Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method

Author(s): Jules David Prown

Source: Winterthur Portfolio , Spring, 1982, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1982), pp. 1-19
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Henry Francis du Pont
Winterthur Museum, Inc.

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 Mind in Matter

An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method

Jules David Prown

ALTHOUGH ARTof history

MUSEUMS, historical
What is Material Culture?
societies, museums and tech-
nology, historic houses, open-air mu- Material culture is the study through artifacts of
seums, and museums of ethnography, science, and the beliefs-values, ideas, attitudes, and assump-
even natural history, have long collected, studied, tions-of a particular community or society at a
and exhibited the material of what has come to be
given time. The term material culture is also fre-
quently used to refer to artifacts themselves, to the
called material culture, no comprehensive academic
philosophy or discipline for the investigationbody
of of material available for such study. I shall
material culture has as yet been developed. Re-
restrict the term to mean the study and refer to the
cently, however, there has been increased scholarly evidence simply as material or artifacts.
interest in the subject, as witnessed by the estab- Material culture is singular as a mode of cultural
investigation in its use of objects as primary data,
lishment of this periodical, Winterthur Portfolio, de-
but in its scholarly purposes it can be considered
voted specifically to material culture; graduate pro-
grams in material culture at University of Delaware,a branch of cultural history or cultural anthropol-
University of Notre Dame, and Boston University; ogy. It is a means rather than an end, a discipline
an experimental Center for American Art and rather than a field. In this, material culture differs
Material Culture at Yale University; and a substan-
from art history, for example, which is both a dis-
tial amount of innovative scholarship, especially cipline
in (a mode of investigation) in its study of his-
such emerging academic areas as folk life and cul-tory through art and a field (a subject of investi-
gation) in its study of the history of art itself.
tural geography (a selective material culture bibli-
ography is appended below). These developments Material culture is comparable to art history as a
and activities have been spontaneous and largely discipline in its study of culture through artifacts.
uncoordinated responses to a perceived scholarly
As such, it provides a scholarly approach to artifacts
need and opportunity. This essay attempts to de-
that can be utilized by investigators in a variety of
fine material culture and considers the nature of fields. But the material of material culture is too
the discipline. It makes no claim to be either diverse
the to constitute a single field. In practice it
first or the last word on material culture, but it consists
does of subfields investigated by specialists-cul-
seek to illuminate the subject and to provide atural
basisgeographers or historians of art, architecture,
decorative arts, science, and technology.
for further discussion. It also proposes a particular
methodology based on the proposition that arti- Material culture as a study is based upon the
obvious fact that the existence of a man-made ob-
facts are primary data for the study of material
culture, and, therefore, they can be used actively
ject is concrete evidence of the presence of a human
as evidence rather than passively as illustrations.'
intelligence operating at the time of fabrication.
Jules David Prown is professor, Department of the HistoryThe underlying premise is that objects made or
of Art, Yale University. modified by man reflect, consciously or uncon-
1 There are material culture studies that do not require ob-
ject analysis, in part because they address questions posed by
the very existence of artifacts that lead directly to the consid-
economic studies that deal with artifacts abstractly, often statis-
eration of external evidence. This is particularly true of socio-
tically, to address issues of class, patronage, patterns of usage,
? 1982 by The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur [Link] of technology, availability of materials, means of distri-
All rights reserved, oo84-0416/82/1701-0001$02.00. bution, and so on.

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 Winterthur Portfolio

sciously, directly or indirectly, the beliefs of indi- scious ordering makes us uncomfortable with the
viduals who made, commissioned, purchased, or terminological coupling of base material and lofty
used them, and by extension the beliefs of the culture. Nevertheless, the term material culture, if not
larger society to which they belonged. The term ideal, has the advantage of being concise, accurate,
material culture thus refers quite directly and effi- and in general use.
ciently, if not elegantly, both to the subject matter
of the study, material, and to its purpose, the un- Material

derstanding of culture. The word material in material culture refers to a

Despite its concision and aptness, the term ma- broad, but not unrestricted, range of objects. It
terial culture seems unsatisfactory, indeed, self-con- embraces the class of objects known as artifacts-
tradictory. Material is a word we associate with base objects made by man or modified by man. It ex-
and pragmatic things; culture is a word we associate cludes natural objects. Thus, the study of material
with lofty, intellectual, abstract things. Our unease culture might include a hammer, a plow, a micro-
with this apparent disjunction is not superficial; it scope, a house, a painting, a city. It would exclude
derives from a fundamental human perception of trees, rocks, fossils, skeletons. Two general obser-
the universe as divided between earth and sky. That vations should be made here. First, natural objects
empirically observed opposition of lower and higher are occasionally encountered in a pattern that in-
provides a powerful and pervasive metaphor for dicates human activity-a stone wall or a row of
the distinctions we make between such elemental trees in an otherwise random forest, a concentra-
polarities as material and spiritual, concrete and tion of chicken bones in a pit or a pile of oyster
abstract, finite and infinite, real and ideal. In its shells, topiary or a clipped poodle, a tattooed body
theological formulation this metaphor invariably or a prepared meal. In the broadest sense these
locates heaven upward, above the earth, accessiblenatural materials are artifacts-objects modified by
not to the body but only to the mind or spirit (with man-and are of cultural interest. Second, works
mortification of the flesh [material] one way to
of art constitute a large and special category within
achieve spiritual ends), and places hell in the bowelsartifacts because their inevitable aesthetic and oc-
of the earth, down deep in the midst of matter. casional ethical or spiritual (iconic) dimensions
make them direct and often overt or intentional
Material things are heir to all sorts of ills-they
break, get dirty, smell, wear out; abstract ideas re-expressions of cultural belief. The self-consciously
main pristine, free from such wordly debilities. expressive character of this material, however,
The Western conception of history is that it hasraises problems as well as opportunities; in some
been characterized by man's increasing under-ways artifacts that express culture unconsciously
standing and mastery of the physical environment,are more useful as objective cultural indexes.3 For
by the progressive triumph of mind over [Link] moment, however, let it simply be borne in
The evidence of human history seems to confirmmind that all tangible works of art are part of ma-
our sense that abstract, intellectual, spiritual ele-terial culture, but not all the material of material
ments are superior to material and physical [Link] is art.

This has led inevitably to a hierarchical ordering The range of objects that fall within the com-
that informs our apprehension and judgment of pass of material culture is so broad as to make some
human activities and experiences.2 This uncon-system of classification desirable. Sorting by phys-
ical materials does not work because of the multi-
2 For example, poetry, because more abstract, is considered plicity of substances used, even at times in a single
loftier than prose, chess than wrestling, or the practice of law artifact. The same is true of methods of fabrication.
than collecting garbage. In the world of scholarship the more
abstract subjects-mathematics, philosophy, literature-are more The most promising mode of classification is by
highly regarded than concrete and practical subjects such as function. The following list is arranged in a se-
engineering. Such ordering takes place even within the material quence of categories that progresses from the more
realm of artifacts where all things are not equal. Higher value
has been attached to works of art than to utilitarian craft objects decorative (or aesthetic) to the more utilitarian.
since the Renaissance when a distinction was made between the
arts, which require intellectual activity and creative imagination
in their making, and the crafts, which require greater physical pursuit for gentlemen (for example, Thomas Jefferson), while
exertion and mechanical ingenuity. Even in a specific art such the actual physical labor of building has been carried out by
as painting, there has long been an ordering of genres, ranging laborers of the lower classes. In sculpture in the nineteenth
from history painting, which springs from the painter's imag- century, the realization of the form indwelling in the marble
ination, at the top of the scale, to still-life painting, the repli- was the work of the artist; hacking out replications was the work
of stonemasons.
cation of worldly objects, at the bottom. In architecture, the
mental activity of design has been considered an appropriate 3 See the section on veracity below.

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 Mind in Matter 3

i. Art value is quite persistent. More transient or variab

(paintings, d
photography) are those values that have been attached by t
2. Diversions people who originally made (bookor used the object, b
atrical us today, or by people at any intervening momen
performanc
3. Adornment A value that accrues from utility will (jewinhere as lo
cosmetics, as an object continues
tattooin to be useful and can retur
body) when an obsolete object again becomes usefu
4. Modifications of the landscape (architecture, (wood stoves in an oil shortage). In addition
town planning, agriculture, mining) material and utilitarian values, certain objects hav
5. Applied arts (furniture, furnishings, recep- aesthetic value (art), some possess spiritual val
tacles) (icons, cult objects), and some express attitudes to
6. Devices (machines, vehicles, scientific instru- ward other human beings (a fortress, a love seat
ments, musical instruments, implements) or toward the world (using materials in their na
ural condition as opposed to reshaping them).
These categories are broad; they undoubtedly Obviously, then, objects do embody and reflec
require modification and refining; the list is in- cultural beliefs. But, although such embodiment
tended simply to define the terrain and suggest of value differ in form from verbal and behavioral
the outlines of a system. Many objects straddle cat- modes of cultural expression, they do not neces-
egories, but taxonomic shortcomings do not cause sarily differ in character or content. In the follow-
analytical problems. Classification for purposes of ing regards, however, objects do constitute distinc-
manageability and discussion does not affect the tive cultural expressions.
actual process of material culture analysis described
below which applies to all artifacts. Although the Surviving Historical Events
range of categories suggests the potential applica- Objects created in the past are the only historical
bility of a variety of specialized techniques and occurrences that continue to exist in the present.
methodologies, no systematic attempt is made in They provide an opportunity by which "we en-
this general essay to correlate categories of objects counter the past at first hand; we have direct sen-
with particular analytical methods or with the pro- sory experience of surviving historical events."4
duction of particular kinds of cultural data. How- Artifacts may not be important historical events,
ever, further consideration is given to these cate- but they are, to the extent that they can be expe-
gories in the final section. rienced and interpreted as evidence, significant.

More Representative
Why Material Culture? Henry Glassie has observed that only a small per-
centage of the world's population is and has been
Why should one bother to investigate material ob- literate, and that the people who write literature
jects in the quest for culture, for a society's systems or keep diaries are atypical. Objects are used by a
of belief? Surely people in all societies express and much broader cross section of the population and
have expressed their beliefs more explicitly and are therefore potentially a more wide-ranging,
openly in their words and deeds than in the things more representative source of information than
they have made. Are there aspects of mind to be words.5 They offer the possibility of a way to un-
discovered in objects that differ from, complement, derstand the mind of the great majority of nonlit-
supplement, or contradict what can be learned erate people, past and present, who remain oth-
from more traditional literary and behavioral erwise inaccessible except through impersonal
sources? records and the distorting view of a contemporary

Inherent and Attached Value 4 Jules David Prown, "Style as Evidence,"' Winterthur Portfolio
The most obvious cultural belief associated with 15, no. 3 (Autumn 198o): 2o8. Peter Gay has observed that "the
most undramatic work of art presents precisely the same causal
material objects has to do with value. There are
puzzles as the eruption of a war, the making of a treaty, or the
different kinds of value. One, intrinsic in the fabric
rise of a class" (Art and Act: On Causes in History-Manet, Gropius,
of an object itself, is established by the rarity of the [New York: Harper & Row, 1976], p. 3)-
Mondrian
5 Henry Glassie, "Meaningful Things and Appropriate
materials used. Such value will inhere in the Myths:
objectThe Artifact's Place in American Studies,"' in Prospects:
for as long as the material continues to be valuable.
An Annual of American Cultural Studies, ed. Jack Salzman, vol. 3
(New York:
With gold or silver or precious stones, this kind of Burt Franklin, 1977), pp. 29-30.

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 4 ~Winterthur Portfolio

literary elite. This promise

is essential for cultural understanding, are conse- per
many of the leading early
quently not perceivable in what a society expresses. prop
oneers, of material culture have come from the They can, however, be detected in the way in which
field of folklore and folk life and have studied ver- a society expresses itself, in the configuration or
nacular objects. Such study has required a consid-form of things, in style.6 Stylistic evidence can be
erable amount of scholarly innovation. Vernacular found in all modes of cultural expression, whether
objects pose interpretive difficulties because our verbal, behavioral, or material. But a society puts
scholarly traditions and experience, especially in a considerable amount of cultural spin on what it
regard to art, architecture, and the decorative arts, consciously says and does. Cultural expression is
have focused on high style objects. less self-conscious, and therefore potentially more
The theoretical democratic advantage of arti- truthful, in what a society produces, especially such
facts in general, and vernacular material in partic- mundane, utilitarian objects as domestic buildings,
ular, is partially offset by the skewed nature of whatfurniture, or pots.
in fact survives from an earlier culture. A primary
factor in this is the destructive, or the preservative,Cultural Perspective
effect of particular environments on particular Perhaps the most difficult problem to recognize
materials. Materials from the deeper recesses ofand surmount in cultural studies is that of cultural
time are often buried, and recovered archaeolog- stance or cultural perspective. The evidence we
ically. Of the material heritage of such cultures, study is the product of a particular cultural envi-
glass and ceramics survive in relatively good con-ronment. We, the interpreters, are products of a
dition, metal in poor to fair condition, wood in the different cultural environment. We are pervaded
form of voids (postholes), and clothing not at allby the beliefs of our own social groups-nation,
(except for metallic threads, buttons, and an oddlocality, class, religion, politics, occupation, gender,
clasp or hook). age, race, ethnicity-beliefs in the form of assump-
Inherent and attached value, discussed above, tions that we make unconsciously. These are biases
is another major element in what survives. A sig- that we take for granted; we accept them as mind-
nificant aspect of this is taste, or, more specifically, lessly as we accept the tug of gravity. Is it possible
changes in taste over the years. A "degree-of-so- to step outside of one's own cultural givens and
phistication" scale, ranging from rude vernacular interpret evidence objectively in terms of the beliefs
at one end to high style at the other, comes into of the individuals and the society that produced
play. The calibrations on this scale have obvious that evidence? If not, if we are irredeemably biased
implications of social class. High style objects, some- by our own unconscious beliefs, if we are hopelessly
times of precious materials and fabricated with culture bound, then the entire enterprise of cul-
technical skill that elicits admiration, tend to be tural interpretation should be avoided since our
preserved; ruder objects, which for economic rea- interpretations will inevitably be distorted. It is pos-
sons sometimes have much less invested in them sible to argue, as Arnold Hauser does in response
in terms of the quality of the material or the crafts-
to the contention of Karl Marx that we see all things
manship, simply may not last as long or, if they do,from the perspective of our social interest and our
tend eventually to be discarded as junk. Objects view is therefore inevitably distorted, that once we
become aware of the problem we can struggle
with iconic or associational value are preserved, but
when they lose that association (religious paintings
against subjectivity, against individual and class in-
terests, and can move toward greater objectivity.7
ihn a secular society, photographs of unknown ances-
tors), they become disposable. Awareness of the problem of one's own cultural
Even allowing for the distortions of survival,bias
it is a large step in the direction of neutralizing
remains true that objects can make accessible as-the problem, but material culture offers a scholarly
pects, especially nonelite aspects, of a culture that
approach that is more specific and trustworthy than
are not always present or detectable in other modessimple awareness. The study of systems of belief
of cultural expression. through an analysis of artifacts offers opportunities
to circumvent the investigator's own cultural per-
Veracity
Certain fundamental beliefs in any society are so 6 For an extended discussion of this issue, see Prown, "Style
as Evidence," esp. pp. 197-200.
generally accepted that they never need to be ar- 7 Arnold Hauser, "Sociology of Art," in Marxism and Art:
ticulated (see Cultural Perspective below). These Writings in Aesthetics and Criticism, ed. Berel Lang and Forrest
basic cultural assumptions, the detection of which Williams (New York: David McKay Co., 1972), p. 272.

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 Mind in Matter 5

[Link]
as well as historical facts.
under But it would be a
through delusion to assume we acquire complete access to w
artifacts,
in the first instance
the belief systems of a culture through its material
our cultural
survival. Culturalbiases,
expression is not limited to
fective things. But the techniques
mode of of material app
culture
that allows
should be partusof the tool kit to pu
of the well-equipped
ing, cultural scholar.
inside the The obverse of thisskin
disclaimer is
sioned, made,
the argument advanced here: used,
although the study
with theirof artifactseyes and
is only one route to the understanding
tify with of culture,
them it is a special, important,
empaand qualita-
way of engaging th
tively different route. An investigation that ignores
the written
material culture will be word.
impoverished.
intellectual contac
senses make affective contact with senses of the
past."8 Theoretical Background
The methodology of material culture, with its
affective approach that aspires to the objectivity of Culture and Society
scientific method, affords a procedure for over- The definition given at the beginning stated that
coming the distortions of our particular cultural the study of material culture can be considered a
stance, and, of almost equal importance, it makes methodological branch of cultural history or cul-
visible the otherwise invisible, unconscious biases tural anthropology. Material culture is the object-
of our own cultural perspective. Awareness of what based aspect of the study of culture. As with cul-
one normally takes for granted occurs only in the tural history and cultural anthropology, the study
forced confrontation with another norm. For ex- of material culture touches on the allied concerns
ample, we become particularly aware of gravity asof social history and social anthropology. A society,
gravity when it is not there, as in our observation a group of interdependent persons forming a sin-
of astronauts working in a spacecraft. When wegle community, has a culture, a set of beliefs. Social
identify with another culture through the affective, history and social anthropology study the relation-
sensory apprehension of its artifacts, we have an ships between individuals or groups of individuals
opportunity to accept the other culture as the normin a society, especially the patterns and details of
and become aware of the differentness, the special the daily existence of large subgroups as defined
qualities, of our own culture. The culture beingby class, race, religion, place of residence, wealth,
studied provides a platform, a new cultural stance, and so forth. Cultural history and cultural anthro-
for a perspective on our culture. This can be ofpology study the peculiar achievements, especially
interest for its own sake, but specifically and prac-intellectual, that characterize a society, such as art,
tically in terms of the study of material culture, science, technology, religion. Obviously there are
increasing awareness of the biases of one's own cul-significant areas of overlap. Society and culture are
tural perspective helps achieve objectivity in sub- inextricably intertwined, and their study cannot
sequent investigations. and should not be isolated except for analytical
The fact is that cultural perspective is only apurposes.
problem or liability to the extent that one is una- Cultural history and cultural anthropology,
ware or unable to adjust for it. Indeed, it is ourwith their sister subjects of social history and social
quarry, the cultural patterns of belief, of mind, that anthropology, thus constitute a field-of-interest
we seek.
umbrella that arches over the study of material cul-
ture.9 The theoretical underpinnings of the study
Final Note will be noted in the sections that follow but are not
A disclaimer should be entered regarding the com- explored extensively in view of their complexity
pleteness of what can be learned from material cul- and the introductory nature of this essay.
ture. In certain instances-prehistoric or preliter-
ate societies, for example-artifacts constitute the
only surviving evidence, so there is little choice but 9 The location of material culture within the broader con-
to use them as best one can to determine cultural fines of cultural and social history and anthropology does not,
however, preclude the utilization in the study of material culture
of investigative techniques normally associated with other fields
8 Prown, "Style as Evidence," p. 208. and disciplines. These techniques will be discussed later.

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 6 Winterthur Portfolio
Structuralism and Semiotics
glecting others. This is why an object or an entire
The fundamental purpose of the study of material category of objects falls in and out of fashion. The
culture is the quest for cultural belief systems, the object stays relatively the same, but people change
patterns of belief of a particular group of people and cultural values change. From the time it is cre-
in a certain time and place. The methodology is to ated, an artifact can arouse different patterns of
some extent structuralist in its premise that the con- response according to the belief systems of the per-
figurations or properties of an artifact correspond ceivers' cultural matrices. The sequence of syn-
to patterns in the mind of the individual producer chronic patterns that could be triggered by an ar-
or producers and of the society of which he or theytifact resembles the sequence of frames in a motion
were a part. picture; in theory, if we could retrieve all the pat-
Modern linguistic theory has made us aware ofterns, we would have a film of history. In practice,
the significance of language as the manifestation only a few patterns are accessible, primarily those
of man's capacity, indeed compulsion, to imposeof the original fabricator and the modern per-
structure on the world and his experience of [Link]. Artifacts, then, can yield evidence of the
Man's structuring, apparent in language, is the onlypatterns of mind of the society that fabricated
reality he knows. His reality is relative, endlessly them, of our society as we interpret our responses
changing, true only for the moment; it is the em- (and nonresponses), and of any other society in-
pirical shadow of a hypothetical underlying per- tervening in time or removed in space for which
manent universe, a world of ideas, a unified field. there are recorded responses.
The reality man experiences is created by man, and
language, the naming of that reality, is a manifes-Determinism
tation and measure of the current structure of real- The fundamental attitude underlying the study of
ity in any given place and time. It is therefore sig- material culture is, as with most contemporary
nificant cultural evidence as the reflection of man's scholarship, a pervasive determinism. This statement
mental structuring. But language is not solely hu- may seem to belabor the obvious, but a strict de-
man. Animals communicate by arrangements of terminism not only underlies the other theoretical
sounds and, in the case of dolphins, for example,aspects of the study of material culture but also
may have languages. Perhaps more special to mandictates the methodological procedures outlined
than language is the capacity to make implements below whereby, through a variety of techniques, an
and, more special yet, objects for aesthetic gratifi- object is unpacked. The basic premise is that
cation. There is a language of form as there isevery a effect observable in or induced by the object
language of words; a naming through making has as a cause. Therefore, the way to understand the
there is a naming through saying. That man ex- cause (some aspect of culture) is the careful and
presses his human need to structure his world imaginative study of the effect (the object). In the-
through forms as well as through language is ory, a if we could perceive all of the effects we could
basic premise of the structuralist approach to ma- understand all of the causes; an entire cultural
terial culture.'1 universe is in the object waiting to be discovered.
The methodology of material culture is alsoThe theoretical approach here is modified, how-
concerned with semiotics in its conviction that arti- ever, by the conviction that in practice omniper-
facts transmit signals which elucidate mental pat- ception leading to omniscience is not a real possi-
terns or structures. Complementing the structur- bility. External information-that is, evidence drawn
alist premise and semiotic promise of the from outside of the object, including information
interpretation of artifacts is the knowledge that regarding the maker's purpose or intent-plays an
artifacts serve as cultural releasers. Perceivers in essential role in the process. Such an approach is
other societies who have a different mix of cultural inclusive, not exclusive.
values, some in concert and some at variance with Although the fundamental concern of material
those of the producing society, respond positively culture is with the artifact as the embodiment of
to certain artifacts or aspects of artifacts while ne- mental structures, or patterns of belief, it is also of
interest that the fabrication of the object is a man-
10 A measure of the potency of the language of form is the ifestation of behavior, of human act. As noted
role that matter-and man's experience of the physical world- above in the discussion of culture and society, belief
plays in language. This is obviously true with poetic imagery
and metaphor, where concretions vivify abstractions, and in the
and behavior are inextricably intertwined. The
imagery of vernacular expressions which articulate and expose material culturalist is, therefore, necessarily inter-
fundamental human perceptions of the realities of existence. ested in the motive forces that condition behavior,

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 Mind in Matter 7

specifically the
descriptive makin
techniques of art history and archae-
use of artifacts. There
ology, and in this there is more overlap with the
that every natural than with the social sciences.
living The initial
being
self-interest as he determines that interest to be at descriptive steps in the approach to objects resem-
any given moment. This is an inevitable by-product bles fieldwork in a science such as geology, and
of the fundamental concern with cause and effect. description can also involve the use of scientific
equipment.
Thus such issues as the availability of materials, the
demands of patronage, channels of distribution, The method of object analysis proposed below
promotion, available technology, and means of ex- progresses through three stages. To keep the dis-
change, which require the investigation of external torting biases of the investigator's cultural per-
evidence, are pertinent. spective in check, these stages must be undertaken
in sequence and kept as discrete as possible. The
analysis proceeds from description, recording the
Methodology internal evidence of the object itself; to deduction,
interpreting the interaction between the object and
How does one extract information about culture,the perceiver; to speculation, framing hypotheses
about mind, from mute objects? We have been and questions which lead out from the object to
taught to retrieve information in abstract form, external evidence for testing and resolution."
words and numbers, but most of us are functionally
illiterate when it comes to interpreting information Description
encoded in objects. Several academic disciplines, Description is restricted to what can be observed
notably art history and archaeology, routinely work in the object itself, that is, to internal evidence. In
with artifacts as evidence and over the years have practice, it is desirable to begin with the largest,
built up a considerable amount of theoretical and most comprehensive observations and progress sys-
methodological expertise. Work done in these tematically to more particular details. The termi-
fields is often directed inward, toward the accu- nology should be as accurate as possible; technical
mulation and explication of information required terms are fine as long as they can be understood.
by the discipline itself. In the history of art this The analyst must, however, continually guard
takes the form of resolving questions of stylistic and
against the intrusion of either subjective assump-
iconographic influence, of dating and authorship, tions or conclusions derived from other experi-
of quality and authenticity. In archaeology it is theence.

basic task of assembling, sorting, dating, and quan- This is a synchronic exercise; the ph
tifying the assembled data. But art history and ar- is read at a particular moment in tim
chaeology also have fundamental concerns with the is almost certainly not identical to what
cultures that produced the objects, and the meth- it was fabricated; time, weather, usag
odologies of these two fields, to the extent that theytaken their toll. At this stage no con
provide means for the interpretation of culture,given to condition or to other diachr
are essential to material culture. At present they logical, iconographic, or stylistic infl
are the two disciplines most directly relevant to the Substantial analysis. Description begi
actual work of investigating material culture. But, stantial analysis, an account of the ph
as they are usually defined, they are not adequate sions, material, and articulation of th
to the total task. The exploration of patterns determine
of physical dimensions, the o
belief and behavior, in an intellectual borderland
where the interests of humanities and social sci- I The issue of sequence undoubtedly needs
ences merge, requires an openness to other meth-
I am aware that the insistence upon strict adh
ticular series of steps seems rigid and arbitrary,
odologies, including those of cultural and social
fettering of the investigator. Yet, I have come
history, cultural and social anthropology, psycho-virtues of sequence empirically on the basis of co
room experience with artifact analysis. It simp
history, sociology, cultural geography, folklore and
The closer the sequence suggested below is foll
folk life, and linguistics. But the approach to ma-
in regard to the major stages, and the greater
terial culture set forth below dictates that these with each analytical step before proceeding,
trating, complex, and satisfying the final inte
broader concerns and methodologies not be brought
viously, the procedure is time-consuming, and th
into play until the evidence of the artifact itself has
impatience to move along. My experience has
been plumbed as objectively as possible. Thereforethat this should be resisted until the analysis
the obvious next question requires advancing t
the first steps are most closely related to the basic

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 8 Winterthur Portfolio

sured and perhaps

rative weighed
designs o
cision dependsor ondiagrams,
the interes
If he will be carved
considering or a paint
seri
amount of precision
tiles, is
moldeddesirao
subsequent significance
Formal of
analys a
cation. However, it is
analysis not
of des
the
to the point of losing
visual an
character im
mension in a welter
the of
two-dimen nu
cance may lie either
in general
on themea
su
discovery of orthe modal thr
sections im
cubits in the vernacular
three-dimensio arch
Next comes awhether actua
description o
they are, how represented
extensively in
th
pattern of their other distribution formal e
Finally, the ture in
ways should which be t
together in the initial fabrication descript o
ulation, should nature,be noted. extent, For
one would look in at each the case. weave; De
ing, soldering, must riveting; be left wit t
dowels, miterjoints, too much can be almost as bad as too little, the
mortise-
Substantial forest can be lost for the [Link]
analysis a desc
ventory of the object. It is a
tance of whatever Deduction technical
ate and available. The second stage Simple
of analysis moves from the objecttape
ultraviolet itself to the relationship
lamps between the object
and infrand the
complex electron perceiver. It involves the empathetic linking of the
microscop
tion machinesmaterial are (actual) orall
represented world of the object
basically
ability to perceive with the perceiver'sand world of existence
take and expe-the
ical properties rience. To
and put it anotherdimensio
way, the analyst contem-
Content. Theplates what it would be step
next like to use or interact
in with de
of content. Thethe object, or, in the case of a representational ob-
investigator
with subject ject, to be transported empathetically
matter. This into the de- is
with works of
picted art
world. If or
conditions permit, other
he handles, lifts,
procedure is uses, walks
iconographythrough, or experiments physically with i
reading of overt the object. The paramount
representatcriterion for deductions
painting, this drawnmayfrom this interaction is that they must meet
simply b
as if the work the test of
werereasonableness and common
a sense; that
windo
some kind of is, mostworld). Conte
people, on the basis of their knowledge of
the physical world and the evidence of their own
12 Henry Glassie, Folk Housing in Middle Virginia: A Structural
life experience, should find the deductions to be
Analysis of Historic Artifacts (Knoxville: University of Tennessee unstrained interpretations of the evidence elicited
Press, 1975). by the description. If these deductions are not
13 The procedures outlined here for collecting internal evi-
readily acceptable as reasonable, they must be con-
dence have other significant applications. Physical analysis, in-
cluding the use of scientific apparatus, can provide crucial in- sidered hypothetical and deferred to the next stage.
formation in regard to authenticity. Other procedures noted Although the analyst in the deductive stage
below, notably formal analysis, can also be exceedingly useful
moves away from a concern solely with the internal
in determining authenticity. These applications of the meth-
odology can take place at any time, but it is preferable for the evidence of the object and injects himself into the
issue of authenticity to be resolved before the analysis proceeds investigation, the process remains synchronic. Just
beyond description. If a material culture investigator is to arrive
at cultural conclusions on the basis of material evidence, the as the object is only what it is at the moment of
specimen being studied must be an authentic product of the
culture in question. The investigator must determine what as- 14 The procedures of formal analysis summarized briefly
pects of the objects, if any, are not authentic products of the here will be familiar to any art historian. They are not, however,
presumed culture. A fake may be a useful artifact in relation arcane, and investigators need not be specially trained. Formal
to the culture that produced the fake, but it is deceptive in analysis is a matter of articulating and recording what one sees,
relation to the feigned culture. preferably in a systematic sequence as suggested here.

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 Mind in Matter 9

one's external knowledge toand

investigation, see if it can be deduced as s
ferent thanfrom the objectwhat it
itself and, if it cannot, to set that w
the analyst is
knowledge aside until the what
next stage. he
gation. Ten In the case of a pictorial object, there are hen
years a
ently to the
number of questionsobject
that may be addressed to and be
and a different mix
answered by the object itself, especially if it is rep-
surface of conscious
resentational. What is the time of day? What is the
counter between
season of the year? What is the effect on what anis o
individualdepictedwithof natural forces such as heathisand cold or h
Neither isthe pull of gravity? In the relation between
what they the
come. Yet the event does not occur within a vac- depicted world and our world, where are we po-
uum. The object is at least in some ways what it was sitioned, what might we be doing, and what role,
or bears some recognizable relationship to whatifitany, might we play? How would we enter pictorial
was; the same, although less germane, is truespace? of What transpired prior to the depicted mo-
the investigator. The object may not testify with ment? What may happen next?
complete accuracy about its culture, but it can di- Emotional response. Finally, there is the matter of
vulge something. It is the analyst's task to find out the viewer's emotional response to the object. Re-
what it can tell and, perhaps, deduce what it can actions vary in kind, intensity, and specificity, but
no longer tell. it is not uncommon to discover that what one con-
Sensory engagement. The first step in deduction sidered a subjective response is in fact widely
is sensory experience of the object. If possible, one shared. A particular object may trigger joy, fright,
touches it to feel its texture and lifts it to know its awe, perturbation, revulsion, indifference, curios-
heft. Where appropriate, consideration should be ity, or other responses that can be quite subtly dis-
given to the physical adjustments a user would have tinguished. These subjective reactions, difficult but
to make to its size, weight, configuration, and tex- by no means impossible to articulate, tend to be
ture. The experience of architecture or a town- significant to the extent that they are generally
scape would involve sensory perceptions while shared. They point the way to specific insights
moving through it. If the object is not accessible, when the analyst identifies the elements noted in
then these things must be done imaginatively and the descriptive stage that have precipitated them.
empathetically. In the case of a picture, the en- I have stressed the importance of attempting
gagement is necessarily empathetic; the analyst to maintain rigorous discreteness and sequence in
projects himself into the represented world (or, in the stages of object analysis. In fact, this is difficult
Alois Riegl's sense, considers that the pictorial space if not impossible to achieve. Deductions almost in-
continues into the viewer's world of existence) and variably creep into the initial description. These
records what he would see, hear, smell, taste, and slips, usually unnoted by the investigator, are un-
feel. '5
desirable since they undercut objectivity. But in
Intellectual engagement. The second step is intel- practice, while striving to achieve objectivity and to
lectual apprehension of the object. With a tool or maintain the scientific method as an ideal, the in-
implement this is a consideration of what it does vestigator should not be so rigorous and doctrinaire
and how it does it, and in such cases may need to in the application of methodological rigor as to in-
precede or accompany the sensory engagement. hibit the process. Vigilance, not martial law, is the
The degree of understanding at this stage (prior appropriate attitude. Often an individual's subjec-
to the admission of external evidence) depends on tive assumptions are not recognized as such until
the complexity of the object and the analyst's prior considerably later. In fact, it is instructive in regard
knowledge and experience. It is unnecessary to ig- to understanding one's own cultural biases, one's
nore what one knows and feign innocence for the own cultural perspective, to mark those assump-
appearance of objectivity, but it is desirable to test tions that remain undetected the longest in the
descriptive stage. These are often the most deeply
'5 See Sheldon Nodelman, "Structural Analysis in Art and
rooted cultural assumptions.
Anthropology," in Structuralism, ed. Jacques Ehrmann (Garden
City, N.Y.: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1970), p. 87. This splendid
article sets forth succinctly the basis for contemporary structural Speculation
analysis in the early art historical work of the German school
of Strukturforschung, especially as initiated by Riegl and devel-
Having progressed from the object itself in de-
oped by Guido von Kaschnitz-Weinberg, and the anthropologie scription to the interaction between object and per-
structurale of Claude LUvi-Strauss.
ceiver in deduction, the analysis now moves com-

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 10 Winterthur Portfolio

pletely to the inary

mind analysis-description,
of deduction, specula-
the per
There are few rules
tion-is or
complete and the proscr
investigation has moved
What is to external evidence.
desired is There should
as muchbe continual c
possible, the free
shunting backassociation
and forth between the outside ev
tions tempered dence only,
and the artifact as and then
research suggests to th
the analyst's investigator
common the need for more sense
descriptive infor
what is even vaguely
mation or indicates other plausible
hypotheses that need
Theories and hypotheses.
be tested affectively. The
lation is to review the inform
descriptive and deductive stag
hypotheses. Investigation
This is of External
the Evidence
time o
has been learned from the internal evidence of the
object itself, turning those data over in one's mind,
Allied Disciplines
developing theories that might explain the various Pursuing a program of research in material cultu
effects observed and felt. Speculation takes place based on questions and hypotheses arising fro
in the mind of the investigator, and his cultural artifact analysis involves the techniques and a
stance now becomes a major factor. However, since proaches of any of a dozen or more subjects o
the objective and deductive evidence is already in disciplines divided between the humanities and th
social sciences.16 The following can or do utili
hand, this cultural bias has little distorting effect.
artifacts evidentially: archaeology, cultural geog
Indeed, it is an asset rather than a liability; it fuels
the creative work that now must take place. Because raphy, folklore and folk life, history of art, soc
of cultural perspective, it is impossible to respond and cultural anthropology, and social and cultur
to and interpret the object in exactly the same way history. Several others that do not to any substantia
as did the fabricating society, or any other societydegree are linguistics, psychohistory, and psycho
that may have been exposed to and reacted to the ogy. Since the study of material culture as a distinct
object during its history and perigrinations. Where discipline (rather than as a part of art history o
there is a common response, it provides an affective archaeology) is relatively recent and the theoreti
insight into the cultural values of another society. substructure is still being formulated, the list o
Where there is divergence, the distinctive cultural allied disciplines is probably not complete.
perspective of our society can illuminate unseenThe different relationships the allied disciplin
and even unconscious aspects of the other culture. bear to material culture need clarification. In re-

There was gravity before Newton; there was eco- gard to the three disciplines that do not use object
nomic determinism before Marx; there was sex the relationship is one-sided; material culture doe
before Freud. We are free to use the insights af- not contribute significantly to, but profits from
forded by our cultural and historical perspective, techniques and insights of linguistics, psychohis-
as long as we do not make the mistake of assigning tory, and psychology."7 Conversely, one subject are
intentionality or even awareness to the fabricating that does use artifacts, folklore and folk life, profits
culture. Our cultural distance from the culture of from, but does not make a readily definable o
the object precludes affective experience of thosedistinctive methodological contribution to, materia
culture. Folklore and folk life seems out of place
beliefs that are at variance with our own belief sys-
tems, but the process now begun can lead to the on the list since it refers to a broad area of inves-
tigation;
recovery of some of those beliefs. That is a goal of as a field rather than a discipline, it is the
the exercise.

Program of research. The second step in the spec-

ulative stage is developing a program for valida- 16 There is some question in academic circles whether social
and cultural history belong to the humanities or to the social
tion, that is, a plan for scholarly investigation of
sciences. This perhaps suggests the lessening usefulness of a
questions posed by the material evidence. This distinction between the study of human beliefs, values, and his-
tory on the one hand and the study of human behavior on the
shifts the inquiry from analysis of internal evidence
other, and the need for a new term to encompass those disci-
to the search for and investigation of external evi-
plines that study the interaction of human belief and behavior,
dence. Now the methodologies and techniqueswhether
of historical or contemporary.
various disciplines can be brought into play ac-~7 Inasmuch as the essential purpose of material culture is
the quest for mind, psychohistory holds particular promise, but
cording to the nature of the questions raised and
as yet the methodologies of this equally new (and more contro-
the skills and inclinations of the scholar.
versial) approach are as rudimentary as those of material cul-
The object is not abandoned after the prelim-
ture.

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 Mind in Matter 11

opposite a student in material

of my material culture seminar, Rachel
and not a Feldberg,
field. In ad
investigated one mid-eighteenth-century
other disciplinary
Connecticut desk-and-bookcase. She began by not-ap
in folklore and
ing the number folk
of apertures, then she considered
fective usehow the ofopenings mightmateri
have been used by the
terial culture is
original owner and hypothesized parti
that they were for
gation of nonliterat
sorting and storing papers. Given the desk-and-
segments of
bookcase's societies
functional associations with reading and
The relationship
writing, its division into upper case and lower ofcase
disciplines that
(as in typefaces), and the possibleuse
use of the lower a
parallel interests
section as a press (as in "linen press"), her rat
thoughts
noted turned to printing.
above, She speculated that if envi-an
social
cultural sioned in a horizontal plane, this particular desk-
anthropolog
ciology canand-bookcase had the same numbermat
view of openings
odological as did a subbranc
printer's tray. This suggested alphabet-
priate. ization, with the usual conflation of certain letters
Cultural geography has an especially close con- (p/q, x/y/z), and the use of the apertures for sys-
nection with material culture. The explanation may tematic filing. A quantitative survey of similar desk-
be that, since cultural geography deals directly with and-bookcases would help to confirm or negate her
the shaping influence of man's mind on his physical hypothesis.'8 The development of computer tech-
environment, it is essentially material culture writ nology makes possible a range and variety of quan-
large. As with material culture, its primary evidence titative research previously unmanageable.
exists in the form of both artifacts and pictorial Stylistic analysis. The other two aspects of the
representations. Cultural geography may be de- descriptive stage, stylistic analysis and iconography,
fined as an important branch of material culture also lend themselves to broader diachronic and
(as with art, all cultural geography is material cul- geographic consideration. The search for stylistic
ture, but not all material culture is cultural geog- influences or sources is a basic art historical pro-
raphy); in time the two subjects may turn out to be cedure. Within the broader framework of material
aspects of a single discipline. For the moment the culture, tracing stylistic influence has considerable
study of each is in its infancy and their precise potential. For example, New England in the six-
relationship remains to be determined. teenth century had few if any gravestones. With
the beginning of European settlement in the sev-
Art History and Archaeology enteenth century, gravestones appeared in the
I turn now to the two areas of scholarship that have coastal towns; subsequently their use spread up the
had the longest working experience with material river valleys and across the countryside. Since
culture-art history and archaeology. The initial gravestones are often inscribed with considerable
step in the analytical process, the physical descrip- data regarding the deceased, a corpus of subject
tion of objects (including the use of technical ap-
information can be assembled about age, sex, re-
paratus), is common to both these fields. Moreover
ligion, profession, and residence. Gravestones also
the most obvious methodological steps away from have a formal design component. Analysis of the
the internal evidence and into external evidence evolution and spread of gravestone styles in New
also spring from, although they are not limited to,
England, previously a stylistic tabula rasa, might
these fields.
lead to a significant study of the dispersion of style,
Quantitative analysis. Quantitative analysis, more of how formal information is disseminated in a
common to archaeology than to art history, is most
frequently the extension of descriptive physical
18 This example is simplified for illustrative purposes and
analysis to other objects in order to determine the should not be interpreted as reductive either of the possibilities
distribution, in time and in space, of certain forms,for quantification studies or of the scope of Feldberg's inquiry.
materials, or modes of construction. Quantitative Most quantitative studies would deal with a much larger number
of variables, as indeed would Feldberg's study of desk-and-book-
study can also use the original object and otherscases if actually undertaken. Also, her investigation into external
like it for considering abstract questions, such as evidence led to various other issues not apposite here such as
the relationship of objects to patrons or users vis-the use of letters of credit in the eighteenth century which might
be filed in the bookcase; the velocity of correspondence of a
i-vis class, religion, politics, age, wealth, sex, place New England businessman; locks and safekeeping; and the issue
of residence, profession, and so on. For example, of reconciling gentlemanliness and commerce.

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 12 Winterthur Portfolio

given house, the

culture.'9 stove was not a radioacti
Like celestial watcher but an
into the iron
bloodstreamCaliban that needed itself
of to be watched.
a How canc
stones would make
does one explore thevisible the
mental landscape, the beliefs,
tern of diffusion. to validate or deny such speculations? Sermons,
Iconology. Iconography is also a basic art histor-private diaries, poetry, and fiction are among the
ical procedure for the investigation of art influ- sources for the investigator seeking not only facts
encing art. There is a gain in research potential but also the hints or suggestions of belief. Even if
when iconography moves to iconology and studiessuch hypotheses or speculations remain unproved,
are made of the intellectual matrix-the web of they are not necessarily invalid.
myth, religion, historical circumstance-that
spawned the legends and imbue the iconographic
Observations on the Categories of Artifacts
elements with their intellectual and symbolic power.
The study of iconology leads ineluctably to the
study of semiotics; all objects, not only works Although
of art all man-made things are, in theory, useful
with highly developed narrative, imagic,evidence
meta-of cultural mind, in practice different cat-
egories of material yield different kinds of infor-
phoric, and symbolic content, are the transmitters
of signs and signals, whether consciously or sub- in response to different investigative tech-
mation
niques. Some categories are responsive to familar
consciously sent or received. And the interpreta-
scholarly
tion of cultural signals transmitted by artifacts is methodologies; some seem obdurate and
what material culture is all about. mute. This final section reviews the categories of
the material of material culture and considers their
Another student in my seminar, Kimerly Ror-
evidential promise.
schach, investigated an eighteenth-century Con-
necticut tall clock. Traditional research into exter-
Art
nal evidence, which is part of any investigation into
The fine arts in general have two advantages as
material culture, led to estate inventories in an at-
tempt to determine the normal placement of such material for the study of material culture. One,
clocks and to prove patterns of distribution already
by discussed, is the applicability of the expe-
economic status. Similarly, clockmakers' account rience and methodologies of an existing discipline,
books were consulted for information about shop the history of art. The other is that objects of art
possess considerable underlying theoretical com-
practices. But the deductive and speculative stages
of object analysis framed qualitatively differentplexity (as opposed to technical or mechanical com-
plexity), embodying by definition aesthetic and
questions and hypotheses. The tall clock stands slim
even ethical decision making.20 On the other
and erect, slightly larger than human scale. It has
hand, as noted in the discussion of veracity, the
human characteristics, and yet it is both less and
more than human. It has a face behind which a self-consciousness of artistic expression makes art
less neutral as cultural evidence than are mundane
surrogate brain ticks relentlessly. It is not capable
of independent life, yet once wound its mechanism artifacts. Moreover, there is a special problem
ticks on and its hands move without rest. The hu- connected with the consideration of works of art

man occupants of a house are mortal with an al- as cultural evidence, what might be called the aes
loted span of time to use or waste while the clockthetic dilemma.
measures its irretrievable passage. Could the clock Hauser has argued that there is no relationship
have played a metaphorical role as the unblinkingbetween an object's aesthetic value and its cultural
toller of time who watches the inhabitants of the significance. Each is judged by different criteria,
house, the agent of some extrahuman, divineand each set of standards is perfectly valid as long
power? A student in another course, Joel Pfister,as the two are not confused. It is self-deluding to
analyzed a Victorian coal-fired parlor stove, a veryconsider an object aesthetically better because it has
different object. A useful black imp who ate coal cultural potency, or to elevate an object as a cultural
voraciously and had to be emptied (its fecal ashesdocument because it accords with our sense of aes-
a material by-product in contrast to the abstract thetic quality. The aesthetic dilemma arises when
output of the clock), who would inflict a nasty burn
on the unwary and could, if untended, destroy the 20 "The more complex an object is, the more decisions its
design required, the more a particular mind in operation can
be discovered behind it" (Henry Glassie, "Folkloristic Study of
19 See James Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology
the American Artifact,"' in Handbook of American Folklore, ed.
of Early American Life (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Double-
day, 1977), pp. 64-9o. Richard Dorson [forthcoming]).

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 Mind in Matter 13

an analytical approac
accoutrements of theatrical performance, that did
ity of a work of
not fit into the other obvious art
categories. These ob-
so doing jects share the quality of giving pleasure, or
destroys enter-
the
ably.21 The tainment to question
the mind and body, and the category
cedures of material culture wreak this kind of aes- has an affinity with, although separate from, art.
thetic damage. This is a category in the process of definition and
The initial steps of the methodology proposed further discussion of it must be deferred.
here are completely descriptive and do not com-
promise the aesthetic response. Close examination Adornment
of the object accords with accepted procedures forAdornment, especially clothing, has, like the ap-
aesthetic evaluation. And the second stage of de-plied arts, the advantage of touching on a wide
ductive and interpretative analysis involves objec- range of quotidian functions and of embodying a
tive procedures that only enhance and magnify fa-relatively uncomplicated partnership of function
miliarity, understanding, and aesthetic [Link] style that permits the isolation and study of
Danger lies in the third stage-speculation. Thestyle. The potency of this material as cultural evi-
aesthetic dilemma does not in fact arise from anal- dence can be tested by the simple act of criticizing
ysis; it arises from speculation. The aesthetic ex- someone's clothes; the reaction is much more in-
perience of a work of art (or music or literature) tense than that aroused by comparable criticism of
can be affected, even permanently altered, by ex-a house, a car, or a television set. Criticism of cloth-
ternal associations-a distasteful experience at the ing is taken more personally, suggesting a high cor-
time of perception, the intrusion of a parody, an relation between clothing and personal identity and
unsolicited, uncongenial interpretation. Specula-values. Although personal adornment promises to
tion, especially by an "expert," can color, perhaps be a particularly rich vein for material culture stud-
permanently, the perception of others. Regardlessies, to date little significant work has been done
of the validity of the interpretation, the state of with it.
mind of the listener or reader is altered, innocence
is lost, what has been said cannot be unsaid, the Modifications of the Landscape
aesthetic experience is irredeemably changed. The most essential quality of an object for the study
Students of material culture who have applied of material culture, after survival, is authenticity.
the analytical techniques, including speculation,The optimum object is the gravestone because it
have in fact found their aesthetic pleasure in the is geographically rooted and attended by a great
object enhanced, not compromised. But aestheticdeal of primary data; we are quite secure in at-
damage is done not to the interpreter, for whom taching it to a particular cultural complex. There
the speculations are arrived at freely, but to hishas been little or no faking of gravestones and only
audience. This, however, is one of the pitfalls ina limited amount of recarving or relocating. Al-
the play of ideas, especially in the area of aestheticthough an individual gravestone can be considered
criticism. Speculation is essential to a democracy ofas sculpture, gravestones and graveyards (or cem-
ideas, and the danger of restricting ideas or asso- eteries) fundamentally belong to a broader cat-
ciations is much more serious than the occasional egory, modifications of the natural landscape. Ar-
aesthetic damage caused by their expression. Imag- chitecture, town planning, and indeed all aspects
inative critical interpretation may change an object of the human-shaped landscape (cultural geog-
irretrievably, but our ideas and our perceptions are raphy) share with gravestones the same quality of
continually being altered by new ideas and percep- rootedness that ties artifacts to a particular fabri-
tions. That is life. The "aesthetic dilemma" turns cating culture. Although lacking the inscribed data
out on close inspection to be less a real problem of grave markers, architecture has much greater
and more in the order of normal intellectual grow- complexity. Having been built for human occu-
ing pains. pancy, it responds in very direct ways to people's
needs. Glassie has observed that historically ori-
Diversions ented folklorists have concentrated on architecture
In attempting to classify artifacts, I initially estab- because the material survives, it is geographically
lished a miscellaneous category for things, such as sited, and it is complex. It is both a work of art and
books, toys and games, prepared meals, and the a tool for living, combining aesthetic with utilitarian
drives at a variety of conceptual levels.22 Town and
21 Hauser, "Sociology of Art," pp. 274-76. 22 Glassie, "Folkloristic Study," p. 15.

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 14 Winterthur Portfolio

city planning, and mental problems.

that is, Earlyarchitec
economies developed
share these a salt trade. Salt containers historically
qualities. In occupied a
the
alterations in place
the of honor physicalmattered
at the dinner table, and it lan
must be made who was seated
between above or below the [Link] appears
plowing or thefrequently in biblical imagery, representing desic- o
construction
simple behavioral
cation and purity. consequen
People dream of salt. Human life
lations of emerged
animal from brackish
bones pools, the indica
saline content of
which is encoded in the human bloodstream. Salt
Applied Arts has ritual functions associated with baptism; salt
Applied arts water is put on the infant's lips in Catholic
(furniture, furn baptis-
like architecture, mal rites; the forms of early
are a trencher
partner salts derive
of aesthetic from medievaland
appeal and renaissance baptismal fonts.
utility.2
edness of Many body fluids are salty-blood,
architecture urine, tears- e
and,
material retrieved and in some cultures are associated with fertility
archaeologic
hazard in associating rites. These scattered observations
objects suggest the mul- w
culture. Applied tiple possibilities
arts, for cultural howeve
investigation that can
in their simplicity arise from one ofsimple applied
functionarts object. w
to isolate that potent cultural
discussed above Devices in Cultural Per
mental values Devices-implements,
of a tools, utensils, appliances,
society are
because they machines, vehicles,
are taken instruments-constitute
for the gr
they are manifest most problematicin and, to date, a relatively unpro-
style rat
Stylistic expression ductive range of artifacts for the studybe
can of materialaff
utility or conscious culture. Much of the scholarship
purposefu on devices has
ration of a been taxonomic,
tool or recording functional details and
machine
dictated by its mechanical
use; variations. Little writing
the has been cul-
config
a play or a turally interpretive except
painting may on the automobile,
be a s
by its content machine
or with powerful
message. personal stylistic over-In
applied arts formtones.25 Theoretical
and writing that relates devices to
function
the function culturesimple
is has dealt with the stylistic
and modificationconof
or chairs, it machine forms be
can to make them culturally acceptable
factored
variable is style, and pervasive images of technology in the popular cu
bespeaking
titudes in itself and in its variations across time, mind.26 But there has been little cultural analysis
space, class, and so forth. of the devices themselves, and no theoretical lit-
There is, of course, significant cultural evidenceerature has as yet established a technological or
in the utilitarian aspect of artifacts. Both architec-scientific counterpart to the link between art and
ture and the applied arts, by their use in a widebeliefs." Certain devices have particular promise
range of daily activities, especially domestic, are for cultural interpretation. For example, clocks and
bearers of information about numerous, some- watches, linked with a significant aspect of everyday
human experience-time-surely have cultural sig-
times quite private, reaches of human experience.
Another student in my material culture course,nificance. Ocular devices-telescopes, microscopes,
Barbara Mount, studied a seventeenth-century
25 For example, Roland Barthes, "The New Citroen," in
Boston trencher salt. We take salt for granted Mythologies,
be- trans. Annette Lavers (1972; reprint ed., New York:
cause our contemporary (largely processed) diet
Hill & Wang, 1978), pp. 88-9o.
more than satisfies our requirements. Yet the phys-26 John Kasson, Civilizing the Machine: Technology and Repub-
lican Values in America, 1776-19oo (New York: Grossman Pub-
iological need for salt is fundamental; if deprived
lishers, 1976), and Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden: Tech-
of it we, like all animals, would have severe physical
nology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1965)-
23 The English usage of the term applied arts is preferable to 27 Perhaps this will be achieved in time. Glassie speaks of the
the American decorative arts for material culture purposes. The importance of banjos as well as banjo playing for folklorists
term is intended to describe objects whose essential character ("Folkloristic Study," p. 4), but it remains to be seen whether this
is that they combine aesthetic and utilitarian roles. Since the assertion will be validated. Glassie had discussed banjos briefly
noun arts common to both terms takes care of the aesthetic earlier in Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United
aspect, it seems sensible to have the descriptor emphasize utility, States (1968; reprint ed., Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl-
that is, applied rather than decorative. vania Press, 1971), pp. 22-24, but did not follow through to any
24 See also Prown, "Style as Evidence," pp. 69-71. cultural interpretations there.

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 Mind in Matter 15

eyeglasses-also
tive stage, are largely derived fromreadi
the practice of
tensions of
art the
history, and when fun
artifacts are subjected to that
seeing. Although ther
analysis, they are analyzed as if they were works of
a wide range of
art. Where devices respond to this modedev
of anal-
sists. Does
ysis-as, for example, in the perceptions of my col- t
the fact
cessfully interpreted
league Margaretta Lovell regarding sewing ma-
other chines, buttons and switches, calculators
categories ofand art buses-
ent state of
they do so not in scholars
terms of what they do, but rather
are there fundamental differences in the nature of in the way they are formed and the way in which
certain artifacts that affect their value as cultural
they operate, that is, their style. If the cultural sig-
evidence? We will consider one aspect of this ques-
nificance of a device is perceivable in its style rather
tion in the conclusion. than its function, then there is reason to conclude
that, for purposes of material culture analysis, the
Conclusion aesthetic aspects of artifacts are more significant
We have discussed the categories of the materials than the utilitarian. Why this should be the case is
of material culture in a sequence moving from the explained by Jan Mukatovsky.28 Mukaiovsky ob-
more aesthetic to the more utilitarian with, givenserves that all products of creative human activity
the broad scope of the categories, considerablereveal intention. In the case of implements (he
overlap. Does the position of a general category or speaks specifically of implements, but his argument
a specific artifact on such an aesthetic/utility scale holds for all devices), that intention, purpose, or
provide any index of evidential promise? aim is directed externally, outside of the implement
The cultural interpretation of artifacts is still itself. An art object, on the other hand, is self-ref-
too young as a scholarly enterprise to permit final erential; it is an aim, an intention in itself. Man is
or fixed generalizations regarding the comparative a user of an implement-he applies it externally;
potential of artifacts as evidence. But the weight ofman is a perceiver of art-he refers it to himself.
scholarly evidence, if one simply compares the bodyVirtually all objects have an artistic dimension; only
of cultural interpretation in the literature of art with devices do we encounter a class of objects that
history, architectural history, and the history of the approaches the purely utilitarian. Even there, most
applied arts with the literature of the history of devices incorporate some decorative or aesthetic
science and technology, suggests that it is the aes- elements, and every device can be contemplated as
thetic or artistic dimensions of objects, to whatever an art object, a piece of abstract sculpture, com-
extent and in whatever form they are present, that pletely apart from utilitarian considerations.
open the way to cultural understanding. The It is characteristic of an implement that a
straightforward statements of fact in purely utili-change or modification affecting the way it accom-
tarian objects provide only limited cultural insights. plishes its task does not alter its essential nature as
The fundamental reason why the cultural inter-a particular type of implement. But a change, even
pretation of works of art has been more fruitful a minor change, in any of the properties of a work
than that of devices is the disparate character of of art transforms it into a different work of art.
the material itself. Art objects are the products of Mukatovsky's example is a hammer. Viewed as an
the needs of belief; devices are the products of implement, a hammer that has its grip thickened
physical necessity. Inasmuch as material culture is or its peen flattened is still a hammer; but the ham-
fundamentally a quest for mind, for belief, works mer as an art object, an organization of certain
of art are more direct sources of cultural evidence shapes and colors and textures, becomes a different
than are devices. Although devices clearly express object if the organization of design elements is al-
human attitudes and values in regard to achieving tered, if the plain wooden handle is painted red or
control over the physical environment, the corre- the cleft in the claws is narrowed. The explanation
spondence between the device and the need that for this, and here we enter the realm of semiotics,
brought it into existence is so direct that there derives from Mukatovskf's premise that every
seems little need for further investigation. And yet,
28 Margaretta Lovell and I cotaught a course in material
there are devices such as clocks and telescopes with culture. Jan Mukafovsky, "The Essence of the Visual Arts," in
clear cultural significance. Moreover, devices re-Semiotics of Art: Prague School Contributions, ed. Ladislav Matejka
spond as well as the other categories of artifacts do and Irwin R. Titunik (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977), PP-
229-44, and Structure, Sign, and Function: Selected Essays, trans.
to the analytical procedures outlined earlier in this and ed. John Burbank and Peter Steiner (New Haven and Lon-
essay. Those procedures, especially in the descrip- don: Yale University Press, 1978), pp. 220-35.

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 16 Winterthur Portfolio

product of Selective Bibliography

human activity has
ciple and a unifying intention
may interpret that intention i
the artist(s) had a single purp
be unrealistic For
and more specific and comprehensive material culture
unrealizable
bibliographies, see the works of Simon J. Bronner, Henry
a maker to intend that his pu
Glassie, and Thomas J. Schlereth listed below.
by all perceivers equally-in
the same degree as he underst
General Works
any fabricator must have tha
consciously, in order to make
Braudel, Fernand. Afterthoughts on Material Civilization
are signs that convey meani
and Capitalism. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins
munication, a University
form of
Press, 1977- langua
like words, communicate a spe
of itself. This is the case with a content-filled art - Capitalism and Material Life, 14oo--18oo. New
York: Harper & Row, 1975-
object such as a magazine illustration, or with an Bronner, Simon J. Bibliography of American Folk and Ver-
implement, a device. Such objects relate to exter-nacular Art. Bloomington, Ind.: Folklore Publications
Group, 1980.
nals. But a work of art that is self-referential, that
. "Concepts in the Study of Material Aspects of
is, an artistic sign in and of itself rather thanAmerican
a Folk Culture." Folklore Forum 12 (1979):
communicative sign relating to some outside func-133-72.
tion, establishes understanding among people "that . "From Neglect to Concept: An Introduction to
does not pertain to things, even when they are rep-
the Study of Material Aspects of American Folk Cul-
ture." Folklore Forum 12 (1979): 117-32-
resented in the work, but to a certain attitude toward
things, a certain attitude on the part of man toward . "Researching Material Culture: A Selected Bib-
liography." Middle Atlantic Folklife Association Newsletter,
the entire reality that surrounds him, not only to
October 1981, pp. 5-12.
that reality which is directly represented in the
Chavis, John. "The Artifact and the Study of History."
given case." 29The art object is self-sufficient, andCurator 7 (1977): 156-62.
when apprehended evokes in the perceiver a cer- Ferguson, E. "The Mind's Eye: Nonverbal Thought in
tain attitude toward reality which resonates with Technology." Science 197 (1977): 827-36.
the maker's attitude toward reality. Because we can-
Fleming, E. McClung. "Artifact Study: A Proposed
not really experience a reality other than the one Model." In Winterthur Portfolio 9, edited by Ian M. G.
into which we are locked in time and space, we can Quimby, pp. 153-73. Charlottesville: University Press
of Virginia, 1973.
make only limited use of an artifact as an infor-
Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things. New York: Vintage
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identity between its original world and ours. WeYork: Oxford University Press, 1948.
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but we may not be able to cure illness with a sha- tifact." In Handbook of American Folklore, edited by Rich-
man's rattle. We can, however, use the work of art ard Dorson, forthcoming.
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Life, edited by Ian M. G. Quimby, pp. 5-20. New York:
cellent and special indexes of culture, concretions
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times and places, ready and able to be reexperi-
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enced and interpreted today. Press, 1975.
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Function, p. 228. lization. New York: W. W Norton, 1967.

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 Mind in Matter 17

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