History Matters (Object, Image, Text)

Module overview

History is not just about studying written documents and sources; historians examine the ‘stuff’ of history, including objects, images, and buildings which were made and used by people in the past. We can also ‘read’ these sources, if we know how to approach them. Focusing particularly on non-written sources, this module invites you to think more about visual and material sources, such as buildings, paintings, clothing, and digitised sources, as well as the impact and significance of how historians interact with these. Thinking about how the digital age has changed our approach to, and use of, sources, you will have the opportunity to engage with our Digital Humanities Hub, which provides access to ground-breaking technologies such as ArcGIS, digital scanning, and 3D imaging and printing.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

key methodologies for interrogating non-written sources.
key secondary source material relating to the use of non-written sources.
the historical study and analysis of non-written sources and the different approaches taken by historians to such sources.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

utilise and develop your time-management skills.
research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written essays and reviews.
locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line, synthesising this material in order to develop cogent arguments.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

analyse critically a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources.
use source material to illuminate problems and issues from past periods
engage with secondary literature on non-written sources, and explore the debates relating to the historiography of such sources

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include lectures and workshops.

Learning methods include close analysis of a range of primary sources and discussion of key themes and ideas.

Study time
Type	Hours
Tutorial	12
Completion of assessment task	50
Lecture	12
Preparation for scheduled sessions	50
Wider reading or practice	26
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Elizabeth Merrill (2022). Creating place in early modern European architecture. Amsterdam University Press.

Maria Hayward (2012). The Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII. London Record Society.

Bodenhamer, David J., John Corrigan, and Trevor Harris, eds. (2010). The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship. Indiana University Press.

Ivan Gaskell, Sarah Anne Carter (2020). The Oxford Handbook of History and Material Culture. Oxford: OUP.

John Berger (1973). Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	50%
Written assignment	50%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Resubmit assessments	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	50%
Written assignment	50%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External