3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

From SUE the T-rex to B.B. King’s guitar, objects are critical to the work of museums in collecting, preserving, and interpreting art, history, science, and culture. This course looks closely at the development of material culture studies and its connection to museums in the 21st century. Students will explore collecting as meaningful action, the classification of objects (from academic categorizations to hashtags) and their access (from collections to archives, to physical and virtual display). Student-developed object biographies will be used throughout the semester to explore the life history of objects, their changing meanings, and their relationship to self, society, and the museum. Note: Students are strongly encouraged to have completed two courses in the program before registering for this course.