Reconstruction Template Sample

This was compiled by students from discussions of their reconstruction experience. It is shared here not as a model for you to follow, but as an example of the kinds of responses that you might receive from students when they are asked to reflect on how to conduct reconstruction experiments.

Projected Outcome

  • What are the goals of your reconstruction?

    • What historical question are you trying to answer?

      • How do the compromises you need/want to make affect your ability to answer that question?
        • BE UP FRONT ABOUT YOUR COMPROMISES!

    • How to define success or failure in a reconstruction?

      • Are there parameters of accuracy that need to be defined (e.g., of measurements, of material qualities, etc.?)
      • What are you looking for out of this process?
      • What elements of your goals and process will you want to be able to communicate to your reader?

  • What do you think you are trying to make (as an outcome)? How do you imagine it?

    • E.g., are you shooting for a proof-of-concept? Are you aiming for something unknown?
    • How far is it possible to reconstruct concepts as opposed to products?
    • What kind of (historical) questions do you think you can open up through this reconstruction?
    • E.g., yield - how much are you making? How much is needed to meet your goals?
      • This can be especially important when qualitative assessments are still unknown
      • This is part of scenario-building (i.e., imagining the step-by-step process and potential outcomes of your reconstruction)
      • Why are there quantities in the recipe as big/small as they are?

  • How can reconstruction lead you to a closer reading—raising questions that you otherwise would not have considered?

  • If you had more time, what other questions would you have wanted to address?

  • How can subsequent iterations get you closer to an answer to your historical question?

Materials

  • How available are the materials listed in the recipe?

  • Where to source the materials?

  • Are materials today comparable to what they were when the recipe was written? How precise can we get with materials?

  • How does the way a given material is used across a wide range of recipes affect the way we think about materials and their meanings?

  • How does process affect our interpretation of materials?

  • Are there materials (or tools or techniques) that can compromise your reconstruction?

Research

  • What is the original context of the recipe? How much does your context differ?

  • What can we know of the relative values of materials, then and now?

  • Where do we start with a given reconstruction? Can we identify steps that can be skipped over? What are the consequences of moving around a step?

Process

  • Need to think about process - is it possible (proof-of-concept)?

  • Emotional investment - how does this shape your approach, and what you end up focusing on?

  • How does the readiness of materials today affect the kind of plans and compromises we make in reconstruction?

  • Quantitative precision? Can an overemphasis on precision get in the way of a more historical approach to making? Are there unanticipated markers, tacit, implicit, or otherwise, for precision that emerge as you undertake your reconstruction? Are there useful markers of consistency that can help you evaluate your progress?

    • What is the balance between quantitative accuracy and approximation? When does eye-balling a process/material/quantity tip from “inaccuracy” to a matter of “tacit knowledge”?

  • How are tools black-boxing (hide, or form shortcuts for techniques and knowledge) in your reconstruction?

  • How might historical constraints of tools, techniques, and materials have spurred them to adopt different markers for stages in process?

    • E.g., before transparent glass lids, were there ways of hearing something bubbling? What other senses were being called into action because we rely so heavily on visual cues?