Recommended reading
American Surgical Instruments by Call Number: WO11.AA1.E2a.1997ISBN: 0930405706Publication Date: 1997-09-01A comprehensive history and directory of the American surgical instrument trade before the 20th century provides information. A great insight into the makers and dealers who provided tools for surgery and the individuals who performed it. It is a tremendous and much-needed resource for historians, curators, and instrument collectors.
Tangible Things by ISBN: 9780199382293Publication Date: 2014-11-08In a world obsessed with the virtual, tangible things are once again making history. Tangible Things invites readers to look closely at the things around them, ordinary things like the food on their plate and extraordinary things like the transit of planets across the sky. It argues that almost any material thing, when examined closely, can be a link between present and past. The exhibition challenged the rigid distinctions between history, anthropology, science, and the arts. It showed that object-centered inquiry inevitably leads to a questioning of categories within and beyond history.
Ask Us
Contextualizing Your Artifact
Artifacts are essential and complementary to character-based primary sources because they solidify and build a palpable dimension. Every artifact is unique, and some may require more resources. Below are some questions and methods to help gain momentum in your research about your artifact.
Questions for Your Artifact Research
- What do you think this is made of?
- How was it made? Can you see apparent materials?
- What about the technique? Can you observe the quality of the technique and object?
- Can the object's technique and material describe its intended use or users?
- What is the size?
- By looking at its size, perhaps at some point, we can determine where materials were sourced, its mobility, and the scope of its intended use.
- By looking at its size, perhaps at some point, we can determine where materials were sourced, its mobility, and the scope of its intended use.
- Is there any text? How is the text presented?
- Does the placement of the text seem appropriate? Is it a name? An accompanied body of text? A logo?
- What about the format? What is the intention of the format? Can it tell us who it was intended for or how it is supposed to be used?
- What is the condition of the item?
- Are there any signs of visible damage or stains?
- What might this tell you about the materials? Or, what about how it is stored and meant to be stored?
- Are there areas of the item that seem more worn or damaged than others?
- What can these areas tell you about how it was used?
- What can these areas tell you about how it was used?
- Are there any signs of visible damage or stains?
- Where was an item like this used? Is there something similar to it? Was there a location where this item might have been used at most?
- Who could have used this item?
- Could this item tell you about the intended audience's socioeconomic status? Gender? Occupation?
- Could this item tell you about the intended audience's socioeconomic status? Gender? Occupation?
- What can the quality, technique, and material tell you about who made or authored the piece?
- How does this information allow us to understand the maker or the author further?
First, Conduct a Search in UMN Libraries
When locating books, journals, artifacts, film, and audio recordings from the University of Minnesota Libraries catalog:
- Try using the Advanced Catalog Search feature and limit the results
- Limit search to Catalog Only
- Limit search scope to Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology & Medicine
- Enter desired search terms, filters, and dates if necessary
Search and Retreive in a Database
Databases like PubMed can be extremely helpful in gathering more evidence in your research. PubMed is a free resource containing more than 36 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature. Here is an example of search and retrieval.
- Select Advance on the PubMed homepage
- Enter terms in the Advance Search Builder "Query Box"
- Include the MeSH Subject Heading of "history of medicine" along with your search term in the query box
- Here is an example: ("history of medicine"[MeSH]) AND ("surgical instruments"[MeSH])
Or, to obtain more results, try including the MeSH Subheading in your search term within the query.
- Enter terms in the Advance Search Builder "Query Box"
- Include the MeSH Subheading of "history" along with your search term in the query box
- Here is an example: ("surgical instruments"[MeSH]) AND ("history"[MeSH Subheading])
Wow, this is the result of our initial query and using alternate terms!
Using Google Lens
When conducting your artifact research, you will be surprised at how many similar artifacts are on the World Wide Web. A great tool that can significantly assist your research journey in identifying artifacts is Google Lens.
- Go to Google's home page.
- Locate and select the camera icon
- You will be redirected to the Google Lens page.
- Drag and drop your image into the box, upload a file, or search the image with a link.
