material culture

Emily Meggett, Preserver of Gullah Geechee Foodways of the Coastal South, Dies at 90

Mrs. Meggett cooked for decades for her family and church, and as a domestic worker for white families in South Carolina. Her book represents the work of many women who preserved food traditions passed from Africa through slavery and Jim Crow. 

How 1880s Levi's Sold for $76K

Among the period-correct details establishing the provenance of the pants was an inner tag proclaiming the garments were made with only "white labor" in the era of Chinese exclusion. 

The Lost Art of Maintenance

The struggles of the New York transit system to preserve the useful life of its train cars, and to prevent problems before they occur, reflects deep and troubling changes in society's relationship to infrastructure and labor power. 

The Government Pen

by Nick Delehanty

"The Skilcraft pen is indeed more than a pen. It’s the physical embodiment of New Deal social policies; it’s the product of disabled people’s labor, labor which has long been a site of contestation."

Tiya Miles Connects Generations of Black Women Through One Artifact

All That She Carried is the history of a single bag. Historian and author Tiya Miles used what few historical records she could find to tell the stories of three generations of Black women with ties to that sack dating back to 1850.

When a Bible Isn't a Bible

by Kathleen E. Kennedy

The British press has bungled its accounting of the discovery of a gold bead in the form of an open book. If it's not a Bible, what is it? 

Extinct

by Barbara Penner and Adrian Forty

"The history of objects becomes far richer when we also consider the underside of progress: the conflicts, obsolescence, accidents, destruction, and failures that have been such an integral part of modernization and its modes of operation."

Jenny Erpenbeck Is Keeping Time

German author Jenny Erpenbeck's work is an exercise in preserving the objects that place a person's memory in history, particularly her own childhood in East Germany. 

Photographer John Margolies' images of the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk are a peek into the past of the shore town and the history of the tacky beach t-shirt. 

Iconic Mint-Condition 1933 Babe Ruth Baseball Is Expected To Shatter Auction Records

"My dad began collecting in the early 1980s starting with baseball cards from 1957 and 1959 when he was ten to twelve years old," his son Stewart Newman said. "Those were replacements for the treasured cards of his youth that he kept in shoeboxes as a youngster and that his mom later threw out."

The Filing Cabinet: A Material History

by Craig Robertson

The humble filing cabinet in fact tells the story of the rise of bureaucratic structures in capitalism and government, and the potential for information to be used efficiently – or weaponized. 

The Fascinating History Behind the Popular ‘Waving Lucky Cat’

The popularity of the beckoning feline figurines reflects what happened when Japanese folkoric traditions met the rest of Asia and the world in commerce. 

Hidden in Plain Sight: History Teaching Needs to Take Advantage of Art and Material Culture

by Elizabeth Stice

"Where there is passion, people will pursue the past. A sneakerhead can tell you about the innovations in Air Jordans over the years and oftentimes quite a bit about the economic and cultural context of each shoe. Art and material culture can lead people to their own study of the past."

America’s Most Hated Garment

Atlantic writer Amanda Mull turns to fashion historians Marley Healy and Valerie Steele to place the growing social acceptance of sweatpants in a pattern of clothing standards changing in response to cultural influences and social conditions. 

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Ghosts of Segregation

Journalist and photographer Richard Frishman examines traces of segregation and racial exclusion in the built environment of the US.

Academy Museum Gives Debbie Reynolds Her Due as a Costume Conservator

For reasons likely including institiutionalized sexism, costumes have been a neglected part of the preservation of cinematic history. The new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures hopes to work with the late Debbie Reynolds's son to change that. 

How to Recreate Your Lost Family Recipes, According to Historians and Chefs

Chefs and historians of food cultures are working to build public understanding of the history of immigration and the African diaspora through knowledge of cooking and eating practices.

A Mysterious Autograph Hound’s Book Is Up for Auction

Jeweler Lafayette Cornwall collected the autographs of the most famous figures of his time, including Melville, Houdini, Edison, Mark Twain and Sarah Bernhardt.

Mr. DeMille, I’m Ready for Your Booze Stash

A look inside the subculture of "dusty hunters," collectors of old-stock liquor. Usually this means finding discontinued brands in the back of a liquor store, but sometimes it means buying a legendary film director's supply. 

Makers of Living, Breathing History: The Material Culture of Homemade Facemasks

by Erika L. Briesacher

Material culture centers objects as historical documents that can be read like a text; whether highlighting the physical piece or searching for the biography behind it, this approach reveals complex sociocultural behavior.