Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Historians of nineteenth-century politics are only just beginning fully to appreciate the potential of material objects to illuminate (rather than just illustrate) political culture.They have been slow to follow in the footsteps of their counterparts working on the long eighteenth century, who have been far more receptive to the methodologies and perspectives of the burgeoning field of 'material culture studies', a receptiveness that stems, perhaps, from an earlier interest in the commercialisation and commodification of politics.1 It could be argued that historians of Victorian politics have little need to incorporate material culture into their research as they enjoy an embarrassment of text-based riches -the papers of individuals and organisations, the extensive Victorian press, printed memoirs and pamphlets, to name but a few of the most mined sources.Even where such printed sources might fruitfully be viewed through a material culture lens -as, for example, with various forms of 'ephemera', such as bill posters and cartoons, whose role in creating a public spectacle was as important as their textual content -the response from historians has been uneven.2 It is easy to 1
Authors: Mark Nixon, Gordon Pentland, Matthew Roberts
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2010595250