Winterthur Program in American Material Culture

The University of Delaware and the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library established this program in 1952 to promote the study of American material culture and the decorative arts at the graduate level. The program continues to lead museum and academic scholarship, and graduates hold key positions in academic institutions, government, libraries, museums, and preservation organizations.

Material culture scholars study the history and philosophy of people and their things. The Winterthur Program’s special niche is its emphasis on the interdisciplinary study of ideas, objects, and contexts using the extraordinary collections of the Winterthur Museum, and field-based study of landscapes, buildings, decorative arts, and design. No other program offers the same range of hands-on study of objects at either a Master’s or Doctoral level.