Sarah Anne Carter has been the curator and director of research at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee since 2013. Established in the 1960s with the purpose of preserving and interpreting the decorative arts and material culture, the foundation partnered with the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1999 in order to share their collections and research with the public.
The Chipstone Foundation maintains a collection ranging from early American furniture to historical prints and ceramics and seeks to enhance appreciation and knowledge of American material culture by students, researchers and the general public. Carter, co-author of the book Tangible Things: Making History through Objects, has used her passion for material artifacts to share the historical and cultural stories behind everyday objects. Tangible Things is a cultural study of the seemingly ordinary items that surround us and the social evolution behind our material culture. Tangible Things is built around 20 separate case studies that take readers from the Galapagos Islands to India and from the third to the 20th centuries and is supplemented with more than 200 beautiful photographs that illustrate American visual history. Tangible Things both inspires and entertains as it presents an innovative and unprecedented close examination of the diverse array of objects in our midst.
Carter is a Harvard graduate who received her Ph.D. in the history of American civilization in 2010. She has served as a visiting lecturer of history at Harvard since 2013. Carter will discuss her book, Tangible Things, at Boswell Book Co. at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6.
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Book Happening:
Dawson Barrett
7 p.m., Aug. 7
People’s Books Cooperative
804 E. Center St.
Dawson Barrett, who received his Ph.D. in history from UW-Milwaukee in 2013, is the author of a new book that chronicles U.S. history from the American Revolution to today by telling the remarkable, true stories of young people who changed the course of the nation. Teenage Rebels: Stories of Successful High School Activists, From the Little Rock 9 to the Class of Tomorrow, is an inspiring look at issues ranging from segregation and women’s rights to the environment and censorship, and the power that young people have to make a difference.
