Archive of technology, entertainment and everyday life
On the Río de la Plata frontier, a pulpería could bring together the sale of provisions and social interaction. Material culture offers a way to study these establishments without mistaking evidence from one locality for a region-wide experience.
Open storyInventories, wills and dowry records reveal how furniture in colonial Córdoba shaped visits, marked differences in wealth and helped organize domestic spaces structured by gender hierarchies.
Open storyThe MAUTO’s story began with a collection assembled from 1933 and a first venue opened beneath a stadium’s stands in 1939. Its history shows how a museum can tell more than the technical story of the automobile.
Open storyThe Libro de acedrex, dados e tablas is not just a medieval catalogue, but the foundational document that systematized chess, dice, and tables, transforming courtly leisure into a verifiable rule system.
Open storyBeyond the Royal Game of Ur, there is a network of 20-square boards connecting ancient and modern traditions. This analysis examines documentary evidence about this ludic family and its persistence in Western culture.
Open storyAn analysis of the 8×8 grid as a functional component organizing positions and decisions, positioning the board as a material document rather than just a game object.
Open storyWe analyze the Royal Game of Ur not just as an ancient artifact, but as a key piece for understanding sociality, chance, and status in Sumerian Mesopotamia.
Open storyModern chess is not a static invention but the result of centuries of cultural exchange. This article examines the transition from Indian chaturanga to Persian shatranj and, finally, to the 15th-century European version, highlighting the structural changes that defined modern rules.
Open storyThe 64-square board is not an aesthetic choice but the result of historical standardization connecting 6th-century India with 15th-century Europe. This article analyzes how the fixed 8x8 geometry allowed for changing rules to coexist and consolidated chess as a universal cultural object.
Open storyA review of available evidence on the peinetón in Buenos Aires between 1820 and 1837. The article distinguishes verifiable data on its use and chronology from social interpretations that require further sources.
Open storyInvented in 1920 in the Soviet Union, the theremin is played by moving the hands near its antennas. Its distinctive interaction is clear, but the available evidence cannot establish a detailed technical or musical history.
Open storyMuseum records can help locate specific albums and collectibles, but identifying an item is not enough to reconstruct a series, its variants or the networks through which collectors exchanged pieces. What a catalogue can establish—and what requires further documentation.
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