I am doing a directed reading this semester with one of my students who wants to pursue graduate work in early American material culture. Here is our booklist:
Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten
Smart and Carson, American Material Culture
St. George, Material Life in America
Bushman, Refinement of America
Ulrich, Age of Homespun
Jaffee, A Nation of Goods
Montgomery, Textiles in America
McDannel, Material Christianity
Carson, Of Consuming Interests
I would love to hear what people who know far more about early American material culture studies think about this booklist.
John: This is a great list. I'm increasingly interested in material culture, though I know next to nothing about it.
Might be good to also include Lauren Winner's new book, A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith
Anglican Religious Practice in the Elite Households of Eighteenth-Century Virginia (Yale, 2010); or one of those excellent books in the Harper Everyday Life series.
Loved the Palin cartoon!
Thanks, Randall. Some of this stuff I am reading for the first time. I am sure I will learn just as much from the course as the student.
I still need to read Winner's book. It looks good.