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Statement of Purpose Studies in American Material Culture

 

My name is Jeanette Bendolph and I am a MA student of Temple University’s Public History program. I received my B.A. in History and minors in Africana studies and Museum Studies from the University of Delaware (UD) in 2019. During my undergraduate career, I completed internships and research in the state of Delaware pertinent to my historical and career interest. My sophomore year, I interned at the Delaware Historical Society in which I created a program for junior high students to evaluate changes over time of Delaware’s laws of eminent domain, immigration, and segregation. The following year, I participated in UD’s Summer Scholars program in which I researched and crafted a PowerPoint which detailed the social and political climate of Victorian Era Britain for its Black citizens. As a senior, I interned at the New Castle Historical Society in New Castle, DE and researched, curated, and created an exhibition which detailed the early childhood development practices of Delawareans of the 19th and 20th century. After completing my Public History degree, I wish to become a museum interpreter and/or an exhibition designer.

By taking the course Studies in American Material Culture, I hope to broaden my knowledge in matters of era, design, origin, and usage regarding various historical artifacts. For example, I would love to be able to examine a chair and talk about its possible place of creation, a society, person, or community(s) that may have or continue to use the chair, and how this item may mean something completely different to another society. Likewise, I have always been highly interested in fashion, and though this course may not specifically hone in on artifacts like jewelry and clothing, I have always wanted to take time and examine certain objects of interest such as a vintage diamond necklace or a 19th century ballgown and decipher what materials it may be made of, what women may have worn the dress, how it is stored to retain its fabric and structure, and other questions about the period that particular dress may have been worn.

The object I have chosen to study and share with my peers will be a CAA Championships medal in which I earned during my last year of collegiate athletics.

           

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