There are a few really great books on  American material culture and its study which might be a good comparison study for your research.  Also, a few books on the mind behind museum collecting which are interesting.

Stephen Weil, Cabinet of Curiosities (Smithsonian 1995)

Also by Weil, Rethinking the Museum (Smithsonian 1990)

Gaynor Kavanaugh, History Curatorship (Smithsonian c1990)

Robert B. St. George, Material Life in America 1600-1860 (Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press 1998)

Thomas Schlereth, Cultural History and Material Culture (Univ. of Va. Press, 1992)

Also by Schlereth, Material Culture Studies in America (AASLH c1982)

You may also want to contact the following areas:

The Omohundro Institute at the College of William and Mary, Winterthur Museum, and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts all participate in active research on Material Culture.   The program in American Studies at Boston University may also have a good bibliography for your research.  They have done some remarkable work in the social life of material culture.


Best of luck in your research.  



Lisa Hudgins
Santa Elena Project
Institute for Southern Studies and
SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology

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