Steel Weekend

September 28-29, 2019

The National Museum of Industrial History is hosting a special weekend of programming in celebration of Steel Day on Saturday, September 28th and Sunday, September 29th. An annual celebration in its 11th year, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction, SteelDay is dedicated to the structural steel industry and is the field’s largest educational and networking function, with events occurring all over the country.  We have an action-packed weekend full of educational and hands-on activities on Saturday and Sunday that are fun for the whole family.  Watch iron smelt, learn how to forge metal, or partake in a rare hands-on hot riveting workshop!  The full schedule of events is below.

Saturday, September 28th

Forging Demonstration
10am to 5pm
Watch forging in action as NMIH volunteers and staff utilize a power hammer and demonstrate how glowing hot metal is shaped by hand. This event is included in regular museum admission.

Bridge Building and Casting Youth Activity
10am to 5pm
Learn about bridges and construct you own! Experiment with different structures and try out different designs to test how much weight your bridge can carry. Successful bridge designs that can carry weight will cast their very own Engineer Award to take home. Find out in the lobby when and where you can forge your next NMIH award!  This event is included in regular museum admission.

Riveting Workshop
10am to 1pm
This hands-on workshop will teach students the basics of hot riveting, from heating steel rivets in a forge, to driving them with a pneumatic rivet hammer, and then inspecting them. Riveted bridge restoration specialist Vern Mesler will lead the workshop and show participants that riveting is not a lost art, but one that should be learned by new generations who will be maintaining the steel structures and products of earlier times. This is an intense, physically demanding workshop that is geared both to those who want to experience what thousands of workers once did to build skyscrapers, ships, and many other things, and those who are contemplating riveting for restoration or artistic projects. This event requires a paid ticket.  Space is limited. Click here to purchase your tickets now.

Steelmaking 101
11am
NMIH volunteer and special guest presenter Chuck Higdon dives into just how Bethlehem’s famous blast furnaces worked, and how iron ore, carbon, coal, and limestone were used to form steel. This lecture is included in regular museum admission.

Corliss Engine Demonstration
12:30pm and 3:30pm
See NMIH’s massive 115-ton steam engine come to life. This engineering marvel has been carefully restored over thousands of hours to operating condition after sitting dormant for decades. Once pumping 8 millions of gallons of water per day for the city of York, the engine is now the crown jewel of the museum.  This demo is included in regular museum admission.

The Bridges of Bethlehem Steel
2pm
Join retired Bethlehem Steel Civil Engineer Gordon Baker as he talks about the history of Bethlehem Steel’s bridgemaking operations, which saw some of the world’s most famous structures come from its mills. From the Golden Gate to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridges, Bethlehem Steel helped build it all. This lecture is included in regular museum admission.

National Steel Bridge Alliance
Archival Slideshow
3pm to 5pm
View a slide show of rare archival photographs of submissions from the National Steel Bridge Alliance and American Institute of Steel Construction biennial competition to celebrate industry achievements in American bridge construction and innovation. This event is included in regular museum admission.

Scenes from the Steel Photo Shoot
6:30pm
Ever dreamed of photographing the iconic Bethlehem Steel plant when it was operating? This after-hours photo shoot at the National Museum of Industrial History is the closest you can get. Volunteer Brian Alesin leads actors in modeling historical scenes from Bethlehem Steel utilizing actual steelmaking equipment, smoke machines, and lighting equipment to produce memorable images that look right out of the factory.  This event requires a paid ticket.  Space is limited. Click here to purchase your tickets now.

Sunday, September 29th

Forging Demonstration
10am to 5pm
Watch forging in action as NMIH volunteers and staff utilize a power hammer and demonstrate how glowing hot metal is shaped by hand. This event is included in regular museum admission.

Smelting Demonstration
10am to 5pm
Watch as volunteers build a bloomery furnace, smelt iron, and practice metal-working in this fascinating all-day demonstration. This event is included in regular museum admission.

Bridge Building and Casting Youth Activity
10am to 5pm
Learn about bridges and construct you own! Experiment with different structures and try out different designs to test how much weight your bridge can carry. Successful bridge designs that can carry weight will cast their very own Engineer Award to take home. Find out in the lobby when and where you can forge your next NMIH award!  This event is included in regular museum admission.

Riveting Workshop
10am to 1pm
This hands-on workshop will teach students the basics of hot riveting, from heating steel rivets in a forge, to driving them with a pneumatic rivet hammer, and then inspecting them. Riveted bridge restoration specialist Vern Mesler will lead the workshop and show participants that riveting is not a lost art, but one that should be learned by new generations who will be maintaining the steel structures and products of earlier times. This is an intense, physically demanding workshop that is geared both to those who want to experience what thousands of workers once did to build skyscrapers, ships, and many other things, and those who are contemplating riveting for restoration or artistic projects. This event requires a paid ticket.  Space is limited. Click here to purchase your tickets now.

Corliss Engine Demonstration
11am
See NMIH’s massive 115-ton steam engine come to life. This engineering marvel has been carefully restored over thousands of hours to operating condition after sitting dormant for decades. Once pumping 8 millions of gallons of water per day for the city of York, the engine is now the crown jewel of the museum.  This demo is included in regular museum admission.

National Steel Bridge Alliance
Archival Slideshow
12pm to 2pm
View a slide show of rare archival photographs of submissions from the National Steel Bridge Alliance and American Institute of Steel Construction biennial competition to celebrate industry achievements in American bridge construction and innovation. This event is included in regular museum admission.

Duffy’s Cut: The Latest Developments
3pm
In June of 1832 57 Irish immigrant laborers arrived at the port of Philadelphia and were hired to build mile 59 of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, Pennsylvania’s pioneering railroad.  Within 8 weeks of their arrival all 57 laborers were dead.  The railroad said that they died of a cholera pandemic that was raging throughout the Delaware Valley. Archaeological and forensic examination of their remains has shown that the laborers were murdered, likely out of fear of the spread of disease as well as anti-immigrant sentiment on the part of the locals.  This presentation will explore the background of the deaths of these laborers, as well as the latest developments in this investigation. This lecture is included in regular museum admission.

Steel Weekend is made possible thanks to:


Hank & Joanne Barnette
Todd & Kathryn Bessemer

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