Material culture studies explore the physical manifestations of culture, broadly construed. Scholars of material culture consider the formal qualities, uses and meanings of artifacts ranging from ephemera to built environments. They pay particular attention to ways in which people embed objects in social relations and attach immaterial values to material things. Material culture studies are multi-disciplinary, drawing theories and methods from history, art history, historical archaeology, anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, folklife studies, cultural studies, and literary criticism.
The BGC is also the chief organizer of the Consortium for American Material Culture which meets each May in New York for a series of discussions and panels.
