Butler, Orville R. 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born 1952. Education: Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3843. E-mail—obutler@aip.org.

CAREER:

Writer, educator, and historian. Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, staff member, 2005—. Formerly worked as a historian for the Academy of Management's International Management Division.

WRITINGS:

(With Stephen B. Adams) Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Kenneth Lipartito) A History of the Kennedy Space Center, University Press of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Orville R. Butler was born in 1952 and holds a Ph.D. He is a writer, scholar, and a historian of science and physics. In 2005, he joined the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics. During his career, Butler has coauthored two books on the history of science. His first book, Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric, written with Stephen B. Adams, was published in 1999.

Manufacturing the Future has been widely reviewed. The book gives a history and overview of Western Electric in all its incarnations. The company eventu- ally became part of AT&T and then became Lucent Technologies. Indeed, the book was written at the behest of Dan Stanzione, then chief operating officer of Lucent. Western Electric has a business history unlike that of any other. The company was founded in the 1870s by Western Union and became co-owned by AT&T in the 1890s. It was a leading electronics manufacturer for one hundred years. The company only began to struggle as a result of AT&T's antitrust settlement in 1982. Interestingly, Western Electric is also known for giving rise to the term "Hawthorne Effect," a now-famous term referencing unforeseen influences on experiments. Productivity experiments comparing workers' productivity in natural versus fluorescent light were conducted at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant. The study found that light was not a factor in productivity at all, but, rather, that the increased supervision brought on by the experiment itself led to increased productivity.

Given Western Electric's illustrious and singular history, critics felt that the book was a very valuable source of information. For instance, Edmund A. Mennis, writing in Business Economics, found that the book is not "just another laudatory company history created by internal public relations specialists." Indeed, Mennis went on to call Manufacturing the Future "a readable and informative book." Noting that the book was written at the request of a Lucent CEO, Mennis observed that "the authors were given a free hand, along with access to company personnel and records." This access resulted in a book that "presents a factual history, warts and all." Mennis went on to call Butler and Adams "distinguished scholars," and he called Western Electric "a company the like of which we are not likely to see again."

Like Mennis, many critics held the opinion that Manufacturing the Future is well written. Indeed, Albert Churella, writing in Business History, called the book "a compact and highly readable account" of Western Electric's history. Churella felt that "many of the themes addressed" in the book, such as technology, business management, corporate welfare, and antitrust laws, "resonate throughout the history of American business." Furthermore, Churella concluded that the authors have "succeeded admirably in producing a fascinating corporate history of considerable value to historians of business and technology." Other reviewers were equally laudatory in their assessments. Business History Review critic Richard S. Rosenbloom asserted that "business historians have rarely treated [Western Electric] among the notable industrial enterprises of the twentieth century." Rosenbloom then added that "Stephen B. Adams and Orville R. Butler have helped to correct that situation with this accessible overview of its long history." Rosenbloom acknowledged the "thoughtful concluding chapter," and, noting that the book was somewhat short in length, stated "I found the book stimulating in its attention to a broad array of issues, but frustrating in its brief attention to most of them." Despite this minor criticism, Rosenbloom concluded that the book is "a readable and useful introduction to the history of a noteworthy enterprise."

Because Butler and Adams had extensive access to company records, Russell Lansbury, writing in Labour & Industry, found that Manufacturing the Future "provide[s] some fascinating perspectives." Following this line of reasoning, Lansbury concluded that the "book provides some very valuable historical insights into both the Hawthorne plant and the Western Electric Company and should be of considerable interest to industrial relations scholars."

Butler's second book, A History of the Kennedy Space Center, which was written with Kenneth Lipartito, was published eight years after Manufacturing the Future. Another business history book, the volume tells the story of the founding and development of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The book discusses how the marshy area in Florida came to be filled in with concrete during the 1950s as the center was built, and notes that during the center's busiest periods, up to two unmanned rockets were launched each day. The authors also note how NASA was forced to fight with the military over the territory surrounding the center. A History of the Kennedy Space Center received complimentary reviews, and a Publishers Weekly critic was no exception. Indeed, the critic noted the book's "fine, vivid" writing and applauded Butler and Lipartito for overlooking the much-discussed astronauts in favor of discussing "the center itself and … the dedicated men and women behind the scenes" responsible for ensuring that the "space program [was] a success."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June 1, 2000, Jefferson Cowie, review of Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric, p. 938.

Business Economics, January 1, 2000, Edmund A. Mennis, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 82.

Business History, January 1, 2000, Albert Churella, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 130.

Business History Review, December 22, 1999, Richard S. Rosenbloom, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 764.

Choice, July 1, 1999, T.E. Sullivan, review of Manufacturing the Future; January 1, 2008, J.Z. Kiss, review of A History of the Kennedy Space Center, p. 839.

Economic History Review, February 1, 2000, John Cantwell, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 204.

Isis, June 1, 2000, George David Smith, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 416.

Journal of American History, June 1, 2001, David E. Nye, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 225.

Journal of Economic History, September 1, 1999, Edward E. Zajac, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 832.

Labour & Industry, April 1, 2000, Russell Lansbury, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 130.

Publishers Weekly, June 25, 2007, review of A History of the Kennedy Space Center, p. 48.

Telecommunications Policy, June 1, 2000, Michele Javary, review of Manufacturing the Future, p. 460.