People and things… Material Culture

I’m almost done with my first year at the Cooper-Hewitt Master’s program, and as much as I love the decorative arts, I realize my passion is in the area of material culture — the study of the relationship between “things” and people.

Jules David Prown’s definition in his essay “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method”:

Material culture is the study through artifacts of the beliefs—values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions—of a particular community or society at a given time.

A further definition from “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method.” Material Life in America: 1600-1860. (via University of Wyoming):

Material culture as a study is based upon the obvious fact that the existence of a man-made object is concrete evidence of the presence of a human intelligence operating at the time of fabrication. The underlying premise is that objects made or modified by man reflect, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, the beliefs of the individuals who made, commissioned, purchased, or used them and, by extension, the beliefs of the larger society to which they belonged.Every man-made object requires the operation of some thought and design. It is the assumption of material culture studies that this thought is a reflection of the culture that produced the man-made objects.

My current research area is how we “remember”; memorabilia, scrapbooks, postcards, snapshots, diaries, formal portraits, really any ritualized celebration (weddings?). I’m also thinking a lot these days about interiors and how we construct identity through interior design.