Not a week goes by when someone asks me "so, what is material culture anyway?" Often I'm asked to weigh in as an expert on a family heirloom or a flea market find, and I, of course, decline. It's not about the monetary value, but the historical, aesthetic, or cultural value and social meaning of an artifact that constitute material culture studies. And I'm not a connoisseur of a specific type of material culture. Better to leave that to the experts--museum curators, antique dealers, collectors. Yet I do like to encourage curiosity, so I guide those inquiring minds to specific books, collections, experts, and increasingly, websites. The following websites are useful for thinking about things and learning about the unruly field of American material culture studies. I've also included links to online collections of specific types of material culture. These are meant as introductions, not full treatments. The one thing material culture studies once promised was an expansive view of the material world, but many in the field are not generalists, but specialists in one type or a few categories of objects. For a very large bibliography of American material culture studies, see this expanded list created for American Material Culture: Understanding Everyday Life (2008) by Helen Sheumaker and me. I've only occasionally updated this bibliography; I promise to be more vigilant! American Material Culture Studies Bibliography (88 pages and counting; opens in new window) Discussion Lists Artifact (Material Culture Caucus, American Studies Association) Design History (Design History Society) H-Material Culture H-Museum H-Public Academic Centers and Programs, United States Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture Center for Material Culture Studies, University of Delaware Material Culture Program, University of Wisconsin Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, University of Delaware Online Collections, Exhibitions, and Resources Advertising and Advertisements John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History (for online images see Ad*Access) The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, Library of Congress Architecture, Interior Design, Built Environment, Landscape Built in America: The Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey, Library of Congress Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner, 1935-1955, Library of Congress Decorative Arts Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture: Image and Text Collections, University of Wisconsin Gravestones Farber Collection, American Antiquarian Society Maps David Rumsey Map Collection Map Collections, Library of Congress Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, University of Texas, Austin Paintings Early American Paintings, Worcester Art Museum Patents Pictures, Prints, Posters, and Ephemera An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera, Library of Congress By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1935-1943, Library of Congress The Picture Collection Online, New York Public Library Textiles |
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Material Culture Links |