HIST 4306/5306: History with Objects
Summer 2024
Object Study Project
What is the task?
Choose an object from a museum collection or an item from a personal collection (yours, family, friends). Please select an object that is at least 30 years old. For example, you might visit the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History and select an object on display, like the medical kit from the Civil War, or the stained glass window of David O. Dodd. Or, you might find a ration-book of coupons from World War II that is in your family’s possession. Or, like in All that She Carried, you might be at a flea market or antique store and find an interesting item.
Once you have selected an object, you will evaluate and interpret it using the questions provided. Finally, produce an object study that considers what the object can tell us about world, U.S., or Arkansas History. How did history shape the object? How did the object and its creation and use shape history?
Your object study may take any of the following forms: paper (5-8 pages), or a digital history project such as a digital exhibit, ArcGIS StoryMap, website, documentary video (5-10 minutes), or podcast (10-15 minutes).
Why this assignment?
This assignment evaluates your ability to interpret artifacts, conduct research in scholarly secondary sources, and apply some of the questions raised by our course readings.
It provides you with a chance to write and create a history of the object and its significance for a general audience in a variety of formats.
- Step 5 – Week 5
Put your research together in the format you choose. Share what you have learned with the class via the discussion board. Submit to Blackboard by Monday, the last day of class.
How will this assignment be scored?
50 points – final project (see the rubric on Blackboard)
- Up to 15 points for your analysis and interpretation of the object – What does it tell us about history, why is it significant, how it has shaped and been shaped by history;
- Up to 15 points for your research in primary and secondary sources to help find out more about the materials, people, and processes that were involved in the creation and use of this object;
- Up to 15 points for the clarity and polish of your presentation. Make sure your mechanics are great (grammar, spelling, readability) and your sources are cited. Choose a format that showcases your strengths. Make sure it is organized and accurate. Use illustrations to help tell your story. If you create a movie or podcast, how can you use audio to help tell your story?
- Up to 5 points for your post(s) sharing your research journey and final project on the discussion board throughout the semester + commenting on others’ object study research.
Questions to Ask an Object
Select at least 7 of the following questions to answer in 3-5 sentences per question. Use these questions to help you start your research for the object study assignment. Create a bibliography for the sources you use to help answer the questions. Use Chicago Manual of Style Notes-Bibliography format.
1. What are the object’s sensory properties?
- Sight: Line and shape (two-dimensional), form (three-dimensional), color (hue, light, dark), texture (reflective, matte)
- Touch: Form and shape (round, angular), texture (smooth, rough), temperature (cold, warm), density (hard, soft)
- Sound: Consider what sounds the object makes when manipulated
- Taste (if applicable)
- Smell (if applicable)
2. What are the object’s physical properties?
- Materials (wood, stone, plastic; identifying materials may not be possible through visual inspection alone)
- Size (length, width, depth, volume)
- Weight
- Number of parts and how they are organized (symmetrical, asymmetrical, distinct, merged)
- Inscriptions (printed, stamped, engraved)
3. Does the object appear to be human made?
- If it is human made, does it show evidence of natural processes? (oxidation, decay)
- If not human made, does it show evidence of human intervention? (modification, wear)
4. What is the object’s purpose? Has that purpose changed over time, or is it specific to a particular time and place?
5. How was the object produced? Who made the object, and under what circumstances?
- Techniques
- Impact of industrialization? Has the process of producing an item like this changed?
- Was it made by one or more individuals?
- Was the maker also the designer?
- When was it made?
- Where was it made?
- What type of labor system was involved (coerced? Paid? Something else?)
6. What is the object’s history?
- Who owned and/or used it? Where and when?
- How, when, and why did it change ownership or position over time?
7. What is the object’s contemporary context and relevance? Where is it now, and is it important? Is it used to tell a story? Part of collective memory?
8. Is the object part of a group of objects? If so, how?
- Is it part of a genre? If so, what features does it share with other objects of its genre?
- What is its spatial relationship to other objects?
- Does it have a metaphorical relationship to other objects? If so, how?
- Is it part of a collection, whether personal or institutional?
9. What is special or distinctive about the object?
10. How does/did the object interact with human bodies or other species?
11. What is your emotional response to the object?
- What emotional response might it prompt in others?
12. How does, or did, possession of the object relate to individual and/or group identity (e.g., class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nation, religion)?
13. Does the object prompt some kind of action or performance (such as a ritual or routine or quotidian/daily life activity)? If so, describe.
- Individual action
- Action by a group
14. Does the object relate to a set (or sets) of beliefs (e.g., spiritual, ideological)? If so, how?
15. Is the object part of a system (or systems) of exchange (e.g., commodity, gift)? If so, how?
16. What is its value (e.g., economic, cultural) and how might you locate it within systems of value?
17. Does the object reflect and/or structure human agency (that is, humans’ ability to be able to be historical actors, change their circumstances)? If so, how?
18. What questions do you have about the object or how it was used? What does it make you curious about?