DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET ARTIFACTS? Grid 1. WHAT

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET ARTIFACTS?
Silent objects may reveal their secrets if one knows how to make them talk…
Grid
Below is a grid, which can be used to read artifacts. It is made up of a series
of exploratory questions to identify the properties of the artifact, locate it
within several contexts (time, place, society), and grasp its multiple
meanings.
This method, which relies essentially on the observation of the artifact,
involves extending the inquiry to other sources of information.
1. WHAT Or the ShapeFunction Key
Possible questions:
1. What materials were used to
produce the artifact?
2. How was the artifact produced and
finished?
What are the properties of the
artifact?
3. What methods of production (and
tools) were required to produce that
artifact?
4. Does the artifact bear any markings
or inscriptions?
5. Is the artifact a copy?
6. Why was the artifact produced?
7. What is it for?
8. How was it used?
2
2. WHERE? Or the PlaceKey
Possible questions:
1.
Where was the artifact
produced?
Where is the artifact from?
3. WHEN? Or the TimeKey
What was the artifact’s
journey through Time?
4. WHO? Or the PEOPLEKEY
With what people is the
2.
Where was it used?
3.
Where was it found?
Possible questions:
1.
When was the artifact
produced?
2.
When was the artifact used?
3.
When was the artifact found?
Possible questions:
1.
Who produced the artifact?
2.
Who used it?
3.
Who kept it?
artifact connected?
McCord Museum of Canadian History, ClioClic Pedagogical Tool, March 2003
5. WHY? Or the
MEANING-KEY
Museologists, specialists of material
culture, historians will most likely use
their deeper knowledge of a whole
series of artifacts or of a given social
What does the artifact mean?
and historical context to answer
questions such as these:
Possible questions:
1. What values were given to the
artifact? By those who made it? By
those who used it?
2. Why does the museum keep this
artifact?
3. What is the importance of this
artifact in the light of local, regional,
national history?
Relevance for Objects, Images and Texts
This grid was developed for tri-dimensional (3-D) objects. However, since
the McCord Museum preserves images (photographs, paintings, cartoons,
etc.) for their documentary rather than aesthetic value, the grid may be used
for document of that type, as well as for archive documents, which are bidimensional (2-D).
References
The grid that we suggest for “ reading ” the artifacts is based on research
made on material culture. It also draws back on the “ Five Keys to History ”
approach developed by the McCord Museum’s animation staff.
See some references.
Marchese, Ronald T. “ Material Culture and Artifact Classification ”. American
Material Culture, The Shape of Things Around Us. Bowling Green (Ohio):
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1984, p. 11-24.
Material Culture History / Revue d’histoire de la culture matérielle. “ Towards a
Material History Methodology ”. Material Culture History / Revue d’histoire de la
culture matérielle, 22 (Fall), 1985, p. 31-39.
4
Mathieu, Jacques. “L’objet et ses contextes”. Material History Bulletin /Bulletin
d’histoire de la culture matérielle, 26, 1987, p.7-17.
Mathieu, Jacques et al. “Comment analyser l’objet matériel”. In Le coffre à outils du
chercheur débutant, edited by J. Létourneau, p.93-100. Toronto: Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Prioul, Didier. “Comment analyser le document iconographique”. In Le coffre à outils
du chercheur débutant, edited by J. Létourneau, p.78-92. Toronto: Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Québec. ministère des Affaires culturelles. L’ethnologie au Québec. Québec :
Gouvernement du Québec, 1987, 64 p.
Schlereth, Thomas. Material Culture Studies in America. Nashville, Tenessee: The
American Association for States and Local History, 1986.
Vallières, Nicole. “ Cadre théorique, grilles d’analyses et outils documentaires ”.
Chap. In “ La robe bourgeoise, 1870-1883. Clichés, tendances et contextes de
consommation ”, Ph.D. Thesis (unpublished), Université Laval, 1999, p.55-62.
Wallot, Jean-Pierre. “ Culture matérielle et histoire : l’étude des genres de vie au
Canada ”. Material History Bulletin /Bulletin d’histoire de la culture matérielle,
8, Special Issue, Papers Presented to the Colloque sur l’histoire de la culture
matérielle du Canada, March 1-3, 1979, p.11-19.
Morphy, Howard. “Material Culture, Editor’s Introduction”.[On line]
http://www.fathom.com (Search for “Material Culture” and see Reference
section), Page consulted on February 14th, 2002). From The Social Science
Encyclopedia, Second Edition, edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper, 1996.
London: Routledge.
“People make meaningful objects
but they can also change the meaning of objects”
(Morphy, 1996).
McCord Museum of Canadian History, ClioClic Pedagogical Tool, March 2003