History and material culture : a student's guide to approaching alternative sources / edited by Karen Harvey.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Harvey, Karen, 1971-

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Routledge guides to using historical sources

The Routledge guides to using historical sources

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Material culture--Research--Methodology.

Material culture.

History--Research.

History.

Material culture--Research.

Methodology.

Physical Description:

xiv, 210 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2009.

Summary:

Sources are the raw material of history, but whereas the written word has traditionally been seen as the principel source today historians are increasingly recognizing the me value of sources beyond text. In History and Material Culture, karen Harvey embarks upon a discussion about material culture - considering objects, often those found surrounding us in day-to-day life, as sources, which can help historians develop new interpretations and new knowledge about the past.

Across ten chapters, different historians look at a variety of material sources from aroung the globe and across centuries to assess how such sources can be used to study history. While the sources are discussed from 'interdisciplinary' perspectves, each contributor examines how material culture can be approached from an historical viewpoint, and each chapter addresses its theme or approach in a way accessible to readers without expertise in the area.

In her introduction, Karen Harvey discusses some of the key issues raised when historians use material culture, and suggests some basic steps for those new to these kinds of sources. Opening up the discipline of history to new approaches, and introducing those working in other disciplines to historical approaches, this book is the ideal introduction to the opportunities and challenges of researching material culture.

Contents:

Things that shape history : material culture and historical narratives / Giorgio Riello

Ornament as evidence / Andrew Morrall

Back yards and beyond : landscapes and history / Marina Moskowitz

Draping the body and dressing the home : the material culture of textiles and clothes in the Atlantic world, c. 1500-1800 / Beverly Lemire

Using buildings to understand social history : Britain and Ireland in the seventeenth century / Anne Laurence

Object biographies : from production to consumption / Karin Dannehl

Regional identity and material culture / Helen Berry

Objects and agency : material culture and modernity in China / Frank Dikötter

Mundane materiality, or, should small things still be forgotten? Material culture, microhistories and the problem of scale / Sara Pennell

The case of the missing footstool : reading the absent object / Glenn Adamson.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780415468497

0415468493

9780415459327

041545932X

OCLC:

176946352