Emergent Histories
New work in the digital history of industry and collections from the Congruence Engine project
Tim Boon (Editor), Alexandra Rose (Editor)
For generations, artefacts and information of all kinds have been assembled in diverse collections across the UK. Museum objects, archives, pictures, moving images and media, records of historical places, even datasets derived from state, commercial and individual activity, all have been catalogued and stored. Yet in most museums and galleries, only a tiny proportion of physical collections are shown in public displays, with vast stores kept in reserve for research, although researchers rarely come. Great repositories of cultural capital, the knowledge they hold has been largely untapped – until now.
For nearly half a century, heritage organisations have created digital inventories of their collections. Inspired by the prospect of combining these records so they may be explored together, the Congruence Engine research project set out to build digital bridges and pathways between collections dedicated to the UK’s industrial history for textiles, energy and communications. Launched in 2021, Congruence Engine navigated the generative AI revolution that commenced a year later. As a result, Emergent Histories is by turns a reflection on the historical and curatorial possibilities arising from collections, a digital history how-to manual, and a narrative of the tribulations of AI early adopters. It will be of interest to historians, curators, students – and to anyone who cares for the industrial aspects of our past.
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Introduction
Tim Boon
1 ‘We are Congruence Engine’: a history of the project
Arran Rees and Tim Boon
2 This project is very white: experiments in resisting inclusion and diversity paradigms
Katerina Webb-Bourne, Arran Rees, Julia Ankenbrand, Helen Graham, and Alex Fitzpatrick
3 Exploring the value of crowdsourcing to enhance collections in the age of AI
Alex Fitzpatrick, Natasha Kitcher, Geoff Belknap, Max Long, and Daniel Belteki
4 Before you begin: processing and transcribing historic data using digital methods
Natasha Kitcher, Daniel Belteki, Max Long, Anna-Maria Sichani, Nayomi KasthuriArachchi, and Felix Needham-Simpson
5 The mind of the curator?: on the cataloguing language of technical museum collections
Ben Russell, Tim Boon, and Jayne Knight
6 Creating a textile machinery nomenclature link via Wikidata
Tim Boon, Ben Russell, Max Lon,g and Felix Needham-Simpson
7 Building an object-enriched bibliography: experiments in linking museum objects and academic literature
Max Long, Tim Boon, and Stephen Weldon
8 A cautionary tale of collections linkage: misadventures in the object records of the Science Museum and Discovery Museum
Daniel Belteki, Bernard Musesengwe, and Tim Boon
9 Towards a natural collection: digital and community histories of river pollution in Bradford
Max Long, Natasha Kitcher, Daniel Belteki, and Robert Hellawell
10 Connecting energy histories digitally: opportunities, challenges and the path forward
Graeme Gooday, Bernard Musesengwe, Daniel Belteki, and Kylea Little
11 A new age for sonic history: empowering audio heritage to illuminate the human dimension of the industrial past
Stefania Zardini Lacedelli, Alex Butterworth, and Stef De Sabbata
12 Generative AI today: using GPT for historical work
Jon Agar, Natasha Kitcher, Asa Calow, and Nayomi KasthuriArachchi
13 Questioning computer vision: new insights on linking collections through visual methods
Natasha Kitcher, Geoff Belknap, Daniel Belteki, Kunika Kono, and Kaspar Beelen
14 Using computer vision to explore and link archive films
Daniel Belteki, Max Long, Natasha Kitcher, Patrick Russell, Tim Boon, Kaspar Beelen, and Stephen McConnachie
15 A village through time: mapping genealogies, occupations and social mobility in Saltaire
Nayomi Kasthuri Arachchi, Alex Butterworth, and Colin Coates
16 Trade directory data, space syntax and the multi-scalar constitution of nineteenth-century Bradford
Yichang Sun, Alex Butterworth, and Sam Griffiths
17 An ontological approach to occupations: modelling work in and around the textile industry
Sarah Middle, Alex Butterworth, Arran Rees, Nayomi KasthuriArachchi, and Felix Needham-Simpson
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781806551361
Number of illustrations: 100
Publication date: 01 September 2026
EPUB ISBN: 9781806551378
Tim Boon (Editor) 
Dr Tim Boon is Honorary Professor of the Material and Public Culture of Science at UCL, after a career at the Science Museum Group culminating being Head of Research & Public History. He is a historian and curator of the public culture of science whose published research (the books Films of Fact (2008) Material Culture and Electronic Sound (co-edited, 2013), and Artefacts: Understanding Use (co-edited, 2024), and 50+ papers) mainly relates to science in museums, documentary, and music. He has contributed to museum displays including Making the Modern World (2000) and Health Matters (1994). He was Congruence Engine’s Principal Investigator.
Alexandra Rose (Editor)
Dr Alexandra Rose is Head Curator of the Royal Engineers Museum, and previously Curator of Climate and Earth Sciences at the Science Museum. She was seconded to Congruence Engine during the final year of the project. Her research interests include histories of museums and collections.
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Emergent Histories
New work in the digital history of industry and collections from the Congruence Engine project
For generations, artefacts and information of all kinds have been assembled in diverse collections across the UK. Museum objects, archives, pictures, moving images and media, records of historical places, even datasets derived from state, commercial and individual activity, all have been catalogued and stored. Yet in most museums and galleries, only a tiny proportion of physical collections are shown in public displays, with vast stores kept in reserve for research, although researchers rarely come. Great repositories of cultural capital, the knowledge they hold has been largely untapped – until now.
For nearly half a century, heritage organisations have created digital inventories of their collections. Inspired by the prospect of combining these records so they may be explored together, the Congruence Engine research project set out to build digital bridges and pathways between collections dedicated to the UK’s industrial history for textiles, energy and communications. Launched in 2021, Congruence Engine navigated the generative AI revolution that commenced a year later. As a result, Emergent Histories is by turns a reflection on the historical and curatorial possibilities arising from collections, a digital history how-to manual, and a narrative of the tribulations of AI early adopters. It will be of interest to historians, curators, students – and to anyone who cares for the industrial aspects of our past.
