Material Culture and Early Modern Archivality: A Dialogue

This introductory article provides a theoretical foundation for the multi-authored conversation developed in the special issue Archives & Objects. It argues for a greater attention to the role of non-textual artifacts in the practice of record-keeping throughout the early modern world and more generally for a mutually beneficial dialogue between the material and archival "turns"in historical studies. The article begins with a discussion of the merits of combining current research in the history of material culture with the emerging concept of "archivality."It continues with an exploration of the material side of archives and archival records. Finally, it discusses the logic behind the incorporation of objects into different types of early modern repositories, the effects of their frequent displacement, and the importance of restoring the close relationship that once existed between textual and non-textual documentation.