Studies in American Material Culture, Introductions

As an undergrad I was a double major, studying studio art with an emphasis on drawing and anthropology with most of that coursework in historical archaeology. Through my coursework in these majors I studied and created material culture, though usually not within history departments. After college I spent two years as a library assistant in the Children’s Department at the Palm Harbor Library. In the library I loved working with children in an informal educational environment. My intellectual interests vary, but all revolve around storytelling.

I recently finished a summer internship at The Print Center, a small contemporary art gallery in Center City, where I did research in the organization’s archives and helped out in preparation of their upcoming centennial in 2015. Hopefully, my upcoming thesis will involve the creation of an exhibit containing both historic and contemporary art. This exhibit would give me the opportunity to practice creating the types of content that tells a story while also supporting a cohesive and provocative exhibit. Beyond graduation, I would like to find some way to put both my history skills and more creative side to use.

One of the reasons I decided to study public history is that I have always loved museums, particularly ones that use history and make their visitors think about what it was like to live in other times. My first dream job was to be a mural painter in the ultra-realistic, atmospheric dioramas at natural history museums. While museums rarely create those types of exhibits anymore, I am still attracted to object displays that trigger my imagination. Part of what I would like to accomplish in this semester is to make my object come alive in the research paper in the same way that those dioramas came alive for me when I was younger.  

In order to do this, I will have to learn to reconcile the expectations for good history writing with some of my past training in both art and archaeology. I have a tendency to look at objects very formally and I am hoping that this course will enable me to expand the way that I understand and speak about material culture.