Sloss Furnaces

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark is currently the only 20th-century blast furnace in the nation being preserved and interpreted as an industrial museum. Since reopening in 1983, Sloss Furnaces has become an international model for similar preservation efforts and presents a remarkable perspective of the era when America grew to world industrial dominance. At the same time, Sloss is an important reminder of the dreams and struggles of the people who worked in the industries that made Birmingham the "Magic City." Today Sloss is not only dedicated to preservation and education but serves as a center for community and civic events. Site tours and public presentations provide insight into Sloss's industrial heritage as well as a rare glimpse of an early Birmingham that has all but disappeared.

Karen Utz is the curator of Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark and an adjunct history instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a contributor to Work, Family, Faith: Women of the Twentieth Century South and Man Food: Recipes from the Iron Trade. Utz has served on various committees for the Southeastern Museums Conference, the Society for the History of Technology, the Alabama Academy of Sciences, and the American Association of Museums.