James Deetz describes material culture in his book In Small Things Forgotten, as "not culture itself but its product."(24) He defines culture as socially transmitted rules for behavior, ways of thinking about and doing things.(Deetz 24) The ways in which we express ourselves onto the artifacts we use each day shows how we have been influenced by our culture.
The Pennsylvania Germans are good examples of a society of people conforming to the definitions of both culture and material culture. They had strongly accepted ways of doing things, from the way they built there barns, to the designs they put on their gravestones. They expressed the influences of their culture through their own distinct style of decorating known as "folk art". It reached its peak during the first half of the nineteenth century. Pennsylvania German folk art is a unique reflection of the people who designed it because it allowed for a personal and individual touch of each household. It served as an amateur form of expression which leaves the impression that the Pennsylvania Germans were happy, industrious, and religious people who loved their homes and lived in an atmosphere of mutual affection.(pp.12 Kauffman)
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