Announcing a new series from Ashgate Publishing Company

The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700-­1950

Series Editor:
Michael Yonan
University of Missouri

The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700­1950, provides a
forum for the broad study of object acquisition and collecting practices in
their global dimensions from the eighteenth through the mid-twentieth
centuries. The series seeks to illuminate the intersections between material
culture studies, art history, and the history of collecting. HMCC takes as
its starting point the idea that objects both contributed to the formation
of knowledge in the past and likewise contribute to our understanding of the
past today. The human relationship to objects has proven a rich field of
scholarly inquiry, with much recent scholarship either anthropological or
sociological rather than art historical in perspective. Underpinning this
series is the idea that the physical nature of objects contributes
substantially to their social meanings, and therefore that the visual,
tactile, and sensual dimensions of objects are critical to their
interpretation. HMCC therefore seeks to bridge anthropology and art history,
sociology and aesthetics. It encompasses the following areas of concern:

1. Material culture in its broadest dimension, including the high arts of
painting and sculpture, the decorative arts (furniture, ceramics, metalwork,
etc.), and everyday objects of all kinds.

2. Collecting practices, be they institutionalized activities associated
with museums, governmental authorities, and religious entities, or
collecting done by individuals and social groups.

3. The role of objects in defining self, community, and difference in an
increasingly international and globalized world, with cross-cultural
exchange and travel the central modes of object transfer.

4. Objects as constitutive of historical narratives, be they devised by
historical figures seeking to understand their past or in the form of modern
scholarly narratives.

The series publishes interdisciplinary and comparative research on objects
that addresses one or more of these perspectives and includes monographs,
thematic studies, and edited volumes of essays.

Proposals should take the form of either:

1. a preliminary letter of inquiry, briefly describing the project; or
2. a formal prospectus including: abstract, brief statement of your
critical methodology, table of
contents, sample chapter, estimated word count, estimate of the number and
type of
illustrations to be included, and a c.v.

Please send a copy of either type of proposal to the series editor and to
the publisher:

Professor Michael Yonan, yonanmmissouri.edu
Meredith Norwich, Commissioning Editor, mnorwichashgate.com

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