Building media history from fragments: a material history of Philip Carpenter’s manufacturing practice

Abstract

This article will present methods for a material analysis of historical objects. I reflect on my own research practice and show how I use close study of objects and material fragments to reveal the manufacturing and retail infrastructures surrounding the instruments of early nineteenth-century optician, Philip Carpenter. I consider the methodologies of different media historians and suggest ways of expanding a focused material study into a broader historical framework. Finally, I use the work of historian Fernand Braudel to suggest methods for developing big histories that can answer larger structural and developmental questions beyond the focus of micro-historical frameworks.