Abstract

"Stimulating Minds: Industrial Engineers and the Organization of Creativity at Home and Work, 1918-1939"

William Krause, Vanderbilt University (william.krause@vanderbilt.edu)

To describe the guiding sensibilities of the “post-Fordist” economy, scholars commonly gesture to the concept of creativity – a notion that achieved striking public salience in the Cold War years. However, in “Stimulating Minds,” I argue that the experts seeking to redesign American society following the First World War did not overlook the role of creativity in industrial research or in household planning. The paper excavates the discourse of major figures in industrial engineering – including Lillian Gilbreth and members of the Industrial Research Institute – revealing the extent to which they believed careful, rational planning could stimulate the creative capacities of individuals, both at home and work. “Stimulating Minds” exposes the nuance with which they discussed individual creativity and its relationship to large-scale organization, as well as the tensions that occasionally cleaved participants in this discourse. Archives from the Hagley Museum and Library and the National Museum of American History form the primary source foundation for this paper. This research derives from my dissertation, which tracks debates about the concept of genius in American society.

“Stimulating Minds” contributes to the literature on the organizational synthesis by challenging the tidy conclusion that Fordist-era institutions were hostile to the affective dimensions of human work and experience. Instead, this research reveals how influential thought-leaders in industrial engineering believed that rational, efficient planning could co-exist with the more elusive elements of creative work and thought. This history ultimately enables historians to perceive more clearly what is new – and old – about “post-Fordist” styles of organization.