Try searching for your object with the words manufacturing. For example: "pencils and manufacturing"
Try searching Google or YouTube for videos on how to make your object ("how to make a pencil"); then try Google Patents or the Hathi Trust for historical information.
Once you have an idea, do a little background research to learn more about how the history of the object and how it is made by searching encyclopedias, the library catalog, or the web. Sometimes the first result from a library catalog search will be a research starter, which is a short topical article with references. For example, search for "pencil" and look at the results.
Here are other library resources that give an overview of the object and a bibliography or recommended websites:
Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons
Wentworth Institute of Technology
550 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115