UW Material Culture

Class Opportunity: Ten Chimneys' Historic Preservation and Interior Design

2012-02-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

Historic House Preservation

Instructor, Keith MacKay, Director of Historic Preservation, Ten Chimneys

Join the historic preservation movement by exploring the history of house museums such as Mount

Vernon, Fallingwater (Frank Lloyd Wright’s design with Edgar Kauffman) and Tenement buildings in

New York City. Led by Keith MacKay, the director of historic preservation at Ten Chimneys, discover

and learn in one day about the earliest efforts to save places such as these, and the tasks needed

to preserve these historic houses. Following this class step into the past with an option in-depth

preservation focused tour of Ten Chimneys. Class is held at the Lunt-Fontanne Program Center at Ten

Chimneys, S43

W31575 Depot Road

, Genesee Depot, WI 53127. .2 CEU

Sat, March 10, 10:00am-12:00pm, $59 (optional tour immediately after class)

History of Interior Design: The 20th Century

Instructor, Keith MacKay, Director of Historic Preservation, Ten Chimneys

Be in style! Delve into the historical development of American interior design from the late 19th

century until today. Led by Keith MacKay, the director of historic preservation, we will explore and

focus on immigrant upholsterers, the legendary Lady Decorators who helped pioneered the field,

as well as professionally trained designers and reality television stars who’ve had a hand in interior

design. Discover the individuals who defined stylish living, including Elsie de Wolf, Eero Saarinen,

and Billy Baldwin and join us for an option in-depth decorative arts-focused tour of Ten Chimneys.

Class is held at Lunt-Fontanne Program Center at Ten Chimneys, S43 W31575 Depot Road, Genesee

Depot, WI 53127. .2 CEU

Sat, Apr 28, 10:00am-12:00pm, $59 optional tour to begin immediately after class)

Internship Opportunity: Historic Indian Agency House, Portage, WI

2012-02-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

Historic Site Nature Trail Self-Guided Tour Internship

$1,800 for 400 work hours (or approximately 10 fulltime work weeks)—with half ($900) paid at the inception of the internship, and the remaining half paid upon satisfactory completion of the project.
Application Deadline: April 15, 2012

The Historic Indian Agency House (HIAH) is owned and operated by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Wisconsin, one of 42 historical properties owned outright by the Colonial Dames of America, with an additional 28 affiliated with this genealogical association. The Historic Indian Agency House was built in 1832 by the United States government as a residence for John Kinzie, Indian Agent to the Ho-Chunk people, and still sits on its original foundation on a 226-acre expanse of land nearly untouched by modern encroachment. The site holds the story of the fur trade, the opening of the West, and the accompanying demise of the Native way of life. Our mission is to "preserve, interpret, and promote this historic site in order to educate the public about the cultural, political and natural history of Wisconsin, including the Ho-Chunk/Winnebago Nation, during the Commission of the United States Indian Agent John Harris Kinzie." The site was opened to the public in 1932, and since then has maintained a regular May 15 to October 15 open season. During this season, guided tours of the Agency House are offered for a nominal fee, with the permanent introductory exhibit and annual rotating exhibit available free of charge in the Visitors’ Center.

A generous grant from the Great Circle Foundation of East Northport, New York allows HIAH to seek a qualified intern for the 2012 summer season to carry out the Historic Site Nature Trail Self-Guided Tour Internship. The Historic Site Nature Trail Self-Guided Tour Internship will result in a cohesive and thought-provoking interpretive guide to accompany a 1.2 mile walking trail debuting in May 2012. The candidate will also manage a small-scale budget specifically intended for research materials and printing costs. This internship will begin the interpretive process related to what will eventually become a multi-faceted trail system. The selected intern will research and create an interpretive tour and accompanying guidebook/pamphlet for the first trail segment slated to debut this spring.

The position will require approximately 400 hours of work between June 01 and September 01, 2012. The selected candidate will preferably work a regular 40-hour work week for 10 consecutive weeks, but flexibility to accommodate specific needs is possible.

Graduate student (or advanced undergraduate, based on the recommendation of professors or other acceptable references) enrolled at an accredited college or university, preferably in History, Public History, Museum Studies, Anthropology, Environmental History or Education. Must be creative, have good communication skills, possess an attention to detail, and be both self-directed and able to work within a team. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (including Publisher) preferred but not required. Background in Wisconsin history preferred but not required.

Applicants should submit a resume that details their relevant work and educational experience, including the contact information for THREE references (two professional/academic and one personal). Applicants should mail all materials, along with a cover page outlining your interest in the position, to:

Destinee K. Udelhoven, Executive Director
Historic Indian Agency House
P.O. Box 84
Portage, Wisconsin 53901
destineekae@hotmail.com

Internship Opportunity: New York Historical Society Curatorial Internship in American Art

2012-02-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

The internships will take place from June 11 through August 3 and interns will be awarded a $2,000 stipend. Applications are invited for two different internships:

American Colonial Portraits

The American art intern will work with the curator of American art. The intern’s main duties will involve researching colonial portraits and miniatures in the collection, investigating attribution questions, and assisting in logistical tasks toward developing an upcoming traveling show of colonial portraits. The internship will offer the opportunity to develop connoisseurship, investigate archival and secondary resources in the New York area, and learn about the early stages of exhibition development. The intern will also assist with ongoing projects and other collection research as needed. A graduate student with strong research skills and a background in American art is preferred.

1913 Armory Show

The New-York Historical Society is organizing The Armory Show at 100: The New Art Spirit, a large-scale exhibition celebrating the centenary of the legendary 1913 Armory Show. The exhibition will take place from October 2013 through February 2014. The intern working on this project will report to the co-curators of the exhibition and will work on numerous tasks such as: assisting in researching and writing descriptions for the exhibition website (for example, researching key works that will appear on the website); researching prints and photographs to be included in the exhibition; providing support in acquiring images of key works, and other general exhibition support. The internship will offer the opportunity to develop research and writing skills and participate in preparations for a major loan exhibition. A graduate student with strong research skills and a background in American art is preferred.

Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 16. To apply: Email a cover letter indicating the position you are applying for, a resume, a five to ten page writing sample from a research paper or a piece related to the position, and two letters of recommendation. Application materials should be emailed with “2011 Summer Internship Application: Applicant’s Name” in the subject line to kimberly.orcutt@nyhistory.org, marilyn.kushner@nyhistory.org and copied to interns@nyhistory.org.

Upcoming Lecture: 'Is There Paper in Our Future? Early American Perspectives on Contemporary Media Shift'

2012-02-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

A talk given by Jonathan Senchyne, PhD
Cornell University

School of Library and Information Studies and

the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture

February 6, 2012 11.30-12.30

SLIS Commons (HCW 4207)

This talk reads reactions to the shifting contemporary landscape of paper and digital publication through 18th- and 19th-century American poems and narratives that track the rise of paper as a kind of social medium. Recovering how early Americans saw themselves and their communities archived within paper itself, Dr. Senchyne argues that what often seems like mere nostalgia for paper can be an index of important affective connections between readers and material texts.

Jonathan Senchyne received his PhD in English at Cornell University in December, 2011. His dissertation is titled, "'Our Paper Allegories': Intimacy, Publicity, and Material Textuality in Colonial and Antebellum American Literature." His article, “‘Bottles of ink, and reams of paper’: Clotel, Racialization, and the Material Culture of Print” will appear in Early African American Print Culture in Theory and Practice, edited by Lara Langer Cohen and Jordan Alexander Stein, from the University of Pennsylvania Press in April 2012.

Upcoming Lecture: "Arthur Dove's Meteorology" with Dr. Rachael Z. DeLue, Princeton University

2012-01-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 2, 6:30pm
Elvehjem room L140

The American artist Arthur Dove (1880-1946) is well known for being one of the earliest abstract painters in America. Less known is his career-long preoccupation with the nature and properties of human expression and the sign systems used therein. In this talk, Professor Rachael DeLue of Princeton University discusses how Dove explored these matters in his art and developed a visual vocabulary for use in imagining novel forms and means of communication and interchange. His project entailed a utopian vision of radical connection, a totalizing network of relationships among objects, phenomena, and beings. The science of meteorology--the study of the earth's atmosphere and its weather--served as a model for this vision.

Employment Opportunity: Director of the Center for Historic American Visual Culture at the American Antiquarian Society

2012-01-30T09:08:00.000-08:00

The American Antiquarian Society is a learned society that supports a preeminent national research library of early American history and culture. Since 1812, staff and members of the Society have worked assiduously to build and preserve comprehensive collections of the printed record of what is now the United States and Canada from first European settlement through the year 1876. Today, these collections encompass three million books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, graphic arts items, and manuscripts that are housed on twenty-five miles of shelves, including a recent addition built to accommodate a near-doubling of our present holdings. As a learned society, we offer a wide variety of innovative programs and services for diverse audiences including: professional scholars; pre-collegiate, undergraduate, and graduate level students and educators; professional artists and writers; genealogists; and the general public.

Responsibilities: As a member of a collaborative staff, the Director of the Center for Historic American Visual Culture (CHAViC) is responsible for programming that engages scholars in the use of visual materials, including annual conferences and seminars. The Director of CHAViC also serves as an effective ambassador of the Society to the communities of scholars in American studies, history, literature, and art history and maintains active communication and visitation with these important constituencies. Other responsibilities include assisting the Director of Academic Programs in the selection of visual culture fellows and the Director of Outreach with K-12 programs. The Society’s Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts works with the CHAViC director on improving access to collections, website development, and electronic exhibitions.

Qualifications: Successful candidates will have excellent interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills, experience in collaborative decision making in a collegial environment, effective computer skills, and a strong commitment to enhancing the usefulness of collections and reputation of the Society. A PhD in American Studies, American History, or Art History and some experience in administration and teaching is desirable.

Compensation: This is a part time position, available on or about July 1, 2012. Salary will be commensurate with experience, based on a minimum full-time salary of $53,000/year. Benefits include paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick leave; travel and other professional development opportunities.

To apply: Submit a letter of application and a resume electronically to cmackey@mwa.org with the subject line "Search Committee, CHAVIC Director." Please include contact information for three references.

Employment Opportunity: The German Historical Institute Project Associate

2012-01-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

The German Historical Institute Washington DC (GHI) is seeking a Project Associate for its collaborative research project Immigrant Entrepreneurship

The multi-year project is aimed at fostering research into two cornerstones of the American experience, immigration and entrepreneurship. It will feature a published collection – in print and online – of ca. 250 biographical essays of first and second generation German-American businesspeople. By synthesizing the diverse fields of business history, entrepreneurship research, migration history and German-American studies, Immigrant Entrepreneurship will make a significant contribution to a wide array of academic disciplines and offer unique tools for research and teaching. Further information about the project can be found at www.ghi-dc.org/entrepreneurship.

The Project Associate will seek contributors and commission essays for Volume IV: The Age of the World Wars (1918-1945); serve as the GHI liaison between volume editor and contributors, providing for a smooth flow of information between all parties involved and ensuring the scholarly quality and timely delivery of all essays and materials;edit essays in Volume IV; locate images and additional visual material for Volume IV and the other volumes, including copyright clearance; assist with convening project-related conferences, workshops, panels and events;perform other project-related tasks as needed (assist with further research, project outreach, fact-checking, etc.); have the opportunity for own academic contributions to the project.

The position is available immediately. It is a two-year contract position with benefits.

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Curatorial Interships

2012-01-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in support of curatorial internships. The money will be used to fund a total of 12 internships over the course of the next few years.

Three 3-month internships and one 12-month internship will be available in 2012 for students interested in the study of material culture. Each intern will work directly with a Colonial Williamsburg curator and focus on a specific aspect of study in the fields of fine art, decorative art, folk art, architectural collections or archaeological collections. Applicants should be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program in a related field and have completed at least two years of academic credit.

For more information and details on how to apply for a Mellon Foundation internship, please visit Colonial Williamsburg’s website, www.history.org/foundation/careers. Search “current opportunities” for positions: Intern A-Curatorial and/or Intern A-Curatorial (3 month position). Applications will be accepted through Friday, February 10, 2012. Candidates will be notified in early April.

Internship Opportunity: The Ten Chimneys Foundation

2011-12-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Ten Chimneys Foundation is offering a curatorial internship to contribute to the museums on-going documentation of the permanent collection and provide hands on collections management experience for a student. The internship will focus on the Lunts’ personal library and the various fine and decorative arts objects used to furnish the Library interior.

This 100 hour internship is intended for individuals who have completed at least one year of undergraduate or graduate work in museum studies, art history, historic preservation, material culture, or in an allied field. An intern would gain hands on collection management experience and exposure to historic site stewardship. Students are responsible for arranging academic credit with their sponsoring institutions. No stipend is offered for this opportunity.

Ten Chimneys was the country house of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, widely considered the greatest acting team in the history of American theatre, and is now a house museum and a National Historic Landmark. Ten Chimneys’ diverse collections and remarkable interiors are comprised of the original objects selected by the Lunts in the 1920s, ‘30s, and 40s and represent a wide range of cultures and centuries.

To apply please submit a cover letter describing your interest along with a current resume to:

Keith D MacKay

Director of Historic Preservation

Ten Chimneys Foundation

PO Box 225

Genesee Depot, Wisconsin 53217

Ring 262.968.4161 Ext. 207

Email: kmackay@tenchimneys.org

Website: http://www.tenchimneys.museum/

Conference: Objects of Affection: Towards a Materiology of Emotions

2011-11-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

May 4-6, 2011
Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies
Princton University

In the first issue of the journal Veshch-Objet-Gegenstand, which appeared 90 years ago in Berlin, the avant-gardist El Lissitsky placed the object at the center of the artistic and social concerns of the day: “We have called our review Object because for us art means the creation of new ‘objects.’ … Every organized work—be it a house, a poem or a picture—is an object with a purpose; it is not meant to lead people away from life but to help them to organize it. ... Abandon declarations and refutations as soon as possible,
make objects!”

Taking the Russian avant-garde’s concern with the material life of emotions as our starting point, the conference organizers seek to assemble an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars working at the intersection between studies of affect and studies of material culture. In the last decade, these two crucial strands of social inquiry have shifted the focus of analytic attention away from the individual or collective subject towards emotional states and material substances. These interests in the affective and the tangible as such have helped to foreground processes, conditions, and phenomena that are relatively autonomous from the individuals or social groups that originally produced them. Thus interrogating traditional notions of subjective agency, various scholars have drawn our attention to “a conative nature” of things (Jane Bennet), to “affective intensities” (Brian Massumi), or to textural perception (Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick) – to name just a few of these interventions – in order to pose questions that fall outside of dominant frameworks for understanding the epistemology of power. Despite their growing importance, however, these diverse methods and concepts for mapping the emotive biographies of things have not yet been in a direct dialogue with one another. By focusing on the material dimensions of affect and, conversely, the emotional components of object formation, this conference aims to bridge this gap.

We invite submissions from scholars in a range of disciplines including history, anthropology, sociology, religion, politics, law, psychology, history of medicine, science studies, art, film, media and literary criticism, who are interested in exploring types of affective responses, protocols of emotional attachment, and regimes of perception that are encoded into and sustained by material substances. We welcome theoretically rigorous proposals that draw attention to new configurations of object relations as well as submissions that examine historically and culturally specific forms of affective networks built around instances of inorganic life across the world.

Please send your abstract (300 words) and a short CV to Serguei Oushakine, the Chair of the Program Committee (oushakin@princeton.edu) by February 1, 2012.

Final papers will be due no later than April 15, and they will be posted on the conference's website.

Conference: Knowledge in a Box: Mundane Things Shape Knowledge Production

2011-11-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

July 26-29, 2012
Kavala, Greece

The topic:
We invite proposals from scholars in the history of science, technology, and medicine, science and technology studies, the humanities, visual and performing arts, museum and cultural studies and other related disciplines for a workshop on the uses and meanings of mundane things such as boxes, packages, bottles, and vials in shaping knowledge production. In keeping with the conference theme, we are asking contributors to include specific references to the ways in which boxes have played a role—commercial, epistemic or otherwise—in their own particular disciplinary frameworks.

Boxes have always supported the significance of the objects they contained, allowing specific activities to arise. In the hands of natural historians and collectors, boxes functioned as a means of organizing their knowledge throughout the eighteenth century. They formed the material bases of the cabinet or established collection and accompanied the collector from the initial gathering of natural specimens to their final display. As “knowledge chests” or “magazining tools” the history of box-like containers also go back to book printing and the typographical culture. The artists’ boxes of the early nineteenth century were used to store the paraphernalia of a new fashionable trend. In the late nineteenth century the box became the pharmacist’s laboratory and a device for standardizing and controlling dosage of oral remedies. In the twentieth century radiotherapy the box was elevated to a multifunctional tool working as a memory aid to forgetful patients or as “knowledge package” that predetermined dosages, included equipment, and ready-made radium applicators.

Focusing on medicine, boxes have played a crucial role since the eighteenth century when doctors ought to bring instruments to their patient’s house for surgical or obstetrical interventions. In modern operating rooms boxes organize the workflow and build an essential part of the aseptical regime. Late twentieth century biomedical scientists store tissue samples in large-scale biobanks, where samples contained in straws are placed in vials, then the vials in boxes which in turn are stacked up in "elevators". This storage system facilitates retrieval with barcodes, indexing each individual sample so that additional variables can be retrieved from a database. Thus the container and its content are tied up in a close epistemic and material relationship.

We welcome innovative understandings of the role that boxes and containers have played historically and continue to play in technology, medicine, and science. We see the workshop as contributing to an ongoing interest in science and technology studies on the importance of mundane things in scientific practice and technological innovations.

Submission guidelines:
Deadline for proposals: January 15, 2012 Please submit a 300-words abstract along with your name, institutional affiliation, email and phone number as a word or pdf attachment to the organizers of the conference

Proposals will be reviewed and notification of the outcome will be made in February 15, 2012. We are pursuing publication outlets for selected papers from the workshop. Therefore we expect full papers from those that will participate by May 30, 2012. Details will be provided after notification.

Contact info:
For further information please contact the organizers: Susanne Bauer sbauer@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de Maria Rentetzi mrentetz@vt.edu Martina Schlünder m.schluender@gmx.de

Workshop: Certain Museums of Uncertain Pasts

2011-11-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hosted by the European Association of Social Anthropologists Conference 2012
Nanterre University, France, 10/07/2012 – 13/07/2012

Deadline: 28 November 2011

Museums always seem to provide their visitors with definite and confident narratives about the past, thus making strong claims towards ordering the present and the future. However, the past life of objects, collections and of museums themselves is full of uncertainties, contradictions and unrest. Although much debated by scholars, these issues rarely make their way into exhibitions and displays.

On the other hand, war, revolution or social unrest impact directly on the life of museums. Their buildings are destroyed, looted or occupied temporarily, their collections affected. Such events usually provide opportunities for new representations of the past. Examples range from classical ethnographic exhibitions to the memorial museums of anti-communism in Eastern Europe, or the newly opened impressive spectacle
buildings of museums in the field of art.

This panel invites papers that engage with the way such institutions reflect or come to terms with the traumatic events and contested moments in their past and that of the societies they claim to represent. How do they effectively deal with the inherent uncertainty and continuous social unrest? Can uncertainty be socially accepted and exhibited? Papers are welcome across the whole range of museums from anthropological or historical institutions to military or scientific ones. We also encourage discussions on other forms of visual representations (e.g. performances, photography exhibitions, installations, and events). Presenters could also focus on the life of particular objects or collections that leave or enter museums in times of historical rupture or engage with the social practices affecting their collections.

How to apply:
Proposals should consist of a paper title, a (very) short abstract of <300 characters, and an abstract of 250 words. Proposals can only be submitted online.

Online application form: http://www.easaonline.org/membership.htm.

Fellowship Opportunity: Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Research Position

2011-11-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library is pleased to announce its Research Fellowship Program for 2012-13.

Winterthur offers an extensive program of short- and long-term fellowships open to academic, independent, and museum scholars, including advanced graduate students, to support research in material culture, architecture, decorative arts, design, consumer culture, garden and landscape studies, Shaker studies, travel and tourism, the Atlantic World, childhood, literary culture, and many other areas of social and cultural history.

Fellowships include 4-9 month NEH fellowships, 1-2 semester dissertation fellowships, and 1-2 month short-term fellowships. Fellows have access to library collections of more than 87,000 volumes and one-half million manuscripts and images. Resources for the 17th to the early 20th centuries include period trade catalogues, auction and exhibition catalogues, an extensive reference photograph collection of decorative arts, printed books, and ephemera, searchable online at winterthur.org. Fellows may also conduct research in the museum's collections, which include 85,000 artifacts and works of art made or used in the colonies or young U.S. republic to 1860. Fellowship applications are due January 15, 2012. For more details and to apply, visit winterthur.org

http://winterthur.org/research/fellowship.asp fellowship or e-mail Rosemary
Krill at rkrill@winterthur.org.
http://www.winterthur.org/

Material Matters Material Culture Symposium

2011-11-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Center for Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware invites submissions for papers to be given at the Tenth Annual Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars.

Focus: Object-based research has the potential to expand and even reinvent our understanding of culture and history. In honor of the tenth anniversary of the MCSES, we seek a broad range of papers from emerging material culture scholars. Whether exploring the latest theories, viewing existing material through a new lens, or reinterpreting standing historical conversations with an object-based focus, proposed papers should exemplify the possibilities in material culture research. In exploring these material matters, we hope to promote an interdisciplinary discussion on the state of material culture studies today.

Submissions: The proposal should be no more than 300 words and should clearly indicate the focus of your object-based research, the critical approach you take toward that research, and the significance of your
research beyond the academy. While the audience for the symposium consists mainly of university and college faculty and graduate students, we encourage broader participation. In evaluating proposals, we will give preference to those papers that keep a more diverse audience in mind.

Send your proposal, with a current c.v. of no more than two pages, to emerging.scholars@gmail.com.

Deadline: Proposals must be received by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. Speakers will be notified of the vetting committee’s decision in January 2012.

Employment Opportunity: Kohler Arts Center Spring 2012 Curatorial Intern

2011-11-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is seeking an Exhibitions & Collections Curatorial Intern for the spring semester, January – May, 2012.

The Arts Center's curatorial team mounts 12-16 original exhibitions annually. The curatorial intern works closely with the curatorial team and other exhibitions staff to research and support all exhibitions and assists with germane research projects and administrative responsibilities as assigned. Intern may also assist with collections projects, cataloging, and departmental correspondence. Applicants should submit writing samples with application and describe any special interests or skills s/he might bring to the position. Interns are expected to dedicate 20-40 hours weekly to the work of the internship, a minimum of 10 of which must be executed on-site.

Application Instructions: Please submit cover letter, resume, and writing samples to Janine Chesebro, jchesebro@jmkac.org

Spring 2012 Material Culture Classes

2011-10-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand here is a preliminary list of Material Culture elective courses being offered this coming spring semester. Please feel free to ask any questions or offer any comments.

Art History 304 - Art and Archeology of Ancient Rome.
Explores the art and archeology of ancient Italy, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity.

Art History 364 - History of American Art, 1607-Present.
Explores American art and material culture between 1607 and the present; works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts are examined within the broader social, historical, and cultural contexts that give them form and meaning.

Art History 368 - American Architecture - The Nineteenth Century.
Major architects and trends in American architecture from the Greek Revival to the Chicago School.

Art History 405 - Cities and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece.

Topics include Urbanism in ancient Greece in theory and practice; the forms, technologies, patronage and use of buildings; the creation and conception of urban space; and the organization of religious sites, dedications, and rituals.

Art History 478 - Art and Religious Practices in Medieval Japan.

A study of spaces, objects, and images within the context of religious belief and practice in Japan between 1300 and 1600, when great Zen monasteries grew up alongside older Buddhist/Shinto religious "megaplexes," and new salvationist sects spread throughout Japan.

Art History 563 - Topics in Material Culture. (Ellery Foutch)
From prints to posters, houseplants to aquariums, this course will consider the effects of technology and mechanical reproduction on the look of domesticity. Rather than focusing on the high-end decorative arts and homes of the very wealthy, this class will emphasize the visual and material culture of the American middle-class home, 1850-1950. We'll also study the culture of at-home visual entertainments, from early 'magic lanterns' and optical toys to the effects of televisions, Tivo, DVDs, and computers on perception and social life.

Anthropology 942 - Archaeological Problems; Topic: Theory in Archaeology.

This course provides an historical perspective on the growth of theory and method in North American and British achaeology and an introduction to current contoversies and emerging directions in the development of archaeological theory. In this course, you will engage with both enduring and contemporary issues related to how we construct our knowledge about ancient human cultures.

Design Studies 420 - Twentieth Century Design.

Design, including interior, furniture, graphic and textiles, is viewed through broader social and cultural issues including: an aesthetic to express a new age; processes, materials, and marketing techniques; roles for designers; consumer versus designer initiated production. Visits to local collections.

Design Studies 355 - History of Fashion.
Changing form and meaning of costume in the West from Renaissance to present. Dress considered in relation to social/cultural milieu and as an art form. Includes treatment of the body; ethnic/class variations; couture; "antifashion".

Geography 305 - Introduction to the City.

Analysis of the distributions of cities, their functions, character and relationships with their surrounding regions, and the areal patterns within cities; the spatial variation of population, economic activity, and land uses.

Geography 460 - American Environmental History.

Survey of interactions among people and natural environments from before European colonization to present. Equal attention to problems of ecological change, human ideas, and uses of nature and history of conservation and environmental public policy.

Geography 508 - Landscape and Settlement in the North American Past.

Historical geography of North American settlement patterns, cultural landscapes, regional identity and heritage.

History of Science 222 - Technology and Social Change in History. (Eric Schatzberg)

Topics in the history of tthey came from, why they came, where they settled, what they contributed to their new country, and what bits of their traditions they hung on to.echnology of interest to students in engineering and physical sciences. Themes include the social basis of technical change, the impact of technology on everyday life, and ethical issues in technology in the last two centuries.

Landscape architecture 423 - Evolution of American Planning.

The nature and cultural significance of contemporary methods for the systematic formulation of public policies for community, metropolitan, and state development through comprehensive planning. Historic roots, recent trends and new directions in American planning concepts, institutions and professional specializations.

Scandinavian Studies 296 - Scandinavian Heritage in America. (Julie Allen)

In this class, we explore the immigrant experience of Scandinavian-Americans, from the conditions in the Old Country that drove them to emigrate to the difficulties they faced in creating new lives for themselves in America and their role in American society.

Exciting New Blog: It's A Material World

2011-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Current UW-Madison Art History Graduate Student Gianofer Fields, in collaboration with Travis San Pedro, has been working on a fairly recent blog: It's a Material World that deals with our everyday interactions with the material world. Please take a look at it...

www.itsamaterialworld.org

The following is a brief synopsis from the website:

"In our lifetime we’ve seen the mobile phone shrink from the size of a suitcase to something easily lost in a coat pocket. Examining the everyday objects we choose to possess helps us place ourselves within a cultural context of technology and change. This project is called “It’s a Material World.”

First, it is a virtual exhibition and meeting place: an exploration of everyday and evocative objects with a savvy blending of multiple media practices. A radio interview mode teases out meanings and feelings from scholars, artists and ordinary people, a visual frame gives the viewer a chance to see and join in a conversation, and an electronic format allows ephemeral events and interviews to be captured and archived.

Our goal is to facilitate conversations between authors, craftspeople, designers, manufacturers, scholars, and students about the way our lives are interwoven with things, ideas, relationships, and meanings."

Employment Opportunity: Operations Program Associate with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum

2011-10-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

There are two full-time project openings at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. These positions are for approximately two years, with a possible extension, and include full benefits.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is a history museum but would welcome applications from individuals with collections experience in any type of museum.

The Veterans Museum is on the Capitol square in Madison.

Please see the link at: http://wisc.jobs/public/job_view.asp?annoid=54584&jobid=54099&index=true

Employment Opportunity: Assistant Professor of Material and Visual Culture with Parson, The New School for Design

2011-10-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Parsons The New School for Design, a division of the New School, seeks applicants for Assistant Professor of Material and Visual Culture, a renewable term faculty position within the School of Art and Design History and Theory.

Applicants should demonstrate expertise in the history and interpretation of the material world from the perspective of art and design history, archaeology, anthropology, the history of science, or material culture. Candidates must be innovative in their methodologies of research in demonstrating how materiality and visuality contribute to historical understanding. Field of specialization is open, but preference will be given to specialization in a period prior to the twentieth century and/or with a non-Western focus.

Candidates must have experience with innovative pedagogical approaches that will engage students from a variety of disciplines across Parsons and the wider University community.

To apply and for full position description, please visit http://careers.newschool.edu

Employment Opportunity: Art and Design Historian of Modern and Contemporary Designed Objects

2011-10-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) invites applications for a historian of design as a full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty member beginning August 2012.

The ideal candidate will join an active research department of fifteen full-time historians of modern and to excellent teaching. The successful applicant will have a commitment to exceptional teaching, a doctoral degree, and a record of research and material culture studies, art history, or in other fields related to design history where designed objects are the focus. All candidates must specialize in modern and contemporary practices, though expertise is open to any geographical area within design history.

Please see the responsibilities, qualifications, required materials and application procedure on the www.saic.edu/about/jobs/faculty website.

By Monday, December 5, 2011, please submit an application at http://SAICfaculty.slideroom.com

FIU Fellowship Program: The Wolfsonian

2011-10-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Wolfsonian–Florida International University is a museum and research center that promotes the examination of modern visual and material culture. The Wolfsonian’s fellowship program is intended to support research on the museum’s collection, generally for periods of three to four weeks. The program is open to holders of master’s or doctoral degrees, Ph.D. candidates, and others who have a significant record of professional achievement in relevant fields.

The focus of the Wolfsonian collection is on North American and European decorative arts, propaganda, architecture, and industrial and graphic design from the period 1885–1945. The United States, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands are the countries most extensively represented. The collection includes works on paper (including posters, prints, and design drawings), furniture, paintings, sculpture, glass, textiles, ceramics, lighting and other appliances, and many other kinds of objects. The Wolfsonian’s library has approximately 50,000 rare books, periodicals, and ephemeral items.

All applicants are encouraged to discuss their project with the museum staff prior to submission to ensure the relevance of their proposals to the Wolfsonian’s collection. For more information about The Wolfsonian and its collection, visit the website at http://www.wolfsonian.org, call 305.535.2686, or email research@thewolf.fiu.edu. An electronic application form will be available through The Wolfsonian’s website after November 15, 2011. Applications for the 2012–13 academic year must be postmarked by December 31, 2011.

Material Culture Program and Kohler Foundation on the UW Homepage

2011-09-29T09:08:00.001-07:00

Have you looked at the University of Wisconsin, Madison home page recently?

If not then you should because there is currently a story up about the UW Material Culture program through the Art History department and its fruitful relationship with the Kohler Foundation and its focus on Outsider Art.

Current UW Madison Graduate Student Emma Silverman spent seven weeks in Lucas, Kansas studying and conserving the 'Garden of Eden' site.

Samuel Dinsmoor created more than 150 handmade sculptures that represent religious, national and populist stories that set about his home in Lucas. It is currently listed on National Register of Historic Places, but due to its relatively remote location it has proven difficult to maintain.

Already well known for its preservation of folk and vernacular art environments the Kohler Foundation stepped in assist in the sites preservation and conservation.

To learn more please refer to the story at: http://www.news.wisc.edu/19793

Exciting New Website/Blog: War and the Visceral Imagination

2011-09-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

How does Material Culture shape our sense of War?

Share in the discussion at: http://warandvisceralimagination.wordpress.com/

This is just one of many questions that you are invited to explore on this blog and in Baltimore during the annual meeting of the American Studies Association (ASA) this October.

The blog and ASA panel is called “War and the Visceral Imagination” because it is interested in how embodied experiences of the material shape wartime notions of citizenship, obligation, and the national imaginary.

The broader aim is to inspire conversation about the multi-sensory nature of human encounters with the material world. For example:

How do sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste serve as means to transmit cultural values?
What questions become possible when traditional Western classifications of the senses are challenged?
Which scholars have influenced your work with material culture?
What challenges do scholars of the past face in their study of embodied material experience? What approaches can help overcome these obstacles?
How does your own work relate to the issues raised here?

The blog hopes to expand the conversation to include material culture scholars—particularly representatives of museums and archives—who are not able to attend the conference. All are welcome to pose questions, share ideas, and contribute to the discussion.

So, please, join in the conversation and sign up for the RSS feed. And, if you are on Twitter, follow @cjceglio and look for the #warvi hashtag.

Lecture: Elissa Auther talks about her work and String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art

2011-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Elissa Auther has taken on the movement from textiles as "craft" to textiles as "art" and helps us to understand the more radical contemporary craft movement.

She is an associate professor of contemporary art at the University of Colorado and the author of String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art, which presents an unconventional history of the American art world, chronicling the advance of thread, rope, string, felt, and fabric from the "low" world of craft to the "high" world of art in the 1960's and 1970's and the emergence today of a craft counterculture. She is interested in how feminist artists have embraced these homey craft materials as a critique of the prevailing hierarchies and social structure.

Her scholarly work has been supported by major research grants from the J. Paul Getty Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Georgia O'Keefe Museum and Research Center, among others.

Funding provided by the Anonymous Fund.

When: October 5th at 4:30pm - 5:30pm

Where: Room L160 Chazen Museum of Art, 800 University Ave. Madison, WI 53706.

Lecture: 'The Chinese Scholar Pattern: Style, Merchant Identity, and the English Imagination'

2011-09-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

Please join us for this lecture sponsored by the Chipstone Foundation with Sarah Fayen Scarlett on
Thursday, September 29th at 6:15pm
Milwaukee Art Museum, Lubar Auditorium

Before this summer's The Way of the Dragon, MAM's Decorative Arts Gallery featured Enter the Dragon (Winter 2006), which explored the first three decades of the English Chinoiserie style. Curator of that exhibition, Sarah Fayen Scarlett, returns to present research that grew out of that show. Come hear the story of the Chinese Scholar pattern, a simple image of a seated Chinese figure that English potters adopted from Dutch copies of Japanese versions of Chinese Ming porcelain. This tale of seventeenth-century global trade and European fascination with Asia will appear as a full-length article in Chipstone's next issue of Ceramics in America.

Fall 2011 Material Culture Classes (re-posted from April 11th with additions)

2011-09-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

AH/CLAS 330/700: The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece (Cahill)

TR 8:25-9:40am, L140 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Explores the art and archaeology of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period.

AH/LCA 379: Cities of Asia (Chopra)

TR 1:00-2:15pm, 104 Van Hise Hall

Historical overview of the built environment of cities of Asia from antiquity to the present; architectural and urban legacy in its social and historical context; exploration of common themes that thread through the diverse geographical regions and cultures of Asia.

AH 430: The Art of Natural History (Foutch)

T&TR 9:30-10:45pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

This course will examine the intertwined notions of art and science from the early modern period to the present: cabinets of curiosities, taxidermy and dioramas, botanical and anatomical models, natural history illustrations, expeditions, and more! At the end of the semester we'll turn to contemporary artists who engage with traditions of natural history or aesthetics usually associated with science, from artists whose work is informed by natural history illustration and field guides (Walton Ford, Fred Tomaselli), incorporates taxidermy or natural history museum display tactics (Damien Hirst, Mark Dion), or "bio-art" (Laura Splan, Marc Quinn). Field trips will include sessions held at the UW Zoological Museum, the Geology Museum, the State Herbarium, and the UW Botanic Gardens & Greenhouses.

AH 463: American Suburbs (Andrezejewski)

MWF 12:05-12:55pm, L150 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

This course examines the landscape and material culture of American suburbs, particularly of the twentieth century, for what it can tell us about suburban cultures in the United States. The class will include a historical examination of suburban architecture and landscapes from the nineteenth century through the present, but will also focus on topics related to suburbia that include considerations of race, class, gender and region, as well as how suburban life has been represented in print and visual culture. Students will work on research projects related to Madison area suburbs as well.

AH/DS/HIST 464: Dimensions of Material Culture (Andrzejewski and Gordon)

W 2:25-4:55pm, 1310 Sterling Hall

Approaches to the interdisciplinary study of the material world in order to analyze broader social and cultural issues. Guest speakers explore private and public objects and spaces from historic, ethnographic, and aesthetic perspectives.

AH 479: Art and History in Africa (Drewal)

MW 1:05-2:20pm, L150 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Selected African art traditions in their historical and cultural settings.

AH 563: Factory Craft: Art, Skill, and the Industrial Age (Lasser)

R 2:00-4:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

This seminar investigates the changing relationship between art and industry. How have artists responded to the factory and engaged with industrial production in their work? How are artists today responding to our present post-industrial era? What is the difference between studio skill and factory skill? What separates the solitary labor of the mythical garreted artist from the collaborative labor of the assembly line This course will assist in the development of a Milwaukee Art Museum exhibition. In addition to historical issues, matters of curatorial practice will be addressed.

AH 579: Exhibiting Africa in a Museum (Drewal; Honors Seminar!)

M 6:00-8:00pm, L170 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

No description available.

AH 805: Seminar-Ancient Art and Architecture (Cahill)

R 400-6:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

No description available.

AH865: US Modernism and the Culture of Things (Kroiz)

M 4:00-6:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

This seminar will introduce students to the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of “thing” theory to examine the relationships of objects, subjects and things. We will consider the materiality and agency of inanimate objects themselves, as well as the role of objects in establishing and mediating social relationships. In addition to our theoretical focus on things, we will also focus historically to consider U.S. modernism as a phenomenon formulated within a culture of proliferating consumer goods. We will draw on methodologies from art history and material culture studies, as well as literature studies, anthropology, and political science. We will also examine primary source materials from the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century.

ANTH 354: Archaeology of Wisconsin. (Schroeder; fulfills ethnic studies req.)

T 6:00-8:30pm, 6102 Sewell Social Sciences

Introduces students to the archaeological evidence for the diverse Native American cultures of Wisconsin over the past 12,000 years.

ANTH 690: Things and Lifeworlds: Theoretical and Ethnographic Perspectives. (George)

F Location and Time: TBD

A Social Theoretical Compass for the study of Things and Lifeworlds.

CLAS 430: Troy: Myth and Reality (Aylward)

TR 8:25-9:40am, 114 Van Hise Hall

Explores topics in the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome, such as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the archaeology of Greek and Roman religion, or Late Antique Palaces.

DS 430: History of Textiles (Gordon)

TR 2:30-3:45pm, 1335 Sterling Hall

Designs and meanings and interrelationships of textiles in selected cultures and time periods.

DS 501: History of Interiors (Boyd)

TR 2:30-3:45pm, Location: TBD

The course will delve into the designers who gave form to interiors during the Twentieth Century. The careers of these individuals will be viewed within the broader international design community during the period.

DS 642: Taste (Chopra)

T 4:00-6:30pm, 399 Van Hise Hall

Exploration of the idea of taste - both "good" and "bad", in "popular" and "high" culture. Cross-cultural readings from theoretical and historical perspectives, relating to architecture, landscape, public space, art, and clothing.

A Service Learning Post by Katie Dreps--McFarland Historical Society

2011-08-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

With support from the Caxambas Foundation, the Material Culture Program sponsored three undergraduate service learning opportunities this summer. Each student partnered with a local historical society in Wisconsin to help them digitize and share their collections through Wisconsin Heritage Online, a statewide digitization program. Our final report comes from History major Katie Dreps. The objects she describes will be available online this fall.

Over the summer, I have been working with the McFarland Historical Society to turn a portion of their collection of Norwegian artifacts, assembled by local resident Albert Skare, into an online resource. Skare, who’s parents emigrated from Norway to McFarland in the 1850s, began collecting traditional Norwegian objects sometime in the early 20th century. His extensive collection includes farm implements, household and kitchen objects, and trunks and furniture, most dating from the 19th century or earlier. Skare originally displayed in several buildings on his Hidden Valley Farm outside of McFarland, including several cabins constructed by early settlers. According to information collected by the McFarland Historical Society, the artifacts were specially displayed for viewing at family reunions as early as the 1930s and 1940s. Shortly after Albert Skare’s death, his niece Margaret Greene Kennedy donated his entire collection to the McFarland Historical Society in 1969.

I was particularly interested in working with the McFarland Historical Society when I heard about their collection of Norwegian artifacts. My grandmother grew up on a farm outside of Lodi, Wisconsin, the granddaughter of Norwegian immigrants. And while my Norwegian heritage is relatively easy to trace, before this summer, my knowledge of Norway involved only vague notions of fjords and the smell of lutefisk. This internship has been (and continues to be) a great opportunity for me to connect with my Norwegian heritage in a direct way.

As a history major with little prior experience working with artifacts, I began the process of creating a digital collection with some apprehension. But with much

help and encouragement early on in the summer from Wisconsin Heritage Online Outreach Specialist Emily Pfotenhauer, I began to familiarize myself with Albert Skare’s collection of artifacts, and learn the professional methods of archiving a digital collection. In June Emily and I spent a whole day in McFarland photographing a portion of Skare’s collection. As Emily photographed, I closely examined each object, recording measurements, catalog numbers, and details like paint colors, cracks, and evidence of repairs. Much of my work for the summer has been transforming the notes I took that day into the organized information required for a digital collection. Eventually, these photographs and notes (and notes from subsequent visits) will form the base for the digital collection.

In addition to cataloging each artifact in the database, and editing the photographs for color adjustment and to bring out detail, I have been researching to create informative descriptions for each object. It has been difficult to trace the ownership history of specific objects. While some objects are marked with a date and even with initials, it is very difficult to say who owned them, or when they came into Albert Skare’s possession. Rather, I have been focusing on researching the techniques used to create the objects, like bentwood boxes or turned bowls. Some of the techniques used to create artifacts in the collection date all the way back to medieval times in Norway! Understanding the traditional techniques used to make these objects has deepened my appreciation for their forms, and my research on the immigrant experience has deepened my appreciation for the fact that these objects even exist for us to view. Specially selected for travel across the Atlantic, many of these objects were an important part of settlers’ early days in Wisconsin. I imagine my own ancestors packing trunks with similar household goods,

preparing for a new life. I hope that the descriptions will facilitate a more thoughtful experience for those who view the collection online, and maybe help others connect with their own immigrant heritage.

I am thankful for the help of Emily Pfortenhauer, who in addition to walking me through the basics of artifact photography and photo editing, has pointed me towards helpful sources on material culture and provided a sounding board for ideas. Dale Marsden, president of this McFarland Historical Society, has been incredibly helpful, accommodating my hectic schedule and answering my questions about McFarland. I can’t forget to mention the rest of the gang at the McFarland Historical Society, including Gini and Ginny, Wes, Mary and Jackie! We’ve got some coordinating community activities in the works for the launch of the digital collection, including a special display at the library of objects featured online. I hope that this is only the beginning, and that the digital collection continues to grow, deepening McFarland’s connection to their history, increasing the appreciation of Norwegian folk art and handicrafts, and inspiring new interest in discovering the past.

--Katie Dreps

A Service Learning Post by Andrea Hudson--Portage Historical Society

2011-08-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

With support from the Caxambas Foundation, the Material Culture Program is sponsoring three undergraduate service learning opportunities this summer. Each student has partnered with a local historical society in Wisconsin to help them digitize and share their collections through Wisconsin Heritage Online, a statewide digitization program. Our second progress report comes from Art History major Andrea Hudson. The photos she describes will be available online this fall.

This summer, I am working with the Portage Historical Society and Portage Preservation Consultants to digitize a collection of 19^th century photographs of local residences. These photographs have been in the hands of the Portage Public Library for all of the 20th century. And their collection doesn’t stop with the 72 photographs that I am digitizing. They have an extensive (and incredibly interesting) collection of anything and everything related to local history. My hope is that once this project is completed, through our collaborative efforts, Portage can digitize more of their local lore. As just one example, they have a journal from a 1940’s Portage photography club that highlights all of the members’ experiences and recommendations behind the lens. Anyway, back to the project that I am working on, which is just as exciting.

The photographs that I am working with are quite impressive in detail—especially when scanned at high resolution. They are all turn-of-the-century images of Portage residences. The main goal of the Portage Historical Society was to preserve these physical examples of community culture. I am scanning these images and researching the context of each individual photograph. Though the photos were all taken around the same period of time, through our collaborative research, we have discovered that it is likely that the collection is made up of photographs from two different studios. It is difficult to confirm this—but it is our suspicion. Also, some of the photographs have the homeowners posed in front of their residence, while other photographs do not. Finally, within the collection, there are repeated residences—but the photographs were taken at different points in time. They are separated by a few years. These variations have made the dating process more difficult. Nonetheless, these challenges have made the process far more intriguing.

With the photographs highlighting the posed residents, I have attempted to determine who is in the photograph, as well as when the photograph was taken. For example, in the image entitled, “Residence of James Baird,” I was able to identify (with a moderate level of confidence) the members of the family, through census data. In this photograph, which has been dated around 1902, are James Baird, his wife, Jessie R Baird, and their children, Agnes, Mary, Janette, and James G Baird. One wonderful aspect of the digital image is that the viewer is able to zoom in to see details that aren’t necessarily noticeable with the material original! This allows the viewer to observe, in greater detail, anything from architectural elements to reflections in the windows to the clothing worn by individuals in the photographs. In this manner, the digitization gratifies all types of curiosities.

Moreover, in each photograph’s summary, I will attempt to include architectural, biographical, and other historical detailing, so the images will cater to all types of researchers. Not all of the images have been as uncomplicated as the “Residence of James Baird,” in determining the who, how, and when, however. These challenges have allowed me to grow as a researcher. These sources include newspapers, censuses, biographical sketches, and property deeds, oral histories, surveys, and discussions with local historians.

It has been wonderful working with these individuals in Portage (shout out to Judy Eulberg, Peggy Amend, and Joan Indermark) and Wisconsin Heritage Online (shout out to Emily Pfotenhauer), as this project has been a collaborative effort. While I work on it in Madison, I have kept in constant contact with my partner institutions and made regular visits to Portage. I have shared the entire process and all of my progress (including frustrations) with them, so that we can learn from one another and achieve our separate goals, together. It is my hope that the product of this “Historical Residences Collection” will not be limited to the collection itself. I hope (and I know that the Portage Historical Society and the Portage Public Library hope, as well) that the aforementioned collection of primary documents in the Library’s collection will be digitized one day, as well, for preservation purposes. I even presented my progress to the Portage Historical Society, at one of their monthly meetings. They were enthused by our efforts and progress and excited about the project.

I have discussed some projects to finalize my efforts with this individual online collection. Specifically, my Partner Institutions and I have talked about having a workshop, where I can show individuals how to digitize artifacts; a symposium to present the complete online collection; and a photography comparison project—one that would use the photographs I have digitized, juxtaposed against the present condition of the residences. As photography is a great passion of mine, that potential project could meld my efforts as an Art History student and novice photographer. These are all dependent on what my partner institutions would like to do, but I think they would all be a great way to involve the community in the process! Thus far, this internship opportunity has offered me indescribable benefits for professional and personal growth.

--Andrea Hudson

Photos from Vernacular and Outsider Arts Seminar Field Trip to Chicago

2011-07-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the Chicago field trip (April 2011) taken by students in the seminar AH865: Vernacular Arts: Outsider, Folk, Eccentric, and Other Arts at the Edge, taught by Prof. Ann Smart Martin. Stops included the House of Blues and Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.

Erica Meier walking around the "Architecture of Hope" exhibition at Intuit.

A group photo taken at the House of Blues. Top row, left to right: Prof. Martin, Lex Lancaster, Chris McGeorge, Amy Brabender. Bottom row, left to right: Emma Silverman and Erica Meier.

A Service Learning Post by Breanna Norton-Three Lakes Historical Society

2011-07-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

With support from the Caxambas Foundation, the Material Culture Program is sponsoring three undergraduate service learning opportunities this summer. Each student has partnered with a local historical society in Wisconsin to help them digitize and share their collections through Wisconsin Heritage Online, a statewide digitization program. Our first progress report this summer comes from Breanna Norton, a recent graduate of the Anthropology department.

For this service learning internship I am working with the Three Lakes Historical Society in northern Wisconsin to digitize a portion of their collection for the Wisconsin Heritage Online database. TLHS is a small historical society in the heart of the Northwoods, and this internship is an exciting opportunity to place a portion of their collection online for the wide world to access. Three Lakes is essentially a tourist town, so it population fluctuates greatly depending on the season, affecting how many people visit TLHS’s museum. By allowing the museum to be a part of the WHO database, their possible audience has increased tremendously and that can only lead to positive results for the Historical Society.

I began my internship with absolutely no idea of what I would be digitizing. I spent about a week during the beginning of June inventorying the Historical Society’s archival and artifact collections, attempting to get a picture of the possible topics that could be covered in the database. After talking with the curator of the Historical Society museum, Mr. Alan Tulppo, and discussing the most asked-after topics by visitors I decided to focus my project on the history of camps and resorts in the Three Lakes area. The history of Three Lakes follows a very distinct pattern that can be found throughout Northwoods Wisconsin. The lumber industry was the main industry in the region during the late 19^th-early 20^th centuries, after which farming took over. Once farming began to wane, tourism flooded Three Lakes until just after the mid-20^th century. Three Lakes is currently in a retirement and vacation home phase in which the area is dominated either by individuals who have decided to retire in the Northwoods or who are wealthy enough to own a vacation home up north. My focus is on the third phase: tourism. In order to make my project more manageable, I chose to spend the first half of my three-month time period working on the resort portion of the project, specifically focusing on the Northernaire Resort and Spa—the most popular and luxurious resort in the Three Lakes area.

Once I made my final object list regarding the Northernaire portion of the project, Emily Pfotenhauer, the Outreach Specialist for Wisconsin Heritage Online, brought to my attention that some of the published materials may be under copyright law and that I should spend some time researching this possible problem. I searched the internet and the library for who, if anyone, I should contact for permission to put these materials online. Fortunately, every company that printed the postcards was no longer around, and as such I concluded that putting the objects online should pose no problem. Those items that were printed or created by the Northernaire Resort and Spa I decided needed to be inquired about, along with each newspaper article. I talked with numerous editors and managers and much to my surprise I had no difficulty in gaining everyone’s permission to reproduce the objects online. It seems that local history, and being a part of it, is of interest to everyone. Finally, with the copyright problem resolved, I was able to move on to scanning and creating spreadsheets for the database.

I have been fortunate enough to have had a diverse array of experiences completing object research for material culture classes and internships, and those experiences have been extremely helpful with this particular project. Rather than focus solely on the use of written sources like I have in the past, I have had to rely on human sources for many dates and names. This change in technique has been a welcome one and has broadened my ideas on how to conduct research and what types of resources are available to the researcher. The use of human sources may seem unreliable to many researchers, but given the research topic they may be the best source available.

I have almost completed my spreadsheet regarding the first half of the project, the Northernaire. Once I have completed it I will begin work on the history of summer camps in the Three Lakes area. I am confident that through this internship I will not only be learning new ways of applying material culture studies to the museum field, but I will also be providing a vital service to a museum that otherwise may never have such an opportunity.

--Breanna Norton

Plastics Collection at Syracuse University Is Now Online

2011-06-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

If you like plastics, plastic objects, and information about plastic, the Special Collections Research Center at the Syracuse University Library has created a new website devoted to the Plastics Collection, which is the largest university-based collection regarding the history of plastics. The site contains images of the more than 2,000 artifacts and links to more than 40 archival collections on the history of plastics, and to the library's catalog of several thousand books and periodicals related to the history, science, technology and business of plastics. New information and artifacts are added regularly.

Photo Essay: Fred Wilson Events

2011-05-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

On April 4-6, 2011, artist and independent curator Fred Wilson visited campus and graciously gave his time to a variety of events, including a public lecture, a brown bag lunch and workshop with graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and guest taught Prof. Nancy Mithlo's class, AH432, "Multiculturalism and the New Museology." Here are some photos from Wilson's time with Mithlo's class.

Prof. Martin with Wilson in the Chazen Museum of Art's Contemporary Art Gallery.

Wilson posing with students.

The artist discussing the implications of still life paintings.

The AH432 class in the contemporary art mezzanine, Chazen Museum of Art.

Course instructor Prof. Nancy Mithlo

Prof. Martin, Wilson, and Prof. Mithlo discussing the changing role of the museum and its relation to different racial, ethnic, and class groups.

Photo Essay: MAASA Conference 2011

2011-05-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here are more photos of the Mid-America American Studies Association conference action, April 8-10, 2011.

Jeremy Zima presenting his paper, "Sounding and Visualizing Authenticity in Electric Guitar Culture."
Saturday April 9, 2011.

An image from Zima's presentation: a 1959 Les Paul Standard.

Zima, with his own guitar.

Many members of the UW community mingling before dinner.

American Studies faculty and students from around the country speaking with
keynote speaker Dr. Hannah Rose Shell.

Sunday's roundtable on the Terrace, "Academic Work in the Age of the Neoliberal University:
A MAASA Discussion on Contingency, Casualization, and the Campus Labor Movement."

Conference Presenter Jen Ayres at the roundtable.
She presented her paper, "Thrifting: Trash to Treasure in Goodwill Bins," on Saturday.

Photo Essay: A Trip to the Metals Studio, November 2010

2011-05-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Prof. Martin's AH363 class also went to the Metals studio last semester, where Prof. Kim Cridler gave a demonstration of metalworking techniques. Her work investigates the vessel form(s), as they remind her of the ever-present dynamic between making and using.

Tools and materials.

Jessica Contreras hammers out copper.

Prof. Martin speaking with Contreras about the making process.

The AH363 class, with Prof. Cridler to the right.

Prof. Cridler speaking with students.

Photo Essay: Joel Huntley's Ceramic Demonstration, September 2010

2011-05-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Joel Huntley, a ceramics artist who works in eighteenth century techniques, made his yearly appearance in Prof. Martin's AH363 course, Early American Decorative Arts and Interiors, 1620-1840. This year, the Department of Art graciously allowed him to use the larger studio facilities at the Art Lofts. Huntley owns Wisconsin Pottery, located in nearby Columbus, Wisconsin.

Huntley demonstrating mocha diffusion, while Prof. Martin and a student look on.

Huntley with his blank plates.

Prof. Martin and students watching a demonstration. Huntley's work is visible on the left.

The combing technique.

Katelyn Paulos trying the combing technique.

Prof. Martin tries the joggling technique on a plate.

Post-Conference Thoughts on the Mid-America American Studies Association's 2011 Conference

2011-04-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

A little over two weeks has passed since the conference ended, and after spending last week tying up loose ends (still not quite finished), I thought that it would be a good time to reflect and report on the event.

This was the first time that the Material Culture Focus Group put on a large-scale conference, and I think that we did pretty well!. Thirty-nine people gave lively and interesting talks, and all had a different spin on material culture. It's always nice to see how different fields and universities interpret the term and practice(s) of material culture. The modus operandi of the conference was a three-person panel, with a group discussion of all presentations afterward.

The "Imagined Materialities" panel: Prof. Mark Nelson, Benjamin Wiggins, and Rebecca Keyel.
Photo by Theresa Haffner-Stearns.

I was particularly struck by Maggie Ordon's discussion of material culture theory and methodology in combination with sustainability. My definition of sustainability expanded during her talk, which addressed not only ecology, workers' health and pay, safe materials and production processes, BUT sustainability in the form of scholarly writing, the relationships that we have with objects, alongside memory, but individual and collective. These last few bring to light more circumstances of "re-use." Material culture becomes a politically-engaged lens through which to address objects, and by addressing issues of production, consumption, re-use, and intellectual practice, material culture studies can become a form of respect for both objects and the cultures that interact with them.

Our final group event was the Saturday evening dinner and closing address by Prof. Ann Smart Martin, who gave us a brief history of material culture studies, then synthesized the presentations given by a range of individuals, concluding that material culture studies has changed greatly with its inception, broadened by the discourse of globalization, the broadening of the definition of material culture, and the variety of concerns about which new scholars write.

On Sunday, a small group made its way to Fox Point, a suburb of Milwaukee, WI, to tour the Chipstone Collection. Although a good deal of the collection is housed and exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Museum, there is still much to be seen at the Foundation;s headquarters. Sarah Scarlett willingly and ably drove the eight-passenger van, something that I was too scared to do.

Chipstone HQ, Milwaukee, WI. Photo by Theresa Haffner-Stearns.

Director Jon Prown and Hummel Fellow Kate Smith spoke with the group, giving a brief history of the foundation, while taking us from room to room, allowing us to casually ask questions about the plethora of ceramic objects and furniture in each room. Independent news correspondent Gianofer Fields recorded our conversations.

A good conference was put on, and thankfully went off without any major hitches. Taking a poll of the conference organizers, the main lesson learned was that having a support network of people to help with tasks definitely kept the stress level down. Conference organizing is always stressful, but being able to trust and rely on others make things a lot better. And because of that, saying thank you to other is of utmost importance.

For more information about the event and to get a different perspective on it, check out Theresa Haffner-Stearns' blog posts here and here! Thanks to Theresa for graciously allowing me to use some of her images.

Course of Interest: History of Science 921: Scientific Expeditions

2011-04-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have an interest in the intersections of science and material culture, this course might be right up your alley:

History of Science 921: Scientific Expeditions

Fall 2011, Tuesdays 5:30-8:00pm, Bradley Memorial Building 204

Open to graduate students or by instructor consent.

Together with the laboratory, museum, specialized society, and scientific journal, the expedition is one of the central institutions of modern science. One can hardly imagine the history of astronomy and geodesy without Maupertuis in Lapland, La Condamine in Peru, and the Venus transit observations reiterated throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; botany and physical geography absent Linnaeus' peripatetic students, Cook and Bougainville in the South Seas, Ruiz and Pavón in South America, and Humboldt in his tours of the Americas and Russia; or the theory of natural selection without the voyages of the Beagle.

At the same time, the history of organized scientific travel is also necessarily the history of cultural encounter, globalization, and colonialism, and so of networks, accumulation, circulation, translation, and transculturation. Through close examination of historical case studies from the 18th through the 20th century, analysis of theoretical frameworks, and the exploration of digital resources, this seminar asks students to reassess the ways in which the history of scientific travel can inform our understanding of the scientific enterprise and its place in changing institutional, economic, and political relations across the globe.

Instructors: Gregg Mitman and Florence Hsia

Summer and Fall 2011 Classes

2011-04-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Summer 2011 Material Culture Classes

AH 368: American Architecture: The 19^th Century (Menocal)

MTWR 4:00-5:15pm , L140 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building
Major architects and trends in American architecture from the Greek Revival to the Chicago School.

AH 449: Fieldschool in American Vernacular Architecture (Andrzejewski)

MTWR 9:00am-4:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Assessment of how cultural phenomena help shape a given architectural development. Location: Madison.

DS 501: 21st Century Design Solutions to Contemporary Issues (Gordon)

TWR 6:00-9:05pm, 159 Van Hise Hall, June 14-July 7

In an intensely concentrated but exciting month, we will examine developments in the design field that focus on creating solutions to contemporary cultural and environmental problems (e.g., overwhelming waste, toxicity, inequities from globalization). The class will explore today’s pressing issues and examine ways that designers and engineers working from a variety of starting points (industrial/product design, textile design, architecture and interior design, landscape, virtual reality) are articulating problems, working together, and creatively reimagining cradle-to-cradle solutions.

FOLK 639: Fieldschool: Ethnography of Wisconsin Festivals (Gilmore)

WRF 11:00am-3:15pm, 224 Ingraham Hall

A review of key methodological and theoretical approaches for studying festivals, in situ observation of summer festivals and small town folk and ethnic museums, and supervised writing and photographic assignments.

Fall 2011 Material Culture Classes

AH/CLAS 330/700: The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece (Cahill)

TR 8:25-9:40am, L140 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Explores the art and archaeology of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period.

AH/LCA 379: Cities of Asia (Chopra)

TR 1:00-2:15pm, 104 Van Hise Hall

AH 463: American Suburbs (Andrezejewski)

MWF 12:05-12:55pm, L150 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

AH/DS/HIST 464: Dimensions of Material Culture (Andrzejewski and Gordon)

W 2:25-4:55pm, 1310 Sterling Hall

AH 479: Art and History in Africa (Drewal)

MW 1:05-2:20pm, L150 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Selected African art traditions in their historical and cultural settings.

AH 563: Factory Craft: Art, Skill, and the Industrial Age (Lasser)

R 2:00-4:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

AH 579: Exhibiting Africa in a Museum (Drewal; Honors Seminar!)

M 6:00-8:00pm, L170 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

No description available.

AH 805: Seminar-Ancient Art and Architecture (Cahill)

R 400-6:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

No description available.

AH865: US Modernism and the Culture of Things (Kroiz)

M 4:00-6:00pm, L166 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

ANTH 354: Archaeology of Wisconsin. (Schroeder; fulfills ethnic studies req.)

T 6:00-8:30pm, 6102 Sewell Social Sciences

Introduces students to the archaeological evidence for the diverse Native American cultures of Wisconsin over the past 12,000 years.

CLAS 430: Troy: Myth and Reality (Aylward)

TR 8:25-9:40am, 114 Van Hise Hall

Explores topics in the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome, such as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the archaeology of Greek and Roman religion, or Late Antique Palaces.

DS 430: History of Textiles (Gordon)

TR 2:30-3:45pm, 1335 Sterling Hall

Designs and meanings and interrelationships of textiles in selected cultures and time periods.

DS 642: Taste (Chopra)

T 4:00-6:30pm, 399 Van Hise Hall

Lecture: "REFASHIONING IDENTITY: Secondhand Clothing in Haiti and the Diaspora"

2011-03-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

Please join us for the keynote lecture of the 2011 Mid-America American Studies Association conference. Free and open to the public!

"REFASHIONING IDENTITY: Secondhand Clothing in Haiti and the Diaspora"
Dr. Hanna Rose Shell, MIT
Friday, April 8, 2011
8:30am Room L160, Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Description: Clothing is a circulating technology that is also a medium of social transmission: material culture par excellence. This multimedia lecture and film presentation examines "pèpè," or secondhand clothes imported into Haiti from North America. Recycled clothes wear the traces and bear the burdens of an increasingly global history of American material culture.

Dr. Shell is assistant professor at MIT in the Program in Science, Technology and Society, and Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.

Sponsored by the University Lectures Committee, Material Culture Focus Group, Art History Department, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Department, Art History GradForum, and the Center for Visual Cultures.

"Eating, Cooking, Culture: The Politics and History of Food" April 15-16

2011-03-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Eating, Cooking, Culture: The Politics and History of Food
Hefter Center
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
April 15-16, 2011

For the food scholars, foodies, and others interested in food issues, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is sponsoring a symposium on global foodways Friday and Saturday, April 15-16. Please see the website below for details:

http://www4.uwm.edu/cie/research/conferences/food/index.html

Adventures in Preservation

2011-03-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Emily Wallrath, a graduate of the program, is currently a graduate student in historic preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, wants us to know about Adventures in Preservation, a non-profit group that organizes volunteer vacations to rehabilitate historic buildings around the country and world! In addition to the hands-on work we do restoring the buildings, time is taken to enjoy the local sights, culture and food. Preservation trips have been done in places like New Mexico Ghana, Illinois, Slovenia and Italy!

Here's a link to the website: www.adventuresinpreservation.org

If you have any questions, please contact
Emily Wallrath
Adventures in Preservation
1557 North Street
Boulder, CO 80304 USA
(303) 444-0128

Lecture: "The Traditional Arts of Wisconsin's Industrial Workers"

2011-03-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

The Traditional Arts of Wisconsin's Industrial Workers

Please join us for an illustrated talk by University of Wisconsin-Madison folklorist Jim Leary this Sunday, March 27, at 1:30 pm in the James Watrous Gallery, located in the Overture Center for the Arts, located at 201 State Street.

This free talk is in conjunction with the photography exhibition Wisconsin Labor: A Contemporary Portrait.

Wisconsin's culturally diverse industrial workforce has included many practitioners of traditional arts who have used job site skills, scraps, experiences, and downtime to fashion carvings, fabrics, musical instruments, sculptures, songs, stories, and more. Although the creations of these folk artists sometimes evoke their particular occupations as factory and construction workers, they often conjure an ethnically homogeneous, rural, handmade, holistic, largely bygone world contrasting markedly with their cosmopolitan, urban, mechanical, fragmented, contemporary surroundings. Folklorist Jim Leary will offer an illustrated presentation on the significance of such industrial workers and traditional artists as a Ho-Chunk ironworker adept at bridge construction who relies on metalwork skills to make German Silver jewelry, an African American industrial seamstress who transforms scraps from hemmed pants into quilts, a Serbian immigrant crane operator who carves black walnut miniatures of his Old Country peasant village, and a Hmong weaver of bamboo baskets who finds a new medium in plastic strapping castoff from pallet loads.

Public Lecture and Panel Discussion: "Displaying Race: Material Culture, White Identities, and the Postwar House"

2011-03-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

Please join the Center for Visual Cultures for a public lecture and panel discussion with
Dianne Harris
Professor of Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Art History, and History and director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Public Lecture: "Displaying Race: Material Culture, White Identities, and the Postwar House"
Monday, March 28, 2011
5:30 PM
Location: Chazen Museum of Art Room L140

This lecture demonstrates the ways in which the owners and occupants of ordinary postwar houses in the United States (1945-60) used the consumption and display of household objects as a means to confirm their purchase of white, middle-class, American identities. Individuals and families construct and reveal their identities through artifacts purchased for and displayed in the home in an ongoing process that changes as they try out different notions of the self that are nonetheless contained within specific parameters of race, class, and gender. Possessing and carefully displaying the right items helped to ameliorate the homogeneous monotony of hones in some suburban developments--a homogeneity that could be associated with images of the non-white and lower classes. But consumer goods were also a crucial measure of distinction among a group that was newly upwardly mobile, newly affluent, perhaps even newly "white." Material goods then, helped affirm class and race and became especially important to those whose identities were in flux as they moved from dwellings shared with immigrant parents into homes of their own, and in the process, forged new identities. Storage also became a carefully calculated matter that balanced what had to be concealed with what best served the family through being revealed. Built-in storage and cabinetry assumed new significance in ordinary postwar houses since a closed cabinet implies capacity and occupation by goods that are simultaneously well-managed. I will therefore examine some postwar habits of consumption and the ways houses changed to accommodate the new goods that carried specific symbolic meanings for Americans who sought to confirm their racial and class identities in the postwar era.

Panel Discussion: "History and Fate of the Postwar American Suburb"
Monday, March 28, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Memorial Library Room 126 (West Corridor), 728 State Street

Participants include:
--Dianne Harris, Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Art History, and History; Director, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
--Arnold R. Alanen, Professor Emeritus, Department of Landscape Architecture
--Anna Vemer Andrzejewski, Associate Professor, Department of Art History and Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Program
--Kurt Paulsen, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
--Brad Murphy, Director, Planning Division, City of Madison
--Daina Penkiunas, National Register Coordinator, Division of Historic Preservation, Wisconsin Historical Society

Description: So-called suburban studies is a hot topic of late in academic scholarship; recent books on Levittown and other postwar landscapes are coming out in abundance. Historic preservationists are wrestling with whether or not and how to preserve these landscapes, just as planners and developers are trying, in various ways, to consider the future of postwar suburban spaces as they built "new urbanist" communities in and near postwar developments. This panel examines the state of the "postwar American suburb" as a topic for study as well as a physical reality. Panelists will come at this topic from a number of perspectives, and consider both practical and theoretical questions.

Discussion topics will include:
--How has scholarship on postwar suburbia changed over the past 60 years?
--How has recent scholarship on this topic challenged prevailing ideas of the postwar house? The postwar suburb? Urban sprawl?
--What kinds of questions are historians exploring now in postwar suburbia and why?
--What has been the impact of the so-called "new urbanism" and "sustainable design" on postwar suburbs and the buildings within them?
--How has recent popular interest in "mid-century modern" design affected the ideas about postwar suburbia?
--How are preservation regulations and/or urban planning laws favoring (or not) the preservation or redevelopment of these spaces?

Presented with funding from the Mellon Foundation/UW Center for the Humanities and in conjunction with Illuminate: Year of the Arts.

Professor Harris's visit is also co-sponsored by the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Program, the Material Culture Program, the Design Studies Department, the Department of Art History, and the Visual Cultures Student Focus Group.

Public Lecture: "The Builder's Wright: Marshall Erdman, 'Wrightification' and Regional Modernism in Madison, WI"

2011-03-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

"The Builder's Wright: Marshall Erdman, 'Wrightification' and Regional Modernism in Madison, WI"
Friday April 1, 2011
5:00pm, L140 Elvehjem Building

Love 'em or hate 'em, suburbs and suburbia are very much apart of American consciousness and culture. Material Culture core faculty member Anna Andrzejewski will be giving this semester's Friends of Art talk on her current book project that centers on Marshall Erdman, a Madison-based builder, who incorporated Frank Lloyd Wright's design concepts into his suburban residential and commercial projects.

It's A Material World Indeed: Website Spotlight

2011-03-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Gianofer Fields is the creator of a new website called It's a Material World, dedicated to connecting professors, designers, and students. In her words, "Material Culture is living Anthropology. It's an opportunity to examine the objects we keep near to us, while we are still alive to enjoy the conversation. itsamaterialworld.org is a website that brings these conversations to life. It's a virtual exhibit, a multi-media exploration of the everyday and evocative objects which fill our lives." Fields investigates ordinary objects, researching them and interviewing others on the object's cultural significance. She has completed two so far, one centering on the valentine and another focusing on a death doll.

gianofer@itsamaterialworld.org

www.itsamaterialworld.org

This project grew out of classes taken with the Material Culture Program and out of Fields' long career in radio, where she worked as an arts and culture reporter and correspondent for Chicago's National Public Radio affiliate stations. In 2007, she won the Chicago Headline Club's Peter Lisagor Award for exemplary journalism with a piece on Mary Todd Lincoln. Gianofer currently works as an independent arts and culture producer and correspondent, writing and producing both long and short segments for Wisconsin Public Radio. In addition to local segments, she has partnered with the British Broadcasting Corporation, doing field recordings and interviews for Americana, a show on contemporary American life.

Blog Profile: Yummy Furniture and Design

2011-03-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Yummy Furniture and Design is the name of both Theresa Haffner-Stearns' interior design firm and her blog, where she is currently documenting a Chippendale-style ribbon back armchair discovered in Ft. Atkinson, WI. The chair is part of her personal collection of antique furniture, of which an Empire piece was selected for appraisal by Antiques Road Show. She incorporates a lot of information about the history of the Chippendale style and its features, but she also includes many images, which is always a plus for blog readers. Her images include not only photographs but drawings that she has made of the chair, as well as images from Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director.

theresamhs@sbcglobal.net

http://yummyfurnitureanddesign.blogspot.com/

Haffner-Stearns is a lover of residential interior design and a life-long student of material culture. A Philadelphia native and Allied Member of the American Society of Interior Designers, she received her BS in Design Studies from the UW- Madison in 2008, being awarded two scholarships, receiving academic honors and interning at the Mt. Horeb Historical society. She remains an active member of the Material Culture Focus Group at the University.

As a successful entrepreneur in the greater Philadelphia area she owned and operated two antique stores and a restoration/design studio to the trade and public. Since relocating to Wisconsin in 2000, she has also been the design and operations manager at a fine furniture and bedding start-up, designing numerous pieces of furniture and coordinating accessory lines. Her design specialty is upholstery restoration.

Public Lecture: "Textile Salvage," April 8, 2011

2011-03-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Friday, April 8, 2011

8:30-9:30am

Conrad A. Elvehjem Building, L160

Dr. Hanna Rose Shell, assistant professor in The Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT, will be the keynote speaker at the 2011 Mid-America American Studies Association annual conference, being held April 7-10, 2011. Please come to what is sure to be a facscinating and timely talk. Below is an abstract of the lecture:

"Clothing, almost by definition, is a circulating technology that is also a medium of social transmission: material culture par excellence. It is both the means and the site for storage and the spread, and the withholding, of information. Clothes are made to be carried by the human body (as in the French porter and the Haitian Creole pote) as the body moves through space, time and life in the world. From their origins in the first days of human culture and into the twenty-first century, textile skins were portable artifacts and temporary prostheses, material culture shaped by the demands of a mobile body and inscribed with markers of that body’s history. The demands on clothing have always been high – armor (protection against shame, enemies, and the elements) and aesthetics, comfort and durability. The portability of clothing, and its proximity to the human body, means that it is also changeable. Clothes are technologies in continual flux. As this keynote lecture will argue, recycled clothes wear the traces and bear the burdens of an increasingly global history of American material culture." --Hanna Rose Shell

Public Lecture: "The Work of a Rogue Wisconsin Fountain Pen Maker" April 7, 2011

2011-03-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

Thursday, April 7, 2011

5:00-6:30pm

Conrad A. Elvehjem Building L150

Mr. Sorgatz will discuss his process of prototyping and crafting fountain pens from scratch using late nineteenth and early twentieth century designs. He will discuss how he uses modern materials and technologies to create new and innovative based loosely upon the work of pioneering pen makers such as Parker Pen of Janesville, Wisconsin. He will also discuss the overlap of engineering and handcraft in the lecture and may possibly bring a nineteenth century decorative turning machine to demonstrate.

For more information, please see an earlier post written by Amy Brabender and Emma Silverman! This is the first of two public lectures associated with the 2011 Mid-America American Studies Association conference, "The Life of the Object."

Mid-America America Studies Association Annual Conference, April 7-10, 2011

2011-03-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened since the last post about the conference. We've got a complete schedule of events and panels, and more information at the MAASA website! Our registration form had some problems, but everything is compatible now, so please register. It's guaranteed to be a good time. Thanks to everyone who has helped put the conference together!

The Life of the Object:

An Experimental Workshop and Conference on

Production, Consumption, and Creative Reuse in American Culture

Thursday - Sunday, April 7 - 10, 2011

The Mid-America American Studies Association (MAASA) Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

(Schedule Subject to Change)

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2011

5:00-6:30 PM, Conrad A. Elvehjem Building, L150: Pen-Making Talk and Demonstration by Lynn Sorgatz: "The Work Of A Rogue Wisconsin Fountain Pen Maker"

7:00 PM: MAASA Board Members Meet With American Studies Faculty at UW

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2011

8:30-9:30 AM, Elvehjem L160: Keynote Address/Public Lecture by Dr. Hanna Rose Shell, assistant professor at MIT in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, and Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows: "Textile Salvage"

9:45-11:30 AM: Concurrent Sessions: Production

SESSION 1: Producing America: Appropriation and Consumption in Twentieth-Century Design

Moderator: Julia Allen, Assistant Professor, Scandinavian Studies

Elvehjem L160

● “The Making of the Movie Queen Films: When Audience and Subject Are One.” Kara Fagan, University of Iowa

● “Made in Scandinavia – Copied in the US: The American Appropriation of Scandinavian Product and Design Culture in the 50s and 60s.” Jørn Guldberg, University of Southern Denmark at Kolding

● “You’d Swear They Were Modern: Ruth Reeves, the Index of American Design, and the Canonization of Shaker Material Culture.” William D. Moore, University of North Carolina-Wilmington

SESSION 2: Assemblage

Moderator: Martha Glowacki, Director of the James Watrous Gallery and independent artist

Elvehjem L170

● “Recovering the Rubble: Assemblage Art in Los Angeles.” Paul Von Blum, UCLA

● “The Lives in the Object: Figural Totems Made with Natural Detritus.” Beverly Gordon, University of Wisconsin-Madison

● “Material Evolution: Ugandan Bark Cloth.” Lesli Robertson, University of North Texas

11:30 AM-12:30 PM: Lunch on Your Own

12:00-1:00 PM: Brown bag lecture with Hanna Rose Shell

12:30-2:15 PM: Concurrent Sessions: Production

SESSION 1: Imagined Materialities

Moderator: Lauren Kroiz, Assistant Professor, Art History and speaker

Elvehjem L140

● “Farmville: Online Overconsumption, Clutter, Social Connections, Memory and Meaning.” Mark Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Madison

● “Harry Potter Scarves and Plushies: Fandom Craft and the Tangible in the Age of the Internet.” Rebecca Keyel, University of Wisconsin-Madison

● “Remaking Critique: Michel Gondry’s Sweeding Protocol.” Benjamin Wiggins, University of Minnesota

SESSION 2: The Legacy of Work: Technology, Craft, and DIY

Moderator: Kate Smith, Hummel Fellow, Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee

Elvehjem L150

● “Sew It Yourself: Embroidery in the DIY Movement.” Malka Salomon, University of Wisconsin-Madison

● “Garment/Research: A Point of Reference, a Portable System of Investigation and a Tool of Connection.” Kelly Cobb, University of Delaware

● “Textiles and Technology in the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries: Handcraft and Industrial Production in Contemporary and Historical Contexts.” Amanda Grace Sikarskie, Michigan State University

2:15-2:30 PM: Coffee Break

2:30-6:15 PM, Elvehjem L140: Experimental Workshop: Exploring State Street and Post-Workshop Discussion with Hanna Rose Shell

6:15-7:30 PM, University Club: Reception with Drinks and Light Snacks; Display of Images/Videos from Interactive Event

6:00-9:00 PM: MAASA Board Meeting/Dinner on Your Own For Others

7:30-9:30 PM: Exhibition Opening Night on Willy Street! Two exhibits will be available for viewing:

--“The Life of the Object,” Drift Studio, 819 Williamson St.

“The Life of the Object” Featured Artists:

● Kelly Cobb, “Garment/Research: A Point of Reference, a Portable System of Investigation and a Tool of Connection.”

● Peter Fine and Carmen Giménez-Smith, “re-use-niks”

● James Thurman, “Ancient Art-i-facts of the Early 21st Century”

● Carole Frances Lung, “Made in Haiti”

--“Present Tense: Push and Pull in Contemporary Ceramics," Midwest Clay Project, 918 Williamson St.

SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2011

8:00-8:30 AM, University Club: Continental Breakfast

8:30-10:15 AM: Concurrent Sessions: Consumption

SESSION 1: Material Negotiation of Social Control

Moderator: TBD

Elvehjem L140

● “The Tyranny of Bric-a-Brac.” Lauren Kroiz, University of Wisconsin-Madison

● “For the Articles: the Cultural War over Braille Playboy.” Alexis Stevens, University of Iowa

● “From Artifacts to People Facts: The Archeological Origins of Middle East Area Studies,” Matt Kohlstedt, George Washington University

SESSION 2: Reconsuming Art

Moderator: Sarah Fayen Scarlett, PhD Student, Art History

Elvehjem L150

● “The Work of Tapestry in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” K. L. H. Wells, University of Southern California

● “Change for Art: Repackaging Art Experiences through the Art-o-Mat.” Jennifer Scott, University of North Carolina-Wilmington

● “The Obsolete Becomes Eternal: the Paint-by-Numbers Fad and Its Reception.” Stephen Knott, Royal College of Art/Victoria & Albert Museum

SESSION 3: (De)constructing Class in Consumption and Design

Moderator: Jane Simonsen, Associate Professor of History and Women’s & Gender Studies, Augustana College

Elvehjem L160

● “Consuming Class: How the Media Portrays the Object as Wealth Signifier.” Simone Serwer, Independent Scholar

● “The Behavior Objective: Examining the Social Corrective in the Context of Sustainable Consumption.” Julia Dault, Parsons, The New School for Design

● “Thrifting: Trash to Treasure in the Goodwill ‘Bins,’” Jen Ayres, Cornell University

10:15-10:30 AM: Coffee Break

10:30-12:15 PM: Concurrent Sessions: Consumption

SESSION 1: Consumer Needs: Past, Present, and Future

Moderator: Mark Nelson, Associate Professor, Design Studies

Elvehjem L140

● “‘Hemingway Amidst Cheese and Crackers’: Booketerias, Public Culture, and Consumer Capitalism.” Derek Attig, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champagne

● “The Greed Imperative: The Role of User Needs in Design.” Prasad Boradkar, Arizona State University

● “What About Clothing? Exploring Material Culture Theory and Sustainability Issues in Clothing Practices.” Margarete Ordon, University of Wisconsin-Madison

SESSION 2: Materiality of Sound

Moderator: Stefan Osdene, PhD Student, Art History

Elvehjem L150

● “Boom! The Anti-Supersonic Flight Movement and the Materiality of Sound.” Craig Eley, University of Iowa

● “The Theremin at Home, on Stage and in Cinema.” Kelly Hiser, University of Wisconsin-Madison

● Jeremy Zima, Sounding and Visualizing Authenticity in Electric Guitar Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison

12:15-1:15 PM: Lunch on Your Own

1:30-3:15 PM: Concurrent Sessions: Reuse

SESSION 1: Reconsuming and Remembering

Moderator: Diane Al Shihabi, PhD Student, Design Studies

Elvehjem L140

● “Eighteenth-Century Jewelry and the Recycling of Luxury.” Louisa E. Brouwer, University of Delaware

● “Remembering Grant Wood’s Veterans Memorial Window.” Allison Wanger, University of Iowa

● “Recycled Information: Consumption, Production, and Reuse in The Ethel Index.” Donald Snyder, University of Maryland-Baltimore

SESSION 2: Creating a Material Past

Moderator: Ann Smart Martin, Professor, Art History

Elvehjem L140

● “‘Nothing Material Happened’: The Materials of Matter in John Fitch’s Autobiography.” Ashley Hetrick, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champagne

● “Making an Alternative Past: Steampunk and Participatory Consumerism.” Sara K. Brunkhorst, University of North Carolina-Wilmington

● “Creating Stories, Consuming Memories: Western Vacation Scrapbooks, Albums and Slideshows.” Cinda Nofzinger, University of Iowa

3:15-3:30 PM: Coffee Break

3:30-5:15 PM: Concurrent Sessions: Reuse

SESSION 1: Changing Space, Changing Memory

Moderator: Sissel Schroeder, Professor, Anthropology

Elvehjem L140

● “Recycling Black Hawk: Ethnic Commodification and the Production of Leisure Space.” Jane Simonsen, Augustana College

● TBD

● “Creating Geodæsia: Land and Memory.” Kalie Wetovich, Miami University

SESSION2: Making Meaning and the Life Cycle of Objects

Moderator: Anna Andrzejewski, Associate Professor, Art History

Elvehjem L150

● “Dismantling the Ivory Tower: The Life and Times of the George L. Mosse Humanities Building.” Travis Olson, Independent Scholar

● “Dirty, Rotten Technology: The Social History of Compost in the United States.” Vanessa Nakoskie, University of Iowa

● “Driving Downtown: The Standardization of Urban Space and Meaning Making in Kansas City, Missouri.” Andrea Clark, University of Kansas

6:15-8:15 PM, University Club: Banquet and Closing Address by Ann Smart Martin

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2011

9:00 AM-11:30 AM, Elvehjem L150: MAASA/UW-Madison Roundtable

“Academic Work in the Age of the Neoliberal University: A MAASA Discussion on Contingency, Casualization, and the Campus Labor Movement.”

11:30 AM-5:00 PM: Post-conference tour: Chipstone Foundation

ArtSTOR Recently Adds Images from the American Folk Art Museum

2011-02-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

Because Prof. Martin's is currently teaching a seminar entitled "Vernacular Arts: Outsider, Folk, Eccentric, and Other Arts of the Edge", here's a link to ArtSTOR's press release about the addition of images from the American Folk Art Museum:

http://www.artstor.org/news/n-html/an-110223-folk-art.shtml

To cut to the chase, here's the link to the image gallery:

http://library.artstor.org/library/collection/afam

We Need Your Feedback on the Material Culture Program! Feedback Session on March 3

2011-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

On Thursday March 3, Prof. Kate Smith will chair a one-off meeting, which is designed to give students a space in which they can share comments and feedback on the Material Culture Program as it stands now.

All material culture students are very welcome--so please attend! The meeting will take place on Thursday March 3, at 4:00pm in Room L166, Elvehjem Building.

After the session, Prof. Smith will present your (anonymous)suggestions to the faculty members, as it is hoped that your comments will aid them as they set about rethinking and redesigning the Material Culture offering at UW-Madison.

CFP: Conference on Critical Refugee Studies, UWM, November 3-4, 2011

2011-02-21T10:42:00.000-08:00

Conference on Critical Refugee Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
November 3-4, 2011

Displacement of populations affects the uprooted as well as communities that receive them. Recognized by international proxy after World War II, the identity category of refugee has a history as long as the incidence of warfare and other crises that result in displacement. This conference uses the 20th century invention of the category of refugee as a means to compare the experiences of displaced persons across time and space.

We invite papers that chronicle and reflect on the experiences and representations of refugee populations. In particular, we are interested in work that expands the idea of the refugee to create comparisons and parallels with the experiences of other groups. Papers that define the term refugee broadly and creatively are most welcome.

Among the questions we invite:
• How do refugee identities compare to those of other migrants?
• As local and global political contexts change, how do refugees conceptualize notions of citizenship and home?
• How are refugee identities in dialogue with concepts of place/displacement?
• What is the role of memory and the creation of refugee texts?
• How is the refugee experience mediated/mass mediated?

Abstracts by May 15, 2011 to: criticalrefugee-studies@uwm.edu

Confirmed Speakers:

• Michael Rios, Director, Sacramento Diasporas Project, University of California-Davis
• Ghita Schwarz, Legal Aid, New York; author, Displaced Persons
• Romola Sanyal, Lecturer in Global Urbanism, Newcastle University
• Shirley Tang, Asian American/American Studies University of Massachusetts, Boston

Possible Appearance:
• Dinaw Mengestu, Author, The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears & How to Read the Air

Sponsored By: Comparative Ethnic Studies * Hmong Diaspora Studies * Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures * Center for 21st Century Studies * College of Letters and Science* Latin American Caribbean & US-Latin@
Studies * Jewish Studies

2011-2012 Winterthur Curatorial Internship Announcement

2011-02-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Curatorial Internship

Winterthur seeks an intern to work with curatorial staff on a variety of projects related to exhibitions, collections management, research, publication, teaching, visitor services and development. The duties may include work in any or all of the collection media. Specific duties will be assigned on a project basis and may include, but are not limited to, collections management, exhibitions, research, publication, teaching, visitor services and development. A proportion of the work will include routine departmental duties that contribute to the effectiveness of the department as a whole including: answering enquiries; escorting visitors and researchers into the collections; assisting with accessions; developing programs for public and membership groups; and offering clerical support where needed. For more information about the museum and collections, please visit www.winterthur.org.

The successful candidate will have an M.A. in a subject related to decorative and fine arts in America 1640-1860 with at least one month experience in a museum decorative arts or related department. He/she will have a knowledge of, and familiarity with, the Winterthur collection, or a similar collection in another museum. The successful candidate should have strong organizational, communication and interpersonal skills including public speaking; proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Word, Outlook, and Excel programs would be an advantage; ability to lift 20 pounds; ability to lift and reach objects overhead; ability to maneuver in small and tight spaces; must have valid drivers license; and after training, must be able to pass care and handling of objects test.

This is a full-time, twelve-month position. Starting date, subject to funding, is July 5, 2011. Full benefits. Interested candidates should email cover letter and resume to jobs@winterthur.org. Closing date is April 15, 2011.

Summer 2011 Paid Internship at the Historic Indian Agency House, Portage, WI

2011-02-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

Historic Indian Agency House

Portage, Wisconsin

www.agencyhouse.org

(608) 742-6362

PAID EXHIBITS AND RESEARCH INTERNSHIP

PROJECT/INTERNSHIP TITLE: Wisconsin Pioneers Exhibit Internship

STIPEND: $2,000 for 400 work hours (or, approximately 10 fulltime work weeks)—with half ($1,000) paid at the inception of the internship, and the remaining half paid upon satisfactory completion of project.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 15, 2011

INTERNSHIP START: June 01, 2011 (flexible)

LOCATION: Portage, Wisconsin

ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION:

The Historic Indian Agency House (HIAH) is owned and operated by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Wisconsin, one of 42 historical properties owned outright by the Colonial Dames of America, with an additional 28 affiliated with this genealogical association.

The Historic Indian Agency House was built in 1832 by the United States government as a residence for John Kinzie, Indian Agent to the Ho-Chunk people, and still sits on its original foundation on a 226-acre expanse of land nearly untouched by modern encroachment. The site holds the story of the fur trade, the opening of the West, and the accompanying demise of the Native way of life. Additionally, the site is an ecological gem that preserves remnants of the Ice Age and other natural processes that shaped Wisconsin. The mission of the site is to “preserve, interpret, and promote this 19th-century historic site in order to educate the public about the history of the Wisconsin territory, including the Winnebago Indians during the Commission of the United States Indian Agent John Harris Kinzie.”

The site was opened to the public in 1932, and since then has maintained a regular May 15 to October 15 open season. During this season, guided tours of the Agency House are offered for a nominal fee, with the permanent introductory exhibit and annual rotating exhibit available free of charge in the Visitors’ Center. The site also organizes and executes numerous adult and children’s programming ventures each year. A full-time, salaried executive director oversees all aspects of general operations and management, with 4 to 6 part-time docents employed during the open season.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

A generous grant from the Great Circle Foundation of East Northport, New York allows HIAH to seek a qualified intern for the 2011 summer season to carry out the Wisconsin Pioneers Exhibit Internship.

The Wisconsin Pioneers Exhibit Internship will result in an educational display exploring the homestead/farming experience of Wisconsin pioneers and immigrants. As the Agency House and surrounding grounds were used as a farmstead for over 70 years (from 1857 to 1928), this subject is particularly pertinent to the site. This exhibit will incorporate an assemblage of antique farm implements and artifacts held by HIAH, and includes approximately 120 square feet of exhibit space.

The internship will provide the selected candidate with an entire spectrum of exhibit design experience. In association with this project, the intern will be responsible for content development, historical research and narrative composition, exhibit construction, and physical installation of the completed exhibit. The candidate will also manage a small-scale budget specifically intended for research materials and exhibit supplies.

The information gathered and systematized as a result of this project will assist HIAH in gaining intellectual control of its collection; and the historical and logical framework provided by such an exhibit will provide visitors with a more meaningful experience.

The project will be supervised by Director Destinee Udelhoven. Udelhoven holds a Masters in American History and Museum Studies, and has produced traveling, temporary, and permanent exhibits. The selected candidate will also work closely with a family descended from one of the artifact donors who has a vested interest in the project, as well as local historians and other history and museum experts as needed.

The position will require approximately 400 hours of work between June 01 and September 01, 2011. The selected candidate will preferably work a regular 40-hour work week for 10 consecutive weeks, but flexibility to accommodate specific needs is possible.

Although the above-described project will remain the priority for the duration of the internship, other organizational duties may be assigned to the selected candidate. These duties may include, but are not limited to: clerical work, collections care, and gift shop duties.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Graduate student (or advanced undergraduate, based on the recommendation of professors or other acceptable references) enrolled at an accredited college or university, preferably in History, Public History, Museum Studies, Anthropology, or a related field. Must be creative, have good communication skills, possess an attention to detail, and both be self-directed and able to work within a team. Experience in exhibit design and development preferred but not required. Background in Wisconsin history preferred but not required.

OTHER:

Assistance in locating temporary housing, if needed, can be provided.

If additional hours are needed to fulfill program-specific internship requirements (i.e. 3 credits given for 480-hour internship, etc.), arrangements can be made to expand and extend this internship (with other public history projects and experiences) on an unpaid basis to meet such requirements.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Applications must be received by April 15, with a final decision announced by May 01, 2011.

Applicants should submit a resume that details their relevant work and educational experience, including three references (two professional/academic and one personal). Applicants should mail all materials, with a cover letter outlining your interest in this position, to:

Destinee K. Udelhoven, Executive Director

Historic Indian Agency House

PO Box 84

Portage, Wisconsin

Email applications will also be accepted at:

destineekae@hotmail.com

Email submissions should state “Exhibit Internship” in the subject line.

CFP: "Dirt"

2011-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

We are seeking contribution from all disciplines to an American Studies essay collection on DIRT.

Dirt is among the most material but also the most metaphorical and expressive of substances. This collection hopes to bring together essays that explore how people imagine, define, and employ the various concepts and realities of dirt. What does it mean to call something dirty? How do we understand dirt and its supposed opposite, cleanliness? How do we explain the points at which we draw the line between clean and dirty, what we embrace and what we refuse to touch? Drawing on multiple disciplines we hope to uncover and foreground the (often unconscious) centrality of the metaphors and actualities of dirt to U.S. cultures, values, and lived experiences.

Possible formulations of this keyword include (but are not limited to):
* Dirty words
* Dirty pictures and dirty minds
* Dirt and disorder
* Hygiene
* Trash
* Dirt and art
* Waste, human and otherwise
* Excess and excrescences
* Germophobia
* Fear of impurity
* Chthonic dirt
* Sanitation
* Urban construction and destruction
* Getting the dirt: gossip, revelation, exposure
* Filthy lucre
* Washing one's hands
* Animals and animality
* Dirty jokes
* Dirty politicians
* Corruption and scandal
* Ecology/sustainability
* Dirt collectors (hoarders, Collyers syndrome, cat ladies)
* Getting down in the dirt (reality shows, mud wrestling, spectacle)
* Landfills and parks design
* Disgust, repulsion, nausea
* "Dirty immigrants" and other epithets
* Sustainable dirt

Please send abstracts and cvs to Patricia Yaeger at pyaeger@umich.edu and Hildegard Hoeller at hilhllr@aol.com by April 30th, 2011. Essays should be 9000 words and will be due December 15, 2011.

CFP: "Detroit, Global City: The Motor City and the World"

2011-02-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

The American Studies Program at Wayne State University invites papers on the theme, "Detroit, Global City: The Motor City in the World" for a conference scheduled for September 23 and 24, 2011.

Although it is a border city and the home of several multinational corporations and international unions, Detroit is rarely considered as a global city like Los Angeles, New York, or London. This conference will explore the city's present, past, and future place in the economies, politics, and imaginations of the nation and the world. We hope to move beyond nostalgic remembrances of Detroit's past and familiar narratives of loss--of jobs, residents, architecture, etc.--to a fuller discussion of Detroit's place in the world and its links to other cities.

We invite papers on Detroit, as both concept and physical space, on topics including:
--The folkways, foodways, and musical traditions of the city's immigrant communities
--Rebellion and internationalism
--The "rust belt" in the American imagination
--Detroit and the media
--Racial politics and the city
--Migration and labor
--Gender and sexuality
--The cultural politics of Fordism at home and abroad
--The circulation of Detroit literature and music
--Suburbanization
--The politics of the northern U.S. border.

Papers exploring links between Detroit and other cities are encouraged. NYU's Greg Grandin, author of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City, will deliver a keynote address.

Please submit an abstract of approximately 150 words by April 20, 2011 to John Pat Leary (jpleary@wayne.edu) and to Sarika Chandra (schandra@wayne.edu).

CFP: "Colour"--Special Issue of the Journal of Design Studies

2011-02-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

Call for Papers: "Colour" -- Special Issue of the Journal of Design History
Deadline for submissions: 1 December 2011

Colour is a major aspect of design practice that has a long, tumultuous history. It has been the subject of countless publications and exhibitions about visual culture, symbolism, science, fashion, and aesthetic meaning. By contrast, this special issue of the Journal of Design History focuses on the work of colour practitioners, ratherthan on the colours themselves.

Today, colour standards and colour forecasts are so ubiquitous that they are taken for granted, their chaotic history forgotten. But the technical and cultural challenges of colour perplexed the practical men of the industrial era and inspired design theorists from Chevreul to Owen Jones to Le Corbusier. Over the course of the twentieth century, colour was standardized according to Taylorist principles and rational colour practice was added to the designer's toolkit. Practitioners debated the compatibility of rational standards and the creative needs of the style and fashion industries.

This special issue seeks papers on the historical aspects of colour and design practice that are based on original research in designers' archives and other historical records, artefact collections, and oral histories.

Topics include but not limited to the following themes:
--Histories of colour in retailing, advertising, graphic design, and branding
--The relationships and tensions among colour science, colour technologies, and colour as a design practice
--Critical biographies or case studies of key practitioners, corporations, industrial designers, fashion designers, consulting firms, or professional associations involved in colour theory, colour styling, colour forecasting, or colour management
--The role of consumers in usurping corporate definitions of colour practice and offering new uses or interpretations
--The practice of colour forecasting as it evolved in different locales, cultures, and historical moments, and its relationship to design futures
--The transnational transfer and global circulation of colour theories and practices
--Colour in the fashion and beauty industries
--The impact of new technologies (e.g. colorimetry or digitalization) on colour in the design professions and in the fashion industries
--Colour, patriotism and national identity
--Colour in architecture, and at trade fairs and world's fairs
--The communicative aspects of colour in local, regional, national, and global discourses.

Please forward enquiries to jdh@genesys-consultants.com Submissions should be in the form of full papers of up to 8,500 words that adhere to the guidelines of the Journal of Design History along with an abstract of 300-400 words and a brief biography of up to 250 words. They should be submitted online via the Journal's website, www.jdh.oxfordjournals.org, by 1 December 2011. Papers for special issues will be subject to the usual double-blind refereeing and selection procedures of the Journal of Design History.

MAASA Conference Is Coming Together

2011-02-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

Over the past semester, the Material Culture Focus Group has been organizing the 2011 Mid-American American Studies (MAASA) annual meeting, to be held here in Madison April 7-10. The group received $5,000 to put on a conference we're calling "The Life of the Object," which addresses a variety of aspects of production, consumption, and reuse. We will also have an exhibit of five artists' work on display throughout the conference, and an interactive event on Friday afternoon. Here is the list of panel topics:

PRODUCTION (Friday Morning, April 8)

1. Producing America: Appropriation and Consumption in Twentieth-Century Design

2. Assemblage

3. Imagined Materialities

4. The Legacy of Work: Technology, Craft, and DIY

CONSUMPTION (Saturday Morning, April 9)

5. Consumer Needs: Past, Present, and Future

6. Reconsuming Art

7. (De)constructing Class in Consumption and Design

8. Material Negotiation of Social Control

9. Materiality of Sound

REUSE (Saturday Afternoon, April 9)

10. Reconsuming and Remembering

11. Creating a Material Past

12. Changing Space, Changing Memory

13. Making Meaning and the Life Cycle of Objects

Women's Craft Digital Collections

2011-01-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Emily Pfotenhauer, for the links!

Binary Visions: 19th Century Woven Coverlets from the Collection of Historic Huguenot Street

http://www.hrvh.org/exhibit/hhsbinary/

A Notion to Sew: The 19th Century Needlework of Hylah Hasbrouck and her Daughters at Locust Lawn

http://www.hrvh.org/exhibit/notiontosew/

An Artists Talk with Handmade Meaning Contributors

2011-01-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

The first of two large events associated with the Handmade Meaning exhibit occurred yesterday. Artists Susan White of Madison, Anne Kingsbury and Courtney Heimerl, both of Milwaukee, all gathered to speak abut their work and then answered questions as a panel, moderated by Prof. Beverly Gordon of the Design Studies Department. Each artist gave a talk about their working methods and piece(s) in the show. Some themes discussed by the, in both their talks and in the Q&A focused on time, repetition, and meditation.

White presented a new performance art piece where she examined the role of making and notion of work without producing an object through crocheting a chain, the foundation of all crocheted objects. Kingsbury talked at length about the role time plays in her art practice of beading images of her journals, where she records the time it takes her to complete activities. Heimerl gave a history of her involvement with craft. Her embroidery is featured in the show, and the theme she takes up in the objects on display are death and coming to terms with it as a life process.

The panel, from left to right: Courtney Heimerl, Anne Kingsbury, Susan White, and Beverly Gordon.

Susan White's talk.

A detail of Anne Kingsbury's beaded record of time.

Courtney Heimerl's modified t-shirts, made as part of Milwaukee's Fasten clothing cooperative.

Handmade Meaning Exhibition Opening

2011-01-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

On December 17, 2010, the James Watrous Gallery opened the exhibit "Handmade Meaning: The Value of Craft in Victorian and Contemporary Culture." We'll call this post a photo essay:

A large crowd on opening night, with a redwork quilt in the background!

A group gathers to watch the demonstrations. Becca Keyel (with spinning wheel) and Malka Salomon, with embroidery hoop) were both in Prof. Martin's class. Becca also created the Handmade Meaning blog.

Breanna Norton, also apart of the organizing class, helped to install and advertise. She also took an independent study over the summer to help out with the exhibition.

Prof. Gene Phillips of the Art History Department, along with Andrew Stevens, the Chazen Museum of Art's curator of prints look at Mary Dickey's "Container for My Ashes."

A better view of Mary Dickey's "Container." It's simply gorgeous.

Anne Kingsbury in front of her beaded deerskin. She records pages from her journals and reflects on time by beading entries onto the pelt. This piece will not be finished until she has covered it entirely.

More Art History faculty! Prof. Nancy Marshall (center) and Prof. Susie Buenger (right).

A better view of the other demonstrators. Josh Hebbert crochets and Malka Salomon embroiders.

Emily Pfotenhauer, one of the organizers, poses with BA Harrington, a Material Culture student, and Prof. Ann Smart Martin, who taught the spring 2010 exhibitions class that helped to organize the exhibit.

Prof. Martin with her daughter, standing next to a lovely hair wreath loaned by the Mayville Historical Society.

Baroque Bassonist Plays for AH363

2011-01-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

Apologies for this untimely post, but complications with cameras before Fall semester ended, then break stalled this post. Marc Vallon, associate professor in the School of Music here at UW-Madison, graciously agreed to come to Prof. Martin's AH363 class to play the baroque bassoon. Prof. Vallon brought two bassoons, one in the eighteenth century style, which he made himself, and a modern model. He played both and put the music and the instrument into a historical context. I found it interesting that bassoonists improvised much of what they played, having only a scant outline to follow. A video is forthcoming, so check back soon!

Professor Marc Vallon speaking to the class.

His reproduction eighteenth century bassoon, which he made himself.

Creating a Ring Bottle-Michelle Erikson Demonstrates

2011-01-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Michelle Erikson, a ceramist practicing in Yorktown, Virginia, gave a demonstration at the American Ceramics Circle's annual conference, held this year in Milwaukee. She demonstrated her method for making a ring bottle.

The Myth of the American West: A Project by Artists BA Harrington and Chele Isaac

2011-01-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

This wonderful website documents their cross-country trip, driving the old Santa Fe Trail out to San Diego, California, where BA is the artist-in-residence in the Art-Wood department at San Diego State University. Congratulations also to BA for finishing her M.A. paper in the Art History department! The website will fill you in on the details. Please check it out:

http://cheleisaac.baharrington.com/

Reminder: Handmade Meaning Exhibit-Closing February 6, 2011

2011-01-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

This is a reminder that Handmade Meaning: The Value of Craft in Victorian and Contemporary Culture, the exhibit put together by Martha Glowacki and Emily Pfotenhauer, in collaboration with Prof. Ann Smart Martin's Spring 2010 exhibitions class will be on view at the James Watrous Gallery until Sunday, February 6.

The closing celebration will also be on February 6, from 12:30pm to 3:30pm. There will be an exhibition tour followed by a reception and presentation, "History Through Women's Hands," at the Wisconsin Historical Museum auditorium. Presentation speakers include Nancy Mithlo (UW-Madison Department of Art History), Nicholas Reynolds (Oneida Nation Museum), Brian Bigler (Mt. Horeb Historical Society), Lyn Korenic (UW-Madison Art Library), and Emily Pfotenhauer (Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database).

There is also plenty of time to embroider a square for the Community Quilt Project! The project, inspired by the redwork quilts made for community fundraisers during the late 1800s and early 1900s. To participate, pick up a packet from either the James Watrous Gallery or Stitcher's Crossing on Odana Road, stitch one of the designs, and return it to the gallery. Finished squares will be pieced together to create a quilt. Check out the exhibit's blog, Handmade Meaning, to see other squares for the project!

CFP: Material Culture Area of ACA/PCA

2010-12-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

The Material Culture Area of PCA/ACA (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association) is pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for the 2011 National Conference, to be held in San Antonio, Texas, Wednesday, April 20 - Saturday, April 23. You are invited to submit proposals now through December 15, 2010.

Material Culture Area
The study of material culture offers an exciting area for interdisciplinary research and conversation, as it brings together those engaged in scholarly inquiry in areas as diverse as history, art history, design, decorative arts, cultural studies, consumer studies, literature, communications, anthropology, and sociology. If your work touches on the study of designed objects and consumer goods, we would love to learn more about it at this year's conference in San Antonio. Academics, practitioners, graduate students, museum professionals, and public historians are welcome.

Past presentations in this area have focused on decorative arts and the construction of literary characters, the material culture of poverty, commemorative items, historic and modern furnishings and fashion, branding and marketing trends, and a wide range of associated topics, if you think your work might fit in the material culture area, we encourage you to send an abstract.

Selected works may be published in an edited volume after presentation.

Submission Guidelines:
If you are interested in presenting, or have any questions, please send an abstract of between 150-350 words to:

Dr. Alex Bitterman
School of Design
Rochester Institute of Technology
3404 Booth Hall
73 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY 14623-5603
alexbitterman@gmail.com

Deadline for submission: Midnight EST, December 15, 2010.

Public Lecture: "Wax Coral and Woolen Pac-Men: The Domestic Handicraft Paradigm, 1810-2010"

2010-11-29T08:39:00.000-08:00

Dec. 2, 2010 4pm
7191 Helen C. White Hall

"Wax Coral and Woolen Pac-Men: The Domestic Handicraft Paradigm, 1810-2010"

Amateur domestic handicraft had become an enormously popular hobby by the middle of the nineteenth century. Women pasted shells on boxes, formed wax flowers, designed scrap screens, cut cardboard into workbaskets, sewed fish scales to silk, twisted wire, spattered ink over ferns, stuffed birds. Through close readings of Victorian craft discourse, this talk analyzes the way women articulated their cultural concerns through handicraft. Domestic handicraft gave women a way to articulate their own modernity and industrial prowess, while simultaneously critiquing the modern financial world in which they lived. The talk concludes by explaining how the core values of contemporary craft actually update ideas first articulated by the Victorians.

Talia Schaffer is an associate professor of English at Queens College CUNY and the Graduate Center CUNY. She is the author of The Forgotten Female Aesthetes; Literary Culture in Late-Victorian England (2001); co-editor with Kathy A. Psomiades of Women and British Aestheticism (1999); editor of Lucas Malet's 1901 novel, The History of Sir Richard Calmady (2003); and editor of Literature and Culture at the Fin de Siècle (2006). Novel Craft: Fiction and the Victorian Domestic Handicraft (Oxford, forthcoming), is about the history of amateur handicraft and codes of aesthetic and economic representation in the mid-Victorian novel. She has published widely on noncanonical women writers, material culture, popular fiction, aestheticism, and late-Victorian texts.

New Course for Spring 2011!!!

2010-11-27T09:43:00.000-08:00

Kate Smith, visiting post-doc fellow at the Chipstone Foundation, will be teaching a course next semester on 18th century British design:

Art History 565:

The Idea of Design in Britain’s Long Eighteenth Century

Prof. Kate Smith

Rm. 166, Elvehjem Building (Chazen)

Thursday, 2:00-4:00

Course Description

This course explores “design” as a process, a concept and a form of technology in the context of eighteenth-century Britain. As well as surveying different design styles, this course also interrogates the idea of design as a system of knowledge and a technology of thinking.

Overview

This course explores “design” as a process, a concept and a form of technology. Beginning with an analysis of design in terms of “style” and aesthetics, this course goes on to examine design in the context of eighteenth-century Britain, a context dominated by a new focus on economy, science and the dissemination of knowledge, to view its impact on society and culture at large. It interrogates the idea of design as a system of knowledge and a technology of thinking to assess how the professionalization of design and its increasingly widespread practice affected systems of thought.

The course will teach students to use and interrogate a variety of primary sources including objects, source books, pattern books, drawing books, correspondence and accounts. Students will particularly benefit from first hand interaction with the Chipstone Foundation collection in Milwaukee as part of the course. The course materials also draw on a wide selection of secondary readings covering the work of scholars of eighteenth-century Britain, design studies, material culture, economics, technology and visual culture.

Photos from Charles Hummel's Visit

2010-11-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

One page of the many Dominy shop records, now in the ownership of Winterthur Museum and Garden, Winterthur, DE.

Patterns used for table legs, and turned pieces.

Bedsteads made by the Dominys.

The best sort of scholarship: written records to go along with objects!

A carving tool with decorative scroll work on the blade.

A Visit from Charles Hummel

2010-11-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

Charles Hummel, a retired curator at Winterthur Garden and Museum, gave a public talk on the Dominy family workshops on November 9 and was the guest speaker the following day in Prof. Martin's Early American Decorative Arts Class. The Dominys owned a woodworking and clock shop in East Hampton, New York, from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s. For the audience's viewing pleasure, here is a clip of Dr. Hummel answering a question that Theresa Haffner-Stearns has about chair legs.

Lynn Sorgatz, The Pen Dude; Guest Post by Emma Silverman and Amy Brabender

2010-11-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Lynn Sorgatz in his workshop.

Lynn displays some of his handiwork.

Lynn Sorgtatz's studio: in the foreground, cellulose acetate pen bodies, in the background, some of the machines Lynn uses to make them.

Emma and Amy listen attentively about Lynn's process.

An example of Lynn Sorgatz's work- a pen made of ivory-like cellulose acetate and pearl.

Another example of Lynn Sorgatz's work- his patented Triad pen made of cellulose acetate.

A colorful display of raw materials used for pen bodies: cellulose acetate, celluloid, hard rubber, and acrylic.

Emma, Amy and Stefan, members of the Exhibition Committee for the Material Culture Conference this spring, went on a research trip last Friday. They ventured out to Orfordville Wisconsin to visit the workshop of Lynn Sorgatz, an artist-engineer. Sorgatz is one of a handful of craftspeople in the United States who restore and construct fountain pens using vintage designs and materials. He uses labor-intensive techniques such as lathing and polishing acrylic and cellulose acetate for the pen bodies, hand tooling metals for ornamentation, and carving shells to decorate the exteriors. Sorgatz's pens will be exhibited on campus in conjunction with the conference, and he will be lecturing about his work and the history of pen making in Wisconsin on the first evening of the conference.

The Knitted Bus Shelter Cozy That Rocked State Street, Sept. 30-Oct. 1

2010-11-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Although the shelter cozy is gone, visions of its bright exterior remain. Thanks to members of the Design Studies Department and the MadisonKnitters' Guild for their hard work. The Handmade Meaning blog has a nice recap by one of the participants. Check out other news stories that accompanied the cozy:

from the Design Gallery: http://www.designgallery.wisc.edu/exhibits/knitta/index.html
from the Isthmus: http://www.thedailypage.com/theguide/details.php?event=250151&name=Cozy-Shelter

The Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database

2010-11-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

In October 2010, Wisconsin Heritage Online newsletter featured the Wisconsin Decorative Arts database for its user-friendliness: "The Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database uses a different subject heading thesaurus and a thorough description of the item to make the collection material highly retrievable."

Emily Pfotenhauer created the database as an offshoot of the work she did for her master's thesis in the Art History department. Each object record contains a wealth of information researched and documented by Pfotenhauer. Some of the items in the database will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the James Watrous Gallery. To show the richness of the object records, one only needs to look at a hair wreath from Mayville.

This database, along with many others, is connected with the Wisconsin Heritage Online, allowing users to enter a search term and receive a variety of results, including decorative arts objects, books, documents, photographs, diaries, newspapers, and more.

CFP: Fashion and Middlebrow Modernism

2010-11-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

"Fashion and Middlebrow Modernism
National Conference of the Popular & American Culture Association

April 20-23, 2011 San Antonio, TX
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter

The Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association will hold its National Convention at San Antonio, Texas, on April 20-23, 2011. Proposals are now being accepted for a panel on Fashion and Middlebrow Modernism.

The conception of modernism has been expanded to include literature and culture outside high modernism and the avant-garde. This panel will explore the intersections of highbrow modernism with middlebrow modernism, as well as the development of middlebrow modernism outside of the avant-garde, through the discourses of fashion and beauty culture. Papers on a range of genres and topics are welcome, including:

Fiction, autobiography and biography

Literary production and reputation

Art and art collecting

Film

High fashion

Ready to wear

Fashion cycles

Fashion markets

Designer furniture and décor

Advertising

Popular Culture

Beauty culture

Children and fashion

Pets and fashion

Gender and sexuality and fashion

Class, race, age and fashion

Abstracts of 300-400 words may be submitted to Professor Lisa Walker (lwalker@usm.maine.edu) by December 15, 2010. Please include a working title and a brief biography of 100 words with your submission. Email submissions are preferred. Registration and conference information is available at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/national.php.