HSTCMP 590 Topics in History

The things of history span an enormous range of material artifacts. These might fall under the rubric of high “art,” derive from religious practices, pertain to the business of the state, or simply reflect the myriad objects encompassed by everyday life. Things from the past, furthermore, mark not only a moment and history situated in time and space; they can also mediate history. They can serve as vital go-betweens for cultural, commercial, and colonial transactions (to name just a few possibilities). And they can be global, as well, since material objects readily move: from the past to the present, from producers to consumers, from distant cultures to imperial museums, and so on. 
It is precisely these material mediations, these global itineraries, and these distinct moments that furnish us with the “things” of history: the stuff that we, as scholars, try to investigate and interrogate to recover the past. This seminar introduces students to a range of things from a variety of media. It also introduces students to “thing theory” and other scholarly approaches that mark the material turn in the humanities; and it visits several key archives that house these artifacts—libraries, collections, museums. It tries, above all, to tease out stories from these artifacts and archives—curious things and their histories.
The ultimate goal of the seminar is for its participants to identify, research, and compose a history of an artifact of their choosing. In doing so, it is the hope that we will collectively learn not only how to analyze the objects of history, but also to question the things that have managed to reach us from the past and to narrate some of the many stories that they convey.