builder, machine tool distributor/importer, manufacturer, educator and industry advocate (such as associations, media).

APM says interacting with the exhibit is easy and cross-referenced, enabling visitors to sort profiles by industry sector, job function, name and company so visitors can find former co-workers and learn more about their career path. There are also search functions to locate those who founded a company or who invented a technology used in manufacturing. Visitors can also search by various lifetime achievement awards from participating associations, such as AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology, National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA), Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) and Women in Manufacturing (WiM) as well as members of the Machine Tool Hall of Fame.

Participating in The Manufacturing Ledger supports the American Precision Museum financially and physically. Contributing your story or that of a family member, friend, colleague, mentor or educator enriches the content of the exhibit itself, while financial donations sponsoring each profile help fund the museum. The facility maintains the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the nation, all housed in an 1846 armory building which is designated a National Historic Landmark.

The museum’s goals are to preserve, present and interpret its artifact collections and property; to inspire new generations of innovators; and build communities that foster a strong manufacturing future.

“The American Precision Museum is home to remarkable manufacturing breakthroughs,” says Lee Morris, chairman of Morris Group Inc. “To produce precise, interchangeable rifle componentry, engineering innovators replaced manual filing and fitting with water-powered, metal cutting machine tools of their own design. It is doubtful that these engineers had any idea of the impact of their creativity. They were at the forefront of a manufacturing revolution, but their individual stories are mostly lost. The progress of every decade since, is the product of people thinking, creating and improving in response to perceived opportunity. The story is repeated time and again. It’s the people behind manufacturing innovations who are so compelling. Along with the machinery that they have created, we also need to collect, share and preserve personal stories of the manufacturing innovators who have so strongly influenced the United States throughout the years.”

To begin the process of contributing your unique manufacturing story or to honor someone you know, visit The Manufacturing Ledger. For further information, contact Steve Dalessio at 802-674-5781 or ledger@americanprecision.org.