Who we are
Who we are
About the Chapter
The Samuel Knight Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology (there is a local desire to spell this "archaeology") was founded in March, 1997. It is the first SIA chapter in the Western United States. It is named after Samuel Knight, engineer and inventor in the California Gold Rush era, and founder of Knight & Co. in 1873, a still operating foundry and machine shop in the California Gold Country at Sutter Creek.
The founding of the chapter was spearheaded by members of the Industrial Living History Consortium, a group dedicated to the preservation of the skills of artisans and skilled workers through traditional processes like oral history, documentary film and apprenticeships updated through the use of contemporary multimedia and internet tools. The Consortium and Chapter have both been strongly supported by the Society for Preservation of the Carter Railroad Resources (SPCRR) located at Ardenwood Historical Farm, in Fremont, CA, a unit of the East Bay Regional Park District.
One of the original purposes of the Chapter was to help preserve the Knight Foundry. The Chapter provided a vehicle to bring together a large constituency with a common goal, saving this unique Industrial Archeology treasure. In 2001 the Chapter completed spinning off a new organization, the Knight Foundry Corporation, which is focused on the preservation effort. Many Chapter members are also members of the Knight Club, part of the efforts of the Corporation. The Chapter continues to be interested in the Foundry. Our 2002 Annual Meeting was held at the foundry.
The Chapter is a Public Benefit Corporation. It is governed by the Chapter Bylaws, which are available from the Chapter Secretary. The Chapter officers and Board of Director members meet roughly quarterly. Anyone with business for the Board Meeting should contact one of the Officers or Board Members. Minutes are available from the Chapter Secretary on request. At present, the Chapter has decided not to seek IRS tax exempt status under Section (501)(c)(3) due to the record keeping burden, and the lack of a strong necessity for this status.
About This Web Site
This web site is, itself, somewhat a piece of Industrial Archeology. It was first created in 1997 on reality.sgi.com, a pioneering web host for Silicon Graphics employees' personal web pages. When I left SGI in 1999, I was able to capture the state of the web site which had been neglected for a year or so. reality.sgi.com was decommissioned in 2001.
In November, 2002 the site was re-established through the courtesy of SIA Headquarters as part of their main site. THANKS!
So like Knight Foundry, you are looking at a still functional, but quaintly dated piece of technology, web pages created in the midst of the boom time in Silicon Valley, as the Knight Foundry was created during the boom times of the gold rush.
