This course will examine an array of American vernacular buildings and landscapes from the colonial period to the present and consider what they can tell us about the past (and potentially the present). By vernacular, I refer to ordinary or "everyday" spaces and places that people encounter daily (houses, workspaces, institutional buildings) but rarely think about critically. Because these environments often were (and are) ordinary (that is, not high-style, not designed by architects, landscape architects, professional designers, etc.), traditional art historical frameworks that focus on stylistic categories or maker's biographies prove rather ineffective in interpreting them. Thus, this course will look at recent scholarship by scholars from the fields of anthropology, history, American studies, cultural geography, landscape architecture and history, folklore, and material culture to construct frameworks that help us describe the common buildings and landscapes of America and understand the historical significance they have had for their makers and users.

An all-day field trip studying historic buildings in southwestern Wisconsin (led by Arnold Alanen, Professor in Landscape Architecture) will be a highlight of the course, during which we will apply ideas learned in class to a "real world" landscape. Assignments in the course include exams, group work, short essays, and a major research paper on a building/landscape of the student's choosing. This course will be of interest to art history, folklore, history, landscape architecture, and interior design majors, especially those interested in pursuing careers in historic preservation, living history, and museum studies.