NVCC COLLEGE - WIDE COURSE CONTENT SUMMARY
HIS 187 - INTERPRETING MATERIAL CULTURE  (3 CR.)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Surveys America's material culture and provides techniques to interpret artifacts.  Lecture 3 hours per week.

GENERAL COURSE PURPOSE

This course will examine America’s architectural, cultural, and historical resources and the historic, social, economic, political, and environmental forces that shaped them, as well as, the means to interpret these artifacts.

ENTRY LEVEL COMPETENCIES

General college entrance competencies

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion, students should be able to:

    A. develop research techniques to find sources of material culture,

    B. appreciate the relationship and meaning of artifact and historic preservation, and

    C. identify and catalogue interior and hardware furnishings in case studies.

MAJOR TOPICS TO BE COVERED
    A. Introduction and definition of terms

    B. The Search for Material Culture
     

      1. oral tradition
      2. documents
      3. museums
      4. private holdings


    C. The meaning of material culture and preservation

       
      1. artifact and context
      2. spatial relationship
      3. hardware and interiors
      4. furnishings
      5. vernacular architecture
      6. impermanent structures


    D. Virginia Architecture and material culture

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