The H-Net Network on Material Culture and Vernacular Landscapes and Artifact Preservation will promote and support the study of objects, buildings, sites, structures, landscapes and other material cultural productions as part of the visual record of life.

We are currently seeking reviewers for a large backlog of books on material culture! Please consider becoming a reviewer for H-Material Culture by visiting this page and filling out the form to be included in our reviewer database.

We welcome announcements, CFP's, queries, contributions, and discussions of all things material! To add yours, click the orange "Start a Discussion" button above this text. 

If you have an idea for a new on-going feature or a one time resource for the field, let us know. Podcasts? Video tours? Image galleries? Digitization projects?  Let us know what you're thinking.

And we tweet, too! https://twitter.com/H_Mat_Culture

Recent Announcements and other activity appear below. All CFP's posted to the site can be found in the links on the right, as can Jobs in Material Culture Studies.

Recent Announcements

Discussion published by Carly Ciufo on Monday, January 23, 2023

Job Guide, January 16 to 23

The following jobs were posted to the H-Net Job Guide from 16 January 2023 to 23 January 2023.  These job postings are included here based on the categories selected by the list editors for H-Material-Culture.  See the H-Net Job Guide website at
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/ for more information.  To contact the Job Guide, write to jobguide@mail.h-net.org, or call +1-517-432-5134 between 9 am and 5 pm US Eastern time.

ANTHROPOLOGY

Discussion published by Carly Ciufo on Monday, January 16, 2023

Job Guide, 9 January to 16 January

The following jobs were posted to the H-Net Job Guide from 9 January 2023 to 16 January 2023.  These job postings are included here based on the categories selected by the list editors for H-Material-Culture.  See the H-Net Job Guide website at
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/ for more information.  To contact the Job Guide, write to jobguide@mail.h-net.org, or call +1-517-432-5134 between 9 am and 5 pm US Eastern time.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Discussion published by Carly Ciufo on Monday, January 9, 2023

Job Guide, 2 January to 9 January

The following jobs were posted to the H-Net Job Guide from 2 January 2023 to  9 January 2023.  These job postings are included here based on the categories selected by the list editors for H-Material-Culture.  See the H-Net Job Guide website at
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/ for more information.  To contact the Job Guide, write to jobguide@mail.h-net.org, or call +1-517-432-5134 between 9 am and 5 pm US Eastern time.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Discussion published by Lena Ferriday on Monday, January 9, 2023

Mark Smith on 'How History and the Senses Can Make a Difference'.

Online Lecture 

We are pleased to announce an online guest lecture by Professor Mark Smith on Wednesday 8th February, 4pm UK time, hosted by the University of Bristol's Senses Research Group. The paper will examine the field of sensory history, and is entitled 'The Last Reenactment and Applied Sensory History: How History and the Senses Can Make a Difference'.

Discussion published by Jennifer Black on Monday, January 9, 2023

Reviews of Interest for H-Material Culture

The following reviews were posted to H-Net Commons recently, and may be of interest to H-Material Culture subscribers.

Reviewed for H-Sci-Med-Tech by Fiorella Foscarini
   Robertson, Craig.  _Filing Cabinet: A Vertical History of
   Information, The_.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
   2021.  280 pp.  $27.95, ISBN 978-1-5179-0946-8.
Review - http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=57992

Recent Discussions

Discussion published by Christine Henry on Saturday, February 13, 2016

Re: Material Culture Podcasts

I would recommend adding both "99% Invisible", which is an exploration of the built environment and design in general, and "The Memory Palace" which often uses material culture as a jumping off point for an exploration of an idea or historical event. I have used episodes of both of these to teach introductory historic preservation class to help students understand not only the interpretation of material culture, but also the concept of multiple layers of interpretation at any given site.

Occasional Objects series

The scrolling images to left are from H-Material-Culture's "Occasional Objects" series--a periodic informal examination of objects sent in by our subscribers. View the full collection, read the essays, and add your contribution here in Occasional Objects.

Recent Queries

Discussion published by Jack Christensen on Monday, February 3, 2020

Wampanoag Archaeology (resources needed)

I am an AmeriCorps service member and currently work at an environmental nonprofit in southeastern Massachusetts. As part of my service work, I am collaborating with local Wampanoag groups so as to infuse the nonprofit's conservation mission with indigenous knowledge. One of the groups I'm working with, called the Indigenous Resources Collaborative (IRC), is embarking on an endeavor that involves correlating historical Wampanoag cultural artifacts they have in their possession (for use in an educational exhibit) with native archaeological sites in Massachusetts.

Discussion published by John McCarthy on Monday, January 8, 2018

Confidentiality of Site Locations vs Public Interpretation

Archaeologists, having seen lots of destruction of sites due to looting, some of a commercial (rather than hobbyist) scale, tend to want to hold all information about archaeological sites (location, contents, etc.) as confidential, actually, as secret.  While this is somewhat understandable, this presents a significant challenge to public education and interpretation on archaeologial topics where often “place” and site content are key aspects of a site’s interpretive value.