American Material Culture: 19th-Century New York

FAIN: EH-50228-10

Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-9800)
David P. Jaffee (Project Director: March 2010 to May 2012)

A four-week institute for eighteen college and university teachers on American material culture, using 19th-century New York City as a case study.

The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture proposes a four week summer institute in July of 2010 for college teachers to study American Material Culture and bring this important field of the humanities into wider use for teaching and research. The institute will focus on the nineteenth century with an emphasis on material from New York City. Leading practitioners in this interdisciplinary field of study from a variety of disciplines will serve as faculty. Participants will study significant texts in the scholarly material culture literature as well as pursue hands-on work with artifacts in local and regional collections. We would anticipate applications from participants with some experience doing artifactual work as well as those who have never taught or studied material culture. We would ask that applicants come with a modest teaching or research project in hand that they can work on during the four weeks of the institute.