Material Culture

This collection of essays brings together six distinguished scholars in American studies; they examine the progress, problems, and potential of material culture research in America. From an interdisciplinary perspective--representing cultural geography, vernacular architecture, American studies, history of technology, deocrative arts, museum studies, and folklore--thse respected authorities survey the major material culture research and assess the most creative and innovative contemporary research.Thomas J. Schlereth''s introductory chapter critically analyzes the value of material culture as a means of studying history through object rather than written documents. He concentrate on both the worth and the difficulties of "above-ground archaeology" as a historical research method. And the following chapters discuss the fields and subfields within material culture, summarize the present scholarly trends, and include current bibliographic information useful to a wide range of scholars.