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Mind in Matterspecifically the making, the distribution, and theuse of artifacts. There is an underlying assumptionthat every living being acts so as to gratify his ownself-interest as he determines that interest to be atany given moment. This is an inevitable by-productof the fundamental concern with cause and effect.Thus such issues as the availability of materials, thedemands of patronage, channels of distribution,promotion, available technology, and means of exchange,which require the investigation of externalevidence, are pertinent.MethodologyHow does one extract information about culture,about mind, from mute objects? We have beentaught to retrieve information in abstract form,words and numbers, but most of us are functionallyilliterate when it comes to interpreting informationencoded in objects. Several academic disciplines,notably art history and archaeology, routinely workwith artifacts as evidence and over the years havebuilt up a considerable amount of theoretical andmethodological expertise. Work done in thesefields is often directed inward, toward the accumulationand explication of information requiredby the discipline itself. In the history of art thistakes the form of resolving questions of stylistic andiconographic influence, of dating and authorship,of quality and authenticity. In archaeology it is thebasic task of assembling, sorting, dating, and quantifyingthe assembled data. But art history and archaeologyalso have fundamental concerns with thecultures that produced the objects, and the methodologiesof these two fields, to the extent that theyprovide means for the interpretation of culture,are essential to material culture. At present theyare the two disciplines most directly relevant to theactual work of investigating material culture. But,as they are usually defined, they are not adequateto the total task. The exploration of patterns ofbelief and behavior, in an intellectual borderlandwhere the interests of humanities and social sciencesmerge, requires an openness to other methodologies,including those of cultural and socialhistory, cultural and social anthropology, psychohistory,sociology, cultural geography, folklore andfolk life, and linguistics. But the approach to materialculture set forth below dictates that thesebroader concerns and methodologies not be broughtinto play until the evidence of the artifact itself hasbeen plumbed as objectively as possible. Thereforethe first steps are most closely related to the basicdescriptive techniques of art history and archaeology,and in this there is more overlap with thenatural than with the social sciences. The initialdescriptive steps in the approach to objects resemblesfieldwork in a science such as geology, anddescription can also involve the use of scientificequipment.The method of object analysis proposed belowprogresses through three stages. To keep the distortingbiases of the investigator's cultural perspectivein check, these stages must be undertakenin sequence and kept as discrete as possible. Theanalysis proceeds from description, recording theinternal evidence of the object itself; to deduction,interpreting the interaction between the object andthe perceiver; to speculation, framing hypothesesand questions which lead out from the object toexternal evidence for testing and resolution."DescriptionDescription is restricted to what can be observedin the object itself, that is, to internal evidence. Inpractice, it is desirable to begin with the largest,most comprehensive observations and progress systematicallyto more particular details. The terminologyshould be as accurate as possible; technicalterms are fine as long as they can be understood.The analyst must, however, continually guardagainst the intrusion of either subjective assumptionsor conclusions derived from other experience.This is a synchronic exercise; the physical objectis read at a particular moment in time. The objectis almost certainly not identical to what it was whenit was fabricated; time, weather, usage will all havetaken their toll. At this stage no consideration isgiven to condition or to other diachronic technological,iconographic, or stylistic influences.Substantial analysis. Description begins with substantialanalysis, an account of the physical dimensions,material, and articulation of the object. Todetermine physical dimensions, the object is mea-1 The issue of sequence undoubtedly needs further study.I am aware that the insistence upon strict adherence to a particularseries of steps seems rigid and arbitrary, an uncalled-forfettering of the investigator. Yet, I have come to appreciate thevirtues of sequence empirically on the basis of considerable classroomexperience with artifact analysis. It simply works better.The closer the sequence suggested below is followed, especiallyin regard to the major stages, and the greater the care takenwith each analytical step before proceeding, the more penetrating,complex, and satisfying the final interpretation. Obviously,the procedure is time-consuming, and there is a naturalimpatience to move along. My experience has been, however,that this should be resisted until the analysis is exhausted andthe obvious next question requires advancing to the next step.7
8sured and perhaps weighed. The degree of precisiondepends on the interests of the investigator.If he will be considering a series of objects, a certainamount of precision is desirable, given the possiblesubsequent significance of and need for quantification.However, it is not desirable to carry decimalsto the point of losing an immediate sense of dimensionin a welter of numbers; real significancemay lie in general measure, as with Glassie'sdiscovery of the modal importance of spans andcubits in the vernacular architecture of Virginia.12Next comes a description of the materials-whatthey are, how extensively they are used, and thepattern of their distribution throughout the object.Finally, the ways in which the materials are puttogether in the fabrication of the object, the articulation,should be noted. For example, with fabricsone would look at the weave; with metals, the welding,soldering, riveting; with wood, the dovetails,dowels, miterjoints, mortise-and-tenon joints, glue.Substantial analysis is a descriptive physical inventoryof the object. It is achieved with the assistanceof whatever technical apparatus is appropriateand available. Simple tape measures and scales,ultraviolet lamps and infrared photographs, orcomplex electron microscopes and X-ray defractionmachines are all basically enhancements of one'sability to perceive and take the measure of the physicalproperties and dimensions of the object.13Content. The next step in description is analysisof content. The investigator is concerned simplywith subject matter. This is usually a factor onlywith works of art or other decorated objects. Theprocedure is iconography in its simplest sense, areading of overt representations. In the case of apainting, this may simply be what is represented,as if the work were a window on the world (or onsome kind of world). Content may include deco-12 Henry Glassie, Folk Housing in Middle Virginia: A StructuralAnalysis of Historic Artifacts (Knoxville: University of TennesseePress, 1975).13 The procedures outlined here for collecting internal evidencehave other significant applications. Physical analysis, includingthe use of scientific apparatus, can provide crucial informationin regard to authenticity. Other procedures notedbelow, notably formal analysis, can also be exceedingly usefulin determining authenticity. These applications of the methodologycan take place at any time, but it is preferable for theissue of authenticity to be resolved before the analysis proceedsbeyond description. If a material culture investigator is to arriveat cultural conclusions on the basis of material evidence, thespecimen being studied must be an authentic product of theculture in question. The investigator must determine what aspectsof the objects, if any, are not authentic products of thepresumed culture. A fake may be a useful artifact in relationto the culture that produced the fake, but it is deceptive inrelation to the feigned culture.Winterthur Portfoliorative designs or motifs, inscriptions, coats of arms,or diagrams, engraved or embossed on metal,carved or painted on wood or stone, woven in textiles,molded or etched in glass.Formal analysis. Finally, and very important, isanalysis of the object's form or configuration, itsvisual character. It is useful to begin by describingthe two-dimensional organization-lines and areaseitheron the surface of a flat object or in elevationsor sections through a solid object.14 Next comes thethree-dimensional organization of forms in space,whether actual in a three-dimensional object orrepresented in a pictorial object. Subsequently,other formal elements such as color, light, and textureshould be analyzed with, as in the case of theinitial description of materials, an account of theirnature, extent, and pattern of distribution (rhythm)in each case. Determination of the degree of detailmust be left to the discretion of the investigator;too much can be almost as bad as too little, theforest can be lost for the trees.DeductionThe second stage of analysis moves from the objectitself to the relationship between the object and theperceiver. It involves the empathetic linking of thematerial (actual) or represented world of the objectwith the perceiver's world of existence and experience.To put it another way, the analyst contem-plates what it would be like to use or interact withthe object, or, in the case of a representational object,to be transported empathetically into the depictedworld. If conditions permit, he handles, lifts,uses, walks through, or experiments physically withthe object. The paramount criterion for deductionsdrawn from this interaction is that they must meetthe test of reasonableness and common sense; thatis, most people, on the basis of their knowledge ofthe physical world and the evidence of their ownlife experience, should find the deductions to beunstrained interpretations of the evidence elicitedby the description. If these deductions are notreadily acceptable as reasonable, they must be consideredhypothetical and deferred to the next stage.Although the analyst in the deductive stagemoves away from a concern solely with the internalevidence of the object and injects himself into theinvestigation, the process remains synchronic. Justas the object is only what it is at the moment of14 The procedures of formal analysis summarized brieflyhere will be familiar to any art historian. They are not, however,arcane, and investigators need not be specially trained. Formalanalysis is a matter of articulating and recording what one sees,preferably in a systematic sequence as suggested here.
Page 1 and 2: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Mu
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Page 5 and 6: 4literary elite. This promise perha
Page 7: 6Structuralism and SemioticsThe fun
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Page 13 and 14: 12given culture.19 Like radioactive
Page 15 and 16: 14city planning, that is, architect
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Page 19 and 20: 18FormalismFisher, J. L. "Art Style

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