Last summer, Stephanie Vaccaro noticed a history class offered at the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum that piqued her interest.
The course allowed students to examine and explore artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection that represented early America.
It would come to include engravings, metalwork, sketches from the 1700s and 1800s, and even a locket from the same time period used to mourn the young woman painted on it.
Within the first few weeks of class, Vaccaro gravitated toward a white and blue porcelain teapot that was likely more than 200 years old.
“When else am I going to get within breathing room of a Qing dynasty artifact?” said Vaccaro, who was raised in New York City and is half Chinese. “It was a really interesting approach, as I’d never used an object to look at the history of trade between China and the West.”
These remnants of early American life were part of professor Ashli White’s history course this past fall, Objects in History: The Material Culture of Early America. And as the 17 students delved into each piece’s story and function, they learned intricate details about the lives of these early Americans and helped create a virtual exhibit called “Cultural Currents,” now displayed on the Lowe’s website, with interactive displays of the relics.
“The goal of the class was to think about early America capaciously and then to consider its global connections—to Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific Rim,” said White, who also chairs the Department of History at the College of Arts and Sciences. “Our collections at the Lowe allow us to take advantage of objects that reveal new things about early America, and thanks to my collaboration with key staff, we were able to introduce this facet into the course that enhanced it enormously.”
During the course, students learned about material culture—or how objects were used in society for certain goals and motivations, and how studying these items can help us to understand history more thoroughly. It is also an area where White has unique insight. Before completing her doctorate, White attended the Winterthur Program in Delaware, which trains aspiring museum curators using the collections of Henry Francis du Pont. As a result, White worked with Lowe staff to assemble a collection for the class from the 16th to mid-19th centuries, and it was placed in a dedicated case at the Lowe last semester.
The ability to choose an item and delve into its history also appealed to Harrison Vanderground, a first-year business analytics major. He chose a sketch of British Captain James Cook approaching native people in Hawaii, and through his research, learned about the early history of the Hawaiian Islands and trade interests in the region.
“I wanted a history course that wasn’t typical, so I thought this would be unique, and it captured a different area of history,” said Vanderground. “I really enjoyed it, and throughout the semester I was interested in learning about how my object contributed to global material culture.”
Vanderground learned that the artist John Webber was on the ship with Captain Cook as he explored the Pacific Islands to find better trade routes to China.
Students also got a full tour of the Lowe on one of the first days of class and got to photograph their artifacts up close during the class, with the help of the museum's registrar, Natasha Zabala. They also learned a bit about how to do 3D scanning, also known as photogrammetry, from museum educator Yatil Etherly, and presented their research on the items at the end of the semester. While it was the second time White taught the course, she was encouraged by the results. The students worked to organize each of their pieces into three sections, based on their interpretations and research—movement, moment, and character and narrative. White hopes to teach the class again in the future, but a date is not scheduled yet.
“I was really pleased with what they did in such a short amount of time,” she said.
