History 661 - American Material Culture

This course explores methods for studying material culture and assesses historical writings focusing on objects as historical evidence. The collections, buildings and grounds of Historic Deerfield provide a laboratory for first-hand examination of objects, the built environment and the landscape in order to test a variety of approaches for analyzing artifacts and to develop the skills and knowledge needed to interpret the meanings of material productions in their historical contexts. Analysis of high chests, dwelling houses, bed hangings, petticoats, chocolate pots, splint baskets, gravestones and many other artifacts of everyday life will serve as a starting point for exploring these objects' materials, the ideas governing their designs and processes by which they were made, the makers who produced them and the recipients who used them and passed them down to the present. Readings selected from a growing body of literature drawing on material culture sources will enable participants to evaluate trends in material culture historiography, to gain familiarity with leading figures who have helped shape the field and to assess material culture studies' potential for enriching our understandings of the past.

Open to Doctoral & Masters students only. The aim of this course is to introduce graduate students to the study of "doing history from things," or material culture. We will attend to the methods by which material culture can be harnessed for historical analysis and examine the work of historians using objects to investigate larger historical questions about gender, race, class and society. Students will gain familiarity with the most significant literature in material culture studies, major trends in material culture historiography, and the leading figures who have given the field its shape and direction. The Seminar will also visit area museum collections and welcome guest speakers who have expertise in the understanding of specific genres of artifacts. In their semester long papers, students will be able to choose between an article-length historiographical paper on the material culture literature of a given field (e.g., the material culture of faith, the material culture of childhood, etc), and a field-service project for a local museum.