American Material Culture Commons^™

The Reimagining Of The Harlem Globetrotters Of The 50s And 60s: A Program Shedding Light On Forgotten Stars, Zander Ealy

Special Collections Awards

Harlem Globetrotters vs. College All-Stars. Official Game Program - 1955.

A Reimagined game program of the 1955 College All Stars Vs Harlem Globetrotters from the Lewis A Levey Family Archive in Special Collections at Washu Libraries.

Sam Boakye, Mark Naison, Anthony Abd-Al Shafi Rosado

Oral Histories

At the end of the interview, Boakye explains what he wants for Kwasi Paul in the future, both in the Bronx and in the fashion industry. For the Bronx, he wants it to represent Ghanaian fashion, something Ghanaians in the Bronx can be proud of. He wants the Bronx to be seen as something better, not a “dirty” borough, as stereotypes would have it. For fashion, he wants to be another lens of living with in-between identities, for everyone who falls into these categories of multiple identities, especially for people in New York City.

He encapsulates the Bronx as “The …

Las Representaciones Figurativas Del Sitio Arqueológico Cuidad Del Jaguar (Honduras): Espacio Sagrado, Conceptos Compartidos Y Diálogo Entre Mesoamérica Y La Zona Andina, Geydy Rodríguez Wood

Actas seleccionadas del SIMPOSIO ARTE 4.2: Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios del pasado al presente. 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2025.

El sitio arqueológico Ciudad del Jaguar-T1, se encuentra ubicado en el noroeste de Honduras. Pertenece al Área Intermedia, considerada zona de frontera y paso entre Mesoamérica y la Zona Andina. Esta ubicación facilitó que, durante la época prehispánica, fuese un sitio de migraciones e interacción constante entre culturas del norte y del sur del continente, que dio origen a una civilización hasta ahora desconocida, que se formó, desarrolló y tuvo una significativa producción artística. En el presente trabajo propongo el estudio y la lectura e interpretación de las imágenes figurativas representadas en los objetos excavados, como también su utilidad y …

El Papel De Tonantzin-Guadalupe En La Conservación Del Pensamiento Nahua Durante La Cristianización De Mesoamérica, Marina Valls I García

Actas seleccionadas del SIMPOSIO ARTE 4.2: Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios del pasado al presente. 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2025.

Dentro de este ciclo de estudios sobre la imagen del poder se aprovecha la ocasión para focalizar en el estudio de la imagen religiosa de la Virgen de Guadalupe y su papel en la conversión del México precolombino. Partiendo de la base antropológica en que el poder siempre es respaldado por la religión de una cultura, profundizamos a entender como este proceso “político” es mimetizado y acompañado no solo por la creación de una imagen de poder religioso sino por diversas luchas de poder entre el pensamiento nahua y el católico, así como entre las distintas órdenes cristianas que participan …

Introducción, Victòria Solanilla, Anabel Villalonga Gordaliza

Actas seleccionadas del SIMPOSIO ARTE 4.2: Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios del pasado al presente. 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2025.

El presente volumen reúne una selección de contribuciones derivadas del simposio «Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios», coordinado en el marco del 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas (ICA58). Este congreso, celebrado en distintas sedes en Novi Sad, Serbia, del 30 de junio al 4 de julio de 2025, conmemoró los 150 años del ICA y reunió a investigadores de todo el mundo bajo el lema «Nuevos desafíos, Nuevos espacios», incorporando además una valiosa «mirada balcánica» al estudio de las Américas. En ese escenario — un cruce de lenguas, trayectorias y tradiciones académicas — nuestro simposio propuso detenerse ante un …

Historical Research And Conservation Treatment Of An Oversized 19th-Century Subscription Family Bible, Charlotte Starnes

Art Conservation Master's Projects

This paper briefly examines the construction, materials, and conservation challenges of 19th-century subscription Bibles, focusing on the treatment of an 1885 Thomas Kelly Latin Vulgate Family Bible. These large-format, heavily decorated volumes represent the unique intersection of industrialized book production and traditional hand-binding techniques. Through the visual comparison of multiple subscription Bible structures and canvasser’s sample books, historical research, and survey responses from conservators, this project identifies key structural features, including hybrid board attachment methods, varied sewing techniques, and the sculpted two-board coverboard structure. X-radiography, microscopy, and preliminary XRF analysis provide further insights into material choices, such as the use …

The Evolution Of Schooling: From Industrial Obedience To Techno-Autonomy, Seb Taylor, Ron Roberts Ii

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

This paper examines the enduring architecture of the American education system as a mechanism designed for compliance, not creativity. Rooted in 19th-century industrial logic, the structure of schooling, its physical design, time constraints, and assessment methods, has remained largely static despite seismic cultural and technological shifts. Through historical analysis and contemporary critique, this work interrogates the persistence of standardized methods, institutional prestige, and top-down instruction as barriers to meaningful learning and value creation. Drawing from interdisciplinary research and live case studies, including Alpha School’s AI-powered, mastery-based model, the paper advances the concept of techno-education: a student-centered paradigm informed by feedback …

Kimball Hall, 1970: Collective Organizing Through Print Production, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

This article examines the May 1970 occupation of Kimball Hall, a university administrative building at New York University, and specifically of its basement printshop. The group that came together in this space referred to itself as the Kimball Commune; they used university equipment and resources to print material in support of the strike and related movements, and they invited students, activists, and the general public to come into the printshop and produce material with them. I demonstrate how the Kimball Commune provides a concrete example of how a collaborative radical printing project isn’t just about creating alternative media. It also …

For The Birds, Charlotte L. Middleton

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

For the Birds is a homogenous material exhibition of porcelain pottery that explores the relationships between, expectations of, and roles placed upon women and pottery. Using traditional craft processes, still life imagery, and the language and limits of porcelain, I create arrangements that expose the viewers assumptions of both subjects. Pottery- pitchers, cups, and vases—is a product of anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism and can be entirely taken for granted- their role is assumed and unquestionable—to serve. The language and expectations of these objects are the medium I build with.

The title of the show, For the Birds, is both a …

From The Editors, Meredith Mccarroll, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Zada Komara

Art Faculty Publications

Anyone involved in academic publishing understands—to some extent—the time needed to solicit, compile, and edit a range of voices to create something worthwhile that holds together. To do so in collaboration as editors adds a layer of complexity. Here, we see that complexity pays off as Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth and Zada Komara invite multiple perspectives on material culture in Appalachian society into conversation in this special issue of the Journal of Appalachian Studies. It is an honor to be a small part of this work, carried out by the co-editors, whose introduction follows. I invite you, as you read, to contextualize …

Down The Bay Oral History Project Newsletter - Winter 2025, Center For Archaeological Studies, Mccall Library

Down the Bay Oral History Project Newsletter

Public newsletter sharing information about progress and discoveries during the Down The Bay Project.

Introduction: Beyond Hollow Materialism, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Zada Komara

Art Faculty Publications

This introduction to the special issue, “Transformative Approaches to Materiality in Appalachian Studies,” provides theoretical background and examples that demonstrate applications of new material culture and materiality theory to key Appalachian studies themes. It offers new directions for the study of material entanglement in social relationships by reviewing the history of material culture studies in the Appalachian context, fundamental theoretical propositions emerging from the “material turn” in social theory, and examples drawn from ethnographic and archaeological research into the patterns of use of material culture in the timber country of West Virginia and coalfields of eastern Kentucky. Finally, this introduction …

Digital Zines As Mental And Sexual Health Communication Tools For Latina Teens: Format And Content Acceptability And Initial Findings, Jenn M. Lilly, D'Andrah Almanzar, Susan R. Pace, Dante D. Bryant

Social Service Faculty Publications

Recognizing the potential of digital zines (defined as selfpublished,

online publications combining artwork and

text) as culturally tailored health communication tools,

this article examines the acceptability and impacts of two

digital zines about mental and sexual health created by

Latina young people for Latina teens as a health communication

strategy. We conducted an anonymous online

survey completed by Latina teens who read the zines (32

for sexual health and 33 for mental health). Data analysis

aimed to explore, summarize, and interpret the collected

data using an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced

approach. Survey participants found the zine format and

content acceptable and …

Blackness And Nineteenth-Century Art In The Atlantic World, Rachel Hooper

Curatorial Publications

No abstract provided.

Transatlantic Literary Networks, 1949-1972, Cristina Iuli, Stefano Morello

Publications and Research

Il racconto di Donald Barthelme “Critique de la Vie Quotidienne”, pubblicato sul New Yorker il 9 luglio 1971, si apre su una famiglia newyorkese di classe media sull’orlo di una crisi matrimoniale. Wanda, la moglie, sfoglia Elle, costringendo il marito a prestare attenzione alle foto dell’elegante ristrutturazione di un vecchio mulino in Bretagna da cui spiccano arredi di Arne Jacobsen e “cose di plastica arancione e rosso brillante che arrivano da Milano” (Barthelme 1971, p. 26). Barthelme, che aveva trascorso tutta l’infanzia e buona parte della gioventù a Houston, in Texas, dove il padre era direttore del museo di …

Gladys Mitchell House Collection, Dan Bonenberger, Jaclyn Panter, Katherine St. Amand, Ian Tomashik, Kate Zorn

Digital Heritage Preservation Collection

This collection explores the life of Gladys Mitchell and the home she shared with her family on Detroit's Eastside. Gladys and her husband, Ossian Sweet, lived with her parents Benjamin and Rosella in a residence on 9322-24 Cairney Street from 1922 to 1925 before moving to the now-historic bungalow at 2905 Garland Street, located about a mile southeast. In 1925, when the Sweets moved into an all-white neighborhood, their experience led to a landmark Supreme Court case that affirmed African Americans' rights to homeownership, including the right to defend their private property.

Benjamin Mitchell and his wife, Rosella, rented the …

The Memory-Keeping Daughter: Exploring Object Stories And Family Legacies From America's Modern Wars, Susan R. Grayzel

History Faculty Publications

This essay demonstrates how wartime objects can have a special resonance in families as keepers of memory, and it especially explores the role of daughters of military participants in preserving the artifacts of their veteran fathers. Using several case studies from a recent public history project collecting objects and object stories in the American southwest, it argues that a focus on daughters as caretakers of family military history offers a new way to engage with descendants' histories by showing how the work of such women can contribute to our understanding of modern war and its legacies.

Ix Jornadas Internacionales De Textiles Precolombinos Y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference On Pre-Columbian And Amerindian Textiles [Volumen Completo / Complete Volume]

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Comité Científico – Scientific Committee : Lena Bjerregaard, Arabel Fernández, Carolina Orsini, Ann Peters, Victòria Solanilla / Secretaría Científica – Scientific Secretary : Federica Villa

Milan, 19-22 octubre de 2022: Textiles arqueológicos de los Andes centrales – Archaeological textiles from the Central Andes / Textiles arqueológicos de los Andes sur - Archaeological textiles from the Southern Andes / Iconografía y simbolismo - Iconography and Symbolism / Estudios de colecciones - Collection Studies/ Conservación – Conservation / Textiles etnográficos - Ethnographic Textiles

Marina Pugliese / Carolina Orsini / Federica Villa / Daniela Biermann / Amy Oakland / Lizbeth Pariona, Carlos Rengifo …

Túnicas Masculinas A Fines Del Horizonte Medio En La Costa Sur Central Del Perú, No Uno Sino Varios Estilos, Rommel Angeles Falcón

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Las excavaciones arqueológicas en Huaca Malena (valle bajo de Asia), en la costa sur central del Perú, han permitido recuperar una importante cantidad de textiles procedentes de tumbas y de contextos secundarios de fines del período Horizonte Medio (Siglos VIII-XI d.C.). Destaca la variedad de túnicas o uncus que permiten visualizar la vestimenta masculina de la época y conocer aspectos de su tecnología, iconografía y de las relaciones inter-regionales que se dieron durante el estado wari.

Archaeological excavations at Huaca Malena (lower Asia valley), on the south central coast of Peru, have allowed the recovery of a significant amount of …

Moche-Wari Textiles From Huaca Del Sol, Moche Influence In The Middle Horizon, Amy Oakland

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This paper analyzes a selection of textiles excavated in 2013 in the destroyed late Middle Horizon (AD 800-1000) cemetery on Huaca del Sol, Huacas de Moche in the Moche Valley of northern Peru. The Huaca Sol textile group was woven with local, Moche style S-spun cotton yarns between AD 888-1050, calibrated radiocarbon dates along with a small number of Wari textiles, late Moche and Wari ceramics and ceramics in Casma and Cajamarca styles. Textile structure and design provide the basis for reconstruction into complete garment types known to other Middle Horizon collections on the central and southern coast where Moche …

An Examination Of An Inka(?) Aksu In The Collections Of The Textile Museum, Shelley Burian

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This paper presents the preliminary results and conclusions from an examination of an exceedingly rare example of a weft-face and tapestry-woven aksu in the collections of The Textile Museum. Patterned with figurative butterflies, the garment closely resembles those depicted by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in several of his illustrations of ceremonies and elite women. Its features present challenges for determining its dates and the level of social status it represents or confers. The similarity between the aksu’s butterflies and those in a checkerboard unku in the Field Museum provides suggestive evidence for its use in an official state setting. …

Inka Khipus, Thread Wrappings And Subject Markers, Lucrezia Milillo

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This work aims to contribute to our current understanding of how information was organized in khipus, Andean colourful knotted cords used as writing. If the idea that khipu signs could work as a flow chart was common in the last two decades, it is not until the notion of kayte as subject marker was elaborated by Sabine Hyland on the basis of Julio C. Tello's notes that the theory could be discussed on more empirical grounds. So far, the term “kayte” applied to needlework bundles, pompons or tufts attached to the beginning of the primary cord. In this work, the …

Evidencias De Tecnología Textil En Un Basural Del Santuario De Pachacamac, Rommel Angeles Falcón, Susana Abad, Janet Oshiro

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Recientes excavaciones arqueológicas en el santuario arqueológico de Pachacamac, valle de Lurín, Costa Central del Perú, permitieron identificar un denso basural del período Inca (Siglos XV-XVI) que contenía una importante cantidad de elementos relacionados a la actividad textil: husos, piruros, ovillos, espadas, estacas y peines, entre otros que permiten visualizar la cadena operativa que se realizaba en el santuario de Pachacamac.

Recent archaeological investigations in the archeological site of Pachacamac (Lurin Valley, Central Coast of Peru) allowed us to identify a dense Inca garbage dump (XV-XVI centuries) that contained an important amount of textile artifacts: spindles, piruros, balls, swords, stakes …

Equivalencias Entre La Indumentaria De Mesoamérica Y De La Zona Andina, Victòria Solanilla Demestre

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Al igual que en Jornadas anteriores presenté signos comunes en los textiles, mi interés sigue siendo buscar paralelismos y/o significados parecidos o iguales entre las dos principales zonas culturales de América precolombina: Mesoamérica y la Zona Andina, ya que creo firmemente que hubo contactos entre ellas. En esta ocasión trataré el tema de las equivalencias en las indumentarias, que creo necesitará igualmente diferenciarlas fuentes de información, como hice en anteriores ocasiones. En Mesoamérica, es preceptiva la consulta de las fuentes escritas; y en este caso las dibujadas, pues serán las principales. Además, recurriremos al estudio de las figurillas de arcilla …

Entre Lo Simbólico Y Lo Material. Textiles Moche Para La Eternidad, Arabel Fernández López

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Una revisión de distintas evidencias materiales provenientes principalmente de contextos funerarios de personajes de la élite gobernante mochica, así como de las imágenes plasmadas en la cerámica, metales y arte mural policromo, dejan entrever aspectos poco conocidos sobre el rol que cumplió la textilería en esta sociedad (100 – 850 d. C.), revelando una serie de temas simbólicos vinculados a los mitos y ritos que formaron parte de la cosmovisión andina mochica que, además, se fundieron con la propuesta ideológica impuesta por la clase gobernante. Las evidencias y contextos registrados durante las excavaciones arqueológicas permiten sostener que, en los distintos …

Behind The Scenes In Museum Collecting: The Destinies Of Henry Wellcome’S Pre-Hispanic Textiles, Penelope Dransart

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

In this article, I explore the sale of pre-Hispanic textiles from Andean countries, especially Peru, demonstrating networks between collectors, auction houses and researchers. Sir Henry S. Wellcome (1856-1936) was a North American pharmaceutical entrepreneur. After transferring his commercial interests to London in 1880, he bought textiles and other antiquities at auctions. I outline the activities of Wellcome staff in registering the textiles in Wellcome’s store at Willesden, London. Textiles which preserve Wellcome labels now in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and the National Museums of Liverpool are described. I examine the case of a distinctive Wari …

Las Warakas (Hondas) De Arena Blanca, Cerro Colorado Y Wari Kayan En La Península De Paracas: Nuevos Datos E Interpretaciones, Jessica Lévy Contreras, Ann H. Peters

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Las hondas o warakas halladas en la Península de Paracas, contextos mortuorios que datan del final del Formativo Tardío a inicios del Periodo Intermedio Temprano, 400 a.C. – 250 d.C., ofrecen datos inéditos para entender mejor su confección, uso y función simbólica. A partir del estudio de los registros gráficos y fotográficos de las excavaciones de la tumba T.27 en Arena Blanca, realizadas por Engel y Bischof en 1959, hemos desarrollado un nuevo estudio de sus materiales, tanto para la recuperación de los datos como para su puesta en valor, teniendo en cuenta las problemáticas arqueológicas actuales. Hemos comparado los …

Un Rompecabezas Textil En Las Colecciones Del Mudec: Conservación Y Exposición De Una Prenda Chuquibamba, Carolina Orsini, Cinzia Oliva

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

En este artículo presentamos las estrategias adoptadas para conservar un textil de estilo Chuquibamba procedente del mercado anticuario. La pieza había sido reconstruida al azar para darle un aspecto “integro” y facilitar su venta. Las intervenciones permitieron reconstruir su aspecto original y proponer una hipótesis sobre su función.

In this paper we present the strategies adopted to conserve a Chuquibamba textile circulating in the antique market. The piece had been reconstructed randomly to give it an “intact” appearance and facilitate its sale. The interventions made it possible to reconstruct its original appearance and to do some conjectures about its function.

Metamorfosis Del Huipil De Chicahuaxtla A Través Del Tiempo, Yatahli Otilia Rosas Sandoval, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

El estudio sistemático de los tejidos que resguardan los museos suelen realizarse por personas ajenas a las comunidades de origen de dichas piezas. Este trabajo presenta un acercamiento entre el Colectivo Llana Huaricnn conformado por tejedoras de la localidad de San Andrés Chicahuaxtla en Oaxaca, México, y el Museo Textil de Oaxaca, con la intención de mirar en conjunto las características técnicas de un grupo de huipiles resguardados tanto por el Colectivo, como por el Museo. El trabajo en conjunto permitió desarrollar una ficha técnica que incluyera información relevante para ambas partes involucradas. El resultado final permite cuestionar las prácticas …

Estudio, Análisis E Intervención De Las Sandalias Procedentes De La Colección Frissell, Oaxaca, Gloria Martha Sánchez Valenzuela, Amaranta González Hurtado

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La colección Frissell es considerada como uno de los acervos más importantes del estado de Oaxaca y la más rica en arte zapoteco; aun cuando la mayor parte del conjunto está constituido por piezas de cerámica precolombina, esta también cuenta con algunos objetos de origen orgánico como fragmentos textiles y sandalias, de los que lamentablemente se desconoce su procedencia exacta; sin embargo, gracias al análisis realizado a su técnica de factura se presupone que son de origen prehispánico y que pudieron ser extraídos de alguna cueva de los alrededores del Valle de Oaxaca. En total, la colección cuenta con cinco …