ABSTRACT
A cursory glance across the metres ofbook shelves on decorative art in bookstores and libraries, a visit to a museum, a trip to a historic building, or even a walk down your street, reveals a mass ofdata that would - were it not for its material form - be considered a gold mine ofprimary sources for historians. For some time, this mass ofhistorical evidence was often overlooked or sidelined, considered not the proper raw materials of a historian. As a staple ofhistorical training, material culture has generally been absent from most university history programmes. Increasingly, though, historians regard objects as a useful, even necessary, component of their study of the past. In this context, this book raises two central questions: 'How can objects be used in history?' and 'What can objects offer the historian?'
