Material Culture
Material Culture
Material culture is anything created by humans, such as tools, weapons, utensils, machines, decorations, art, buildings, monuments, and clothing. Material culture helps us understand how people lived, traveled, and communicated with one another. It deepens our understanding of the culture and history of the many American Indian tribes who call Ohio home.
Many museums, including the Ohio History Connection and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), have collections of American Indian art, objects, oral histories, and photographs that represent over 12,000 years of history and culture.
Steps for Analyzing Material Culture
When using a piece of material culture as a primary source, follow these simple steps:
1. Look: Examine the object closely and draw it to focus on the details of an object.
2. Notice: What is the object made from? How is it built? Are there images on it? If so, what do they represent?
3. Connect: Make connections between this object and items in your life. How are they the same or different?
4. Wonder: What questions about this object do you still have? How can you learn more?
Below is an "Object Investigation Worksheet" created by NMAI to help you understand these steps.
Like all primary sources, one artifact or object cannot show you the whole story of your topic. You need to think about multiple primary sources – material culture, newspapers, books, photographs, oral histories, etc. – to understand the historical big picture, many points of view, and the effects of your topic. These sources will also help you create your historical argument.
NMAI_Object-GRaphic-Organizer.pdf