Upon reading the introduction to A History of the World in 100 Objects a few things in particular caught my attention.  I immediately noticed and admired how the colleges of the British Museum map out their challenges in attempting to get a completely unbiased perspective on the history of the world (and almost a disclaimer that such a feat is impossible to attain in its entirety).  To be knowledgeable to think beyond the context of our own cultures and aware that there are other cultures who have voiced themselves differently, or have not been able to voice themselves at all, is imperative when trying to get an unbiased account of history.  Analyzing objects as a way to receive and decipher history is a great and innovative way to attempt this.

Paying more attention to writings than objects is a significant problem that they faced when trying to account for an accurate history.  I thought this was very interesting, as a lot of civilizations and time periods did not use the written word.  Using objects as a way to detail the past sheds a new light on this time periods that equally deserve of a rich history as the written nations.  It also gives a chance to give defeated nations back a voice.

However, using objects to retrieve history is much more difficult than writings, and a great deal of imagination is necessary to put the pieces together.  Fortunately though, the story of New Paltz is not quite so ancient, I believe, that we will have entire gaps of our history completely unaccounted for.  I suppose that we will have the help of both the written word and old objects to construct our history, but we must always keep in mind that our account of history will never be fully complete or accurate, and sometimes we need to remind ourselves that it is possible an interpretation we have is completely inaccurate.  The poem of the jade ring inaccurately being a bowl holder is a good example and reminder of that.  Regardless, there is a poetic element involved in creating a history of things.

The authors of this book’s consideration in trying to get a full history through all the lenses of the world is an ambitious feat, and some of there tasks and problems could be good pointers for our own project.  Such as the fact that which objects survived (typically stone and hardier ones) can add their own personal bias to the history, and the consistent ever-changing meaning of objects throughout time.