Chattanooga isn't a foundry center anymore, but artist Mary Barnett and the Chattanooga History Center hope to preserve its history as one.
The history center and Ms. Barnett, who documented the closing and demolition of U.S. Pipe and Foundry, the city's most prominent industrial site, have received a $2,000 Arts Build Communities grant to record oral histories with some of the plant's oldest former workers. The history center will match the grant with cash and in-kind services.
"It's history. It's part of the skyline, and now it's gone forever," Ms. Barnett said of the foundries that once employed someone from nearly every family in the Chattanooga area.
A former New York City video promotions director, Ms. Barnett moved to the St. Elmo community of Chattanooga in 1998. She drove by Wheland Foundry and U.S. Pipe every day, she said, and a catalyst for her project was Wheland's demolition and her regret of not having documented it before it was gone.
When she learned in 2005 that U.S. Pipe also was closing and would be razed in 2006, she won permission from the RiverCity Co. to photograph for a few months before the demolition began. The result was a collection of photographs she called "And the Iron Did Swim."
"Once inside, I was just fascinated," she said. "It looked like they had just walked out. There was still stuff -- calendars and papers -- on the desks. The cabinets had personal photographs and shirts inside. And it looked like it had to be a loud and filthy place to work. I thought, I've got to meet these guys."
When the demolition began, she got her chance, and soon the videotaping and oral histories began to come together.
"Some of them would drive up and watch demolition. I started talking to them about what working there was like. I found out they were all really close. It seemed too important just to have a passing interest in it," she said.
Dr. Daryl Black, executive director of the Chattanooga History Museum, said Allied Arts called to tell him about Ms. Barnett's project, and he jumped at the chance to help and use the work.
"It will be an important part of telling the story of Chattanooga through the voices of those who made our city," he said. "It gives us insights into Chattanooga's work history. If we're not careful we'll lose the chance, because the foundries (and their workers) are disappearing."
GET INVOLVEDThose who are interested and feel they can contribute to the industrial story of Chattanooga are asked to contact Mary Barnett directly at acmecatalyst@gmail.com or 423-822-0289.
The grant, administered by Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga and funded by the Tennessee Arts Commission and Tennessee General Assembly, will support artist costs to gather one-on-one interviews with generations of former foundry workers.
Ms. Barnett, who already has funded much of the project herself, said the grant will finance about two months of work.
On Friday she plans to begin a three-month, all-or-nothing online fundraiser of her own via the Kickstarter.com website to augment the project. The fundraiser will kick off with at 12:30 p.m. with a live radio and television interview on the David Magee Show at Rock Point Books in Downtown Chattanooga.
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Article: Industrial past preserved