Mechanical Icon is an educational experiment in historical interpretation and dissemination. Its aim is to place iconic photographs in historical context by means of short videos. We often do not see photographs as "standing for" something, but instead we see them as "depicting" something. But some photographs can and do "stand for" something, and though they have some symbolic value they are not really symbols because they are not really arbitrary. We couldn't substitute out any key components of the photograph and still expect it to "mean" the same thing. This is why we are calling the photographs explored in this project "Mechanical Icons." "Mechanical" because they are produced through a physical process; "icons" because they resemble, at least to some extent, what they have come to "stand for." We take these iconic images and analyze them within the context of the theme they have come to stand for by producing a narrative highlighting key aspects of the photograph and in turn making them into short videos which will be displayed online. The purpose of this project is to provide an educational tool that is geared towards the internet generation. The internet is being used more and more as a primary source of information and because of this the next generation of students will have more control over the information they choose to engage themselves in. Therefore our project is not intended to give a full on historical background of the subject matter in any particular picture, but instead to encourage interest in the subject matter in hopes that the viewer will then seek out more information on their own.