Material Matters, the tenth annual Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars, took place at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in April 2012.

Organized by an interdisciplinary graduate student committee at the University of Delaware and co-sponsored by the Center for Material Culture Studies, the University of Delaware’s College of Arts and Sciences, and Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, the symposium provided graduate students and emerging academics with a venue for cross-disciplinary conversation related to the study of material culture. First held in 2003, this is the oldest conference in the country dedicated to encouraging young scholars in their material culture research.

The presenters at the 2012 symposium explored the state of material culture studies today. We asked participants to consider the potential for object-based research to expand and even reinvent our understanding of culture and history. Here, we worked with several of our presenters to revise and publish their work for a broader audience. Please enjoy their research and consider submitting your own work for presentation at future symposia.