The Valsgärde collection : A study about the social life of things

This thesis examines the social life and cultural biography of five objects from the Valsgärde-collection at museum Gustavianum in Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of this study was to research the social life and cultural biography of five objects from the collection and what this means in relation to collections management, authenticity, digitalization and object-love. There is a special focus on authenticity and digitalization throughout the essay. There are mixed methods in the thesis, two interviews, phenomenology and object-based learning. The theoretical frame-work of the thesis were The Social Life of Things as well as authenticity, digitalization and collections management. In the analysis it showed that the social life of things as well as the cultural biography of things is something that is constantly constructed, and will shift and grow throughout time. The analysis also showed that a proper collections management will improve the cultural biography of things, it will also improve a more authentic digitalization. The conclusion of the thesis is that the social life of things is dynamic, even though some information may seem static. A cultural biography is possible to write about objects, however, not only one person can do this since we need academics from different branches to try and understand the objects. It is also important to when possible research the objects with your hands, in order to research one owns feelings. Further research on the topic could be done by more researchers investigating the objects, as well as a combination of testing of the material in order to trace the objects’ cultural biography in the prehistoric age. This is a two years master’s thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies