Museums, Material Culture, and the Study of Everyday Life Time Name Title Abstract 4:45 Alexander Ames Exploring Pennsylvania German Material Eighteenth-century German-speaking immigrants to Pennsylvania brought to the New World distinctive handwriting and PM and Michelle Culture at the Winterthur Museum: A Case manuscript illumination traditions closely associated with their European ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural heritage. Sullivan Study in Interdisciplinary Humanities Thousands of manuscripts and other paper art objects surviving in Pennsylvania archives, libraries, and museums point to Research Pennsylvania German-speakers’ special relationship with the making and reading of handwritten words, as well as creative expression through paper arts closely related to text traditions. Known as “fraktur” among regional historians since the late nineteenth century, the cultural roots of these documents and artworks extend deep into the history of medieval and early modern Europe. In the New World, the German-speakers’ paper arts reflect adherence to and divergence from early modern European forms of engagement with text and illuminated manuscript.
This paper explores the materiality of Pennsylvania Germans’ relationship with the creation and consumption of illuminated manuscripts and other paper-based arts and crafts. Modern scholars must ground analyses of fraktur’s cultural implications in material evidence drawn from the documents and art objects themselves. Through in-depth analysis of materials used in the creation of fraktur, we develop an intimate familiarity with the skills, techniques, and processes used by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century manuscript makers. Signs of use and provenance are revealed through such study and deepen our understanding of the ways in which German-speaking Pennsylvanians used fraktur objects in their daily lives. The presentation will survey Pennsylvania German manuscript traditions, integrate scientific and humanities-based research methodologies, and underscore the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to meaningful academic scholarship. 4:55 Gabrielle Sainted Dead and Holy Relics: Manifestations In the years during and following the Civil War, the strong Protestant roots of the American South were challenged as PM Vicari of Catholicism in the Confederate Lost Cause supporters of the Confederacy sought ways to memorialize their dead and their defeated cause. This paper argues that the resulting secular cultural institution, termed the “religion of the Lost Cause” by eminent scholar Charles Reagan Wilson, was a civil religion that relied not on traditional Protestant expressions of faith, but on ideological rhetoric and physical representations of belief not unlike those found in Catholicism. Analysis of nineteenth-century sermons, newspaper articles, and other documents reveals historic behaviors antithetical to traditional Protestant beliefs, including a collective societal preoccupation with iconography, fetishizing symbolic “holy” relics related to the Confederacy, and constructing near- sacrosanct identities and rituals around military leaders and the “martyred” dead. Twentieth- century memoirs and oral histories, as well as the work of modern historians, confirm that such celebration of the Confederacy’s failed ideals and fallen heroes continued after the turn of the century, despite the historic Protestant belief that such expressions have the potential to distract from true faith. The essay concludes that the rituals and practices which the fallen Confederacy borrowed from Catholicism as a way to work through the physical and psychological trauma of the war played a large role in a civil religion defined by the worship of men who embodied traditional Southern values of bravery and faith, as well as a collective reverence for the relics that evoked their sacrifice. 5:05 Rachel Global Luxuries: Material Culture in the Elite The 1748 inventory of the deceased Mariana Correa de Oliveira’s possessions includes damask coverlets, silk skirts, linen from PM Zimmerman Home in Eighteenth-Century Minas Gerais, Brittany, a hammock with ivory spindles, and a collection of fine porcelain. This accumulation of luxury goods from diverse Brazil regions of the globe contrasts with the conception of eighteenth-century Minas Gerais as a strictly controlled region within Brazil. After gold was discovered in Minas Gerais in 1690, the Portuguese crown attempted to protect the mineral wealth by restricting agriculture, manufacturing and printing, and by banning foreigners and members of religious orders from entering the mining region. My analysis of post-mortem inventories and other legal documents reevaluates the supposed cultural isolation of Minas Gerais. While inhabitants of Minas Gerais were distant from cultural centers and decrees restricted their ability to recreate cultural necessities locally, they had tremendous purchasing power. Possessions allowed residents to participate in international aesthetic and intellectual trends. My presentation will explore the Oliveira Pinto family’s material and intellectual connections to Portugal and the rest of the world.
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Museums, Material Culture, and the Study of Everyday Life Time Name Title Abstract 5:15 Sarah Tiernan Transforming Collections into Creations Transforming Collections into Creations is a presentation of my work creating an arts workshop using the objects and history PM Alexander contained in a particular museum collection. I led a two-day workshop at the Winterthur Museum and Garden on textile printing that allowed users to examine museum objects, learn about their origins, and experience the craft of block-printing with the help of Senior Curator Linda Eaton.
The program began with a guided tour of the collection's great holdings in 18th and 19th century block-printed textiles led by Ms. Eaton, followed by hands-on instruction on how historic textiles were produced and how the students could produce their own artworks.
The goal of the class was to create a connection between history, craft, and contemporary creativity among a group of art lovers and art makers. At the same time it provided a pathway to sharing art research and historic knowledge with a wider, museum- going audience.
My presentation will include an explanation of this project, images from the classes in action, and course ideas for other ways to develop programs that teach museum and gallery visitors to create their own works of art, inspired by many great collections. 5:25 James Monument Making in Service of History As a sculptor of monuments, I am connected to history. I interpret history through my materials and actively explore through PM Dessicino the creation of form. The forms that I sculpt are intertwined with their subject matter, which is often historical material. Therefore, my approach to history is through its use. I understand the world through creation and have found the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche to be instrumental in comprehending my use value as a sculptor for history.
In “On The Use and Abuse of History for Life,” Nietzsche tells us that we must “despise instruction without vitality, knowledge that enervates activity and history as an expensive surplus of knowledge and a luxury, because we still lack what is most essential to us and because what is superfluous is hostile to what is essential.”
Nietzsche was talking specifically about written history, but his call can be applied to all disciplines in the information age. I have adopted his stance as the basis of my research in sculpture. Specifically, I am interested in public art; be it monuments or ornamentation. These works reach broad audiences and contain within them the ability to transmit history non-verbally to the learned and unlearned. Through public art, I believe sculptures can be a service to history. Sculpture is material and a place for the interpretation of life. Monuments can sit outside of the institution of art and do not have to be self-referential, as they derive power from what is being represented. In my attempts to holistically comprehend monumental sculpture, I create sculptures and do empirical research on projects that include public art.
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