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Interpreting artifacts

Silent objects may reveal their secrets if one knows how to make them talk...Discover how the Museum documents its collections.

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 Shape-Function Key

What are the properties of the artifact?

Possible questions:

  1. What materials were used to produce the artifact?
  2. How was the artifact produced and finished?
  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. WHERE? Or the Place-Key

Where is the artifact from?

Possible questions:

  1. Where was the artifact produced?
  2. Where was it used?
  3. Where was it found?

3. WHEN? Or the Time-Key

What was the artifact's journey through Time?

Possible questions:

  1. When was the artifact produced?
  2. When was the artifact used?
  3. When was the artifact found?

4. WHO? Or the PEOPLE-KEY

With what people is the artifact connected?

Possible questions:

  1. Who produced the artifact?
  2. Who used it?
  3. Who kept it?

5. WHY? Or the MEANING-KEY

What does the artifact mean?

Museologists, specialists of material culture, historians will most likely use their deeper knowledge of a whole series of artifacts or of a given social 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 bi-dimensional (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.

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. The American Association for States and Local History, Nashville, Tenessee, 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, Specil 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).