Winterthur Program in American Material Culture
Welcome to the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture
The Winterthur Program offers a Master’s Degree preparing Fellows for the interdisciplinary study of objects, landscapes, buildings, decorative arts, and design history, as well as craft history, exhibitions, and museum professions. Supported by unparalleled access to objects both within and outside the vast collections of the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, our students acquire practical and theoretical skills necessary to expand and confound predominant scholarship in material culture while preparing for careers in cultural heritage professions.
Register for one of the following dates by clicking a link below.
Winterthur Fellows Experience!
INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING
Students engage in both coursework and field study in all public humanities.
HANDS-ON STUDY
Students have access to renowned public & private collections, university and special collection libraries, scientific laboratories, and multimedia design studios.
FACULTY MENTORING
Students build life-long relationships with distinguished museum and university thought leaders.
PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP
Students contribute to ground-breaking scholarship in public humanities and material culture study.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Students are exceptionally prepared for careers in academic teaching, art and antiques markets, consulting, historic sites, museums, and preservation.
100%
of enrolled M.A. students receive full funding—a generous annual stipend for living expenses and free tuition—for their entire 22-month course of study.
Material Matters is a hub of innovative material culture research—the study of objects and what they reveal about individuals and societies. Material Matters is independently managed and written by the Fellows.
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Art conservation and fragile images
February 12, 2026 | Written by Lisa ChambersThe tension between permanence and disappearance makes a 19th-century transferware print a fitting project for Emma Reuther, a paper major in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. -
Death Becomes Her: Class, Gender, and Labor in the English Coffin Furniture Industry
April 29, 2025 | Written by Graham Titus, WPAMC ’25Most people don’t like to think about death, but death was an important part of everyday life for the workers at Newman Brothers’ Coffin Furniture Manufactory. -
History Under the Surface: A Punch Bowl at the International Slavery Museum
April 29, 2025 | Written by Katie Cynkar, WPAMC ’25From the 1767 oil painting, The Swing, by Jean-Honore Fragonard at The Wallace Collection, to a 1991 Super Nintendo at The Museum of the Home, I had the pleasure of seeing an extraordinary amount of visual and material culture on our trip to England for our British Design History course.
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