This course will explore the relationship between the study of American artifacts and the study of American life. As Thomas Schlereth writes, "Material culture study attempts to explain why things were made, why they took the forms they did, and what social, functional, aesthetic, or symbolic needs they serve. Moreover, a basic assumption underlying such teaching and research is that artifacts are cultural statements, whether the artifact is a stereographic view, a historical house interior, an Osage orange hedge-row, a mail-order catalog, or a White Tower restaurant. The historian's primary purpose in using artifacts is always to represent them in their cultural history context" (Artifacts and the Amerian Past).

Our tests will deal both with general theories and practices of studying material culture and with the use of three dimensional objects as "texts" for the study of American culture during a period of rapid change. After spending the first several meeting reading and discussing the essays in Schlereth's Material Culture Studies in America, we will focus attention on the material culture of the Victorian period (often called the Gilded Age in the United States) by reading Kenneth L.Ames' Death in the Drawing Room. Our final text, Isabelle Anscombe's Arts and Crafts Style, will focus on the early modernism of the Arts and Crafts Movement which represented a rejection of the Victorian aesthetic and signaled the beginning of "modern" design. In addition to our readings, we will also use the Internet to explore a variety of sites which present material culture or otherwise contribute to our discussions.

Our classroom and library study of material culture will be supplemented by several activities designed to bring us into more immediate contact with artifacts in historical settings. We will make two field trips: (1) to Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio, and (2) to the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. (As these will be full-day trips, we will decide appropriate dates for them at our initial class meeting.) In addition, students will be required to visit two additional sites of their own selection where material culture is presented in a historical context.

ASSIGNMENTS:

(1) CLASSROOM PRESENTATIONS: Each student will present a 30 minute (approximate) illustrated lecture on some aspect of material culture presented in class. Since we are focusing in particular on Victorian and Arts and Crafts Movement styles, these are appropriate areas for your research. The topics are unrestricted and could range from aesthetic taste to the impact of technology, from outhouses to mansions, from vases to chamberpots. Since illustrations are required, you must allow yourself time to have slide prepared which can be done for you at a small cost at the Instructional Media Center in the Education Building. You may, of course, take your own slides, though, if you are reproducing your slide from a published work the Media Center will give you a much better product. You should allow at least 10 working days for slide preparation. A slide projector is available from the ACS office, or one can be checked out from the Media Center; in either place, reserve the equipment in advance. As an alternative to using slides, you may prepare a web site for your presentation. Aim for the quality presentation that you would present to a professional conference.

(2) JOURNALS: Your site visits will be recorded in an informal journal--which I recommend you illustrate with photographs if you have a camera--in which you discuss the effectiveness of the institution's use of material culture to realize its purpose. These journals should reveal your powers of observation, evaluation, and analysis of historical displays of material culture.

(3) SEMINAR PAPERS: Your seminar paper (about 20 pages exclusive of illustrations) will be a written version of your seminar presentation. It should conform to acceptable scholarly practices in matters of style and bibliography. If possible, illustrations should be Xerox versions of the pictures you present as slides or photographic prints if from other sources. Submit your slides only in cases where no option is available. The standard for your paper should be that of a scholarly journal presentation.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Schelereth, Thomas J., Material Culture Studies in America. AASLH. 0-761991-603

Anscombe, Isabelle, Arts and Crafts Style. Phaidon/Chronicle Books. 0-714834-696

Ames, Kenneth L., Death in the Dining Room. Temple. 0-87722-891-4