1. Research Tips and Ideas:
Portuguese Explorations of Africa in the 15th century

2. Which topic to choose? My objects: Masks? Africa? Exotic/primitive?
State of knowledge
How knowledge changes over time
Societal forces that influenced collection of similar objects

3. The Research Process
Gain a pretty good knowledge of your time period- political borders, powerful nations, etc.
Establish strong connections between your theme, knowledge-making, and real collections before starting to write the paper
Prince Henry of Portugal, “The Navigator,”
The caravela redonda
An African according to Pliny in Natural History, one of the Blemmyae people

4. Course reserves are awesome!
Things to keep in mind:
Course reserves are awesome!
Be creative in connecting a more modern object to the Renaissance
Never hesitate to ask a question or collaborate
Research might seem tedious at times, but it pays off
Use illustrations
My cell number:

5. Going from research paper to catalog entry
Consider collecting traditions
Be sensitive to
controversial ideas
Research provenance
and history early on

6. Helpful resources
Konstam, Angus. Historical Atlas of Exploration London: Mercury Books London, 2006.
-for general timeline and info about exploration and political power
Impey, Oliver, and Arthur MacGregor. The Origins of Museums. New York: Oxford University Press,
-for finding specific collections housing your type of object
Brotton, Jeremy. The Renaissance Bazaar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
-for researching merchant routes in connection with the Renaissance
Try the Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History and other museums’ websites for research clues
The Wikipage for the class has a list of on-line resources (“Helpful Research and Reference Pages”)