I'm a historian focusing on material culture who uses material culture as evidence. That is to say, while I use archival materials and documents to support my research, "actual" material objects are at the centre of my work (scientific instruments).

Among the historians I interact with frequently, I find I am quite rare (although there are many people like me in my field, but overall we are quite few). Some people indeed write about material culture, or use it illustratively in their writing, but far fewer people actually use museum collections (for example) as evidence. The use of material culture by historians as evidence continues to be written about as a somewhat niche or underdeveloped corner of history--outside of anthropology and archaeology, of course.

I'm curious to hear a few stories from other non-anthr/arch historians who may have an interest in material culture and have used material things, or considered using material things, as evidence. I'm including large-scale things (like buildings, sites and landscapes) as well as typical museum collections (musical instruments, household items) and the use of the material aspects of standard archival materials such as types of paper, booklets, ink types etc.

Do you believe that material culture is valuable to the average historian? Why do so few historians use material things--is it really because they lack training, or because they're not used to thinking that way, or because archives are "easier"? Does the standard output of a historian (i.e. articles, books) mean that typical historians find it difficulty to meaningfully incorporate material culture in their work?

I don't mean to be at all disrespectful in this question. I'm simply trying to understand the aim and process that the Nazis had.

I am reading Man's Search for Meaning and I was wondering: Why did the Nazi create the camps if the goal was extermination of the Jewish people. Wouldn't it have acheived their evil goal quicker to just make gas chambers / mass graves etc. Why give them clothes, beds, food etc (even if it was incredbily little and bad quality)? What was the benefit of creating the camps for the Nazis?

Also i was wondering what kind of work the Jews did. Was it practical or more like move that rock there and then move it back. Was the work created to simply try and make them suffer or was there work to be done and the Nazis so opportunity with the Jews in the camps to get free slave labor?

Thank you. Hopefully this doesn't get removed. 3rd time trying..

We can still see hundreds of bunkers, military houses or barbed wire at very high altitude from both side. Also many impressive (difficult to access) paths have been built in the mountains. Today most of the buildings are abandoned. Why all this military arsenal? Has it been used? What is the current status of French-Italian Alpine border?

Mediterranian nations have very rich history and succesfull cultures come out of them but in more modern history have been very unsuccesfull compared to more northern European countries. I know these countries have had their individual problems contributing to the state they are in now but is there some sort of common identifiable factor as to why the geographical location of prosperity in Europe has generally shifted north during the course of history or is it just coincidence?

Were they made independent? Was control given to other colonial powers like England or France? What happened

Where else could it have come from? Judaism nor Islam venerate saints like this so it seems like something uniquely Christian.

I know there is also a semantic difference in how Catholics pray to the saint to then pray on their behalf to God instead of directly to the saint and the saints thrmselves aren’t technically considered deities despite their supernatural feats, but those don’t really seem like functional differences.

Reading about the war online, I saw many sources about how conscription was used and entire villages and cities were detroyed. Sources say that tens of millions of people died. Also, the Hakka people were targeted as well. How did the rest of the world react? Did anyone have some foresight to see that something like this could occur again? Also, do historians think there were similaries between the Taipeng rebellion and WW1, the next total war? Thabks very much. I started reading on the war because I stumbled across it and it is not taught about at all in American schools. I was pretty confused as to why not.

I learned recently that Ireland was probably christianized by the Welsh (St. Patrick). The Irish christianized Scotland (technically Pictish tribes I guess), and I guess the English christianized the Welsh (please correct me if I am wrong). But who christianized the English? Wouldn’t Britain have been deromanized by the time of Constantine and the like? I apologize for any breaking of form, I am a bit new to reddit.

Noticed this when reading Thorgal recently. My first idea was that these other comics/manga simply copied the idea from Superman (although Dragonball seems to have borrowed from Sun Wukong also). But when looking a bit into it, it seems that at least with Superman the whole "star child" story possibly has a longer lineage. In the chapter "The Orphan in Comics and Graphic Novels" in The Orphan in Fiction and Comics since the 19th Century, Dirk Vanderbeke makes a few arguments relating the early Superman story to Jewish tales and to the Old Testament (hence my mention of Jewish stories in the title), as well as to the then-unfolding holocaust. His arguments include:

• Superman's birth name's possibly Hebrew etymology (relating Kal-El to "God" and "swiftness" respectively)

• Connections with the Jewish legend "The Star Child", which retells Abraham's exile. In it Abraham's birth was announced by a star (Kar-El supposedly meaning "Star Child" in Kryptonese)

• Noah is mentioned as "the sole survivor of a destroyed world", and Moses who was sent down the Nile as a baby to escape "the Pharaoh's mass slaughter of Hebrew children" (as analogues to the young Superman)

• For Vanderbeke "Both saviour figures [Noah and Moses] have to escape mass death, and in 1938, the year of the November pogroms in Germany, the topicality of such tales was evident."

To me some if not all of the associations seem to make sense, also given the Superman's creators Jewish backgrounds. But I'd like to learn more about how accepted such or other interpretations of the "star child" narrative are; and (if possible) about how its influence seems to've spread to other comics.

I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to find my grandfathers military service record. I know some of his service but it’s incomplete. What resources could I look into for this?

I’ve been lurking around here for a while and I think you guys are the best to ask for advice and help.

Edit:

My grandfather served in ww2 in the army. Drafted into the 32nd division 126th infantry k company. After that I get a little contradicting stories on where he was after his OCS.

One of his last conversations I had before he passed was his participation in the invasion of the Philippines.

He was an early wave of assaulters leading men on the beach and establishing a beach head. Once that was established he was returned to a ship with others of the 32nd to assist in the 41st divisions landings just north.

Now where I’m getting lost is his assignment after OCS and how often he was with the 32nd and where and when he was with the 41st and where.

It’s hard to track since both divisions semi merged after New Guinea due to the men lost and replacements where far away.

He was a perfect reserve officer after the war and his uniform has unit patches from the 32nd and 41st.

It’s a very unique part of the war and I’m really curious to know more.

If the Republican Spain was a democratic Government why did they allie with the Comunnists in the Spanish Civil War against the Nationalists. For Example they were with the UGT (communists) and the CNT/FAI (anarchist).

If men were trained to become soldiers, and women mothers, from a very young age, then who acted as magistrates, ministers or merchants, for example? Surely they wouldn't leave such tasks to slaves, but at the same time if most able bodied people were living for war or children, there wouldn't be many people alive or available left, at least not enough to sustain a complex society. So who was in charge of running Sparta?

Like Scotland and Ireland, Wales has retained a distinct culture and identity from the rest of the British Isles for thousands of years, during which it has been invaded or subjugated by the Romans, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, and of course the English.

However, unlike Scotland and Ireland, Wales and its people, history, culture and iconography seem to be quite obscure and don’t get much attention from outsiders, even here in the UK. I’m English, by the way.

I’m curious to know, why is that? Why are, say, Welsh stovepipe hats not as internationally famous and recognisable as Scottish kilts/tartan? Why have no Welsh myths or folktales become as iconic as leprechauns or St Patrick driving out the snakes in Ireland? Why is the Welsh national hero Prince Owain Glyn Dwr not featured in pop culture the way someone like William Wallace has featured in movies like Braveheart and video games like Age of Empires 2 and become a household name outside of his home country? Why do Americans descended from Welsh immigrants not take the same level of pride in their heritage as Irish Americans?

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