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Object or Document:

Observation

What do you see in the object? Describe everything you can about it--content, imagery, text, style, craftsmanship

Analysis

Creator	Who created the object? What can you determine about the purpose for which it was created?
Audience	Who was the object for? What can you infer from the object about the use that was made of it?
Women	What specific information about women and their lives does this object convey?
Interpretation	Based on the evidence of this object or document, what was it like to be a woman in the years of your time period? How do you make sense of this document's testimony alongside the other evidence you have?
Questions	What questions do you now have? What other kinds of information would you like to see to understand the context more thoroughly?

Adapted from the Material Culture Analysis Guide by Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, State University of NY at Oneonta, at the American Memory Educators' Institute, Washington, D. C., July 20, 1999.