Studies in American Material Culture

Introduction to literature from several fields that uses artifacts to understand culture. Exploration of various theoretical approaches. Topics include architecture, photography, decorative arts, landscape design, historic preservation, use of interior space, historical monuments, and household artifacts. This semester, this studies course will focus especially on relationships between material culture and historical memory. Students will be encouraged to apply methods of material culture analysis by undertaking a study of a historical monument, producing a paper suitable for conference presentation.