Each student in this class has chosen a particular object as a way of illustrating the history of American ethnicity. One way of describing these objects is that they constitute the “material culture” (the “stuff”) that we can study to understand the past. Objects might be photographs, editorial cartoons, postcards, trade cards or advertisements, memorial statues, books, films, government publications, baseball cards, or song sheets. We examined these objects to understand who made them and why, how they were used and by whom, and what we can learn about ethnic history from studying them. Did these photographs appear in a newspaper or a personal collection or a government publication? Were postcards or trade cards pasted into scrapbooks? How do these objects help us document and explain changes in American ethnic identities?
![Roy Takano [i.e., Takeno] at town hall meeting, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, [1943]. Source: Ansel Adams, Manzanar War Relocation Center photographs, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.](https://sites.udel.edu/hist268-030-f15/files/2015/10/00113r-vafofm.jpg)
Roy Takano [i.e., Takeno] at town hall meeting, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, [1943]. Source: Ansel Adams, Manzanar War Relocation Center photographs, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
