James Watt’s Workshop

The workshop of engineer James Watt is a jewel in the collections of the Science Museum, London. Containing over eight thousand objects, it is a complete physical record of Watt’s working life and interests. Watt is best known for his work on the steam engine but, rather than being filled with steam components, the workshop is full of sculpture, chemistry, instrument-making, antiquity, and much else besides. This chapter will use Watt’s workshop as a lens through which we can explore the knowledge economy underpinning Britain’s industrial revolution and question the kind of knowledge which counted in that economy.