Welcome!

Welcome to mə-tir-ē-əl! Over the next fourteen weeks, this site will serve as my homepage as I explore (along with the rest of my colleagues in Studies in American Material Culture) the use of "stuff" as a source in historical inquiry.


mə-tir-ē-əl will primarily serve as a repository for personal research. During the course of this semester, I'll be researching the historical, cultural, and social context of an object to be displayed in the First Person Museum, an experimental "museum of the people" coming to Philadelphia's Painted Bride Art Center this fall.


You'll read my research first on this blog. In order, I'll progress through an object description (Assignment #1), the object's historical context (Assignment #2), the object's social/cultural context (Assignment #3). Finally, I'll post my own design for the First Person Museum (Assignment #4). Stay tuned for more.


The title of the blog -- mə-tir-ē-əl -- is a bit tongue-in-cheek. My use of the pronunciation spelling of "material" acts as a visual representation of what I plan to do this semester: look at material in a whole new way. How do we derive meaning from material things? What can those things tell us about history? What can they tell us about culture, race, and gender? As I ask such questions throughout this semester, I anticipate deconstructing (breaking down) my previous conceptions of the value of material things.


Thanks for joining me!