Objects of material culture are not always those items most commonly explored in the art classroom, and are, instead, the frequently overlooked things in people's everyday world. They are the items people collect in their homes, carry with them in backpacks, purses, and pockets, and stow on shelves in the back of closets--often the things they should discard but cannot bring themselves to do so. Material culture also describes the things people proudly display in their lives--photos, artworks, and handcrafted objects, memorabilia from past trips, and markers of time and life's adventures. The term "material culture" delineates the entire array of objects in the world. These items become, then, tangible reminders of the many told and silent stories that make up people's lives. This article presents brief overviews of nine specific strategies, acquired from literature outside art education, which could be employed in the study and teaching of material culture. The authors have selected these approaches for investigating material culture because they are drawn from an array of academic areas, thus reflecting the wide breadth of interest being generated toward analyzing material culture. These strategies for studying material culture are taken from published writings by scholars within the fields of anthropology, museum studies, popular culture, American studies, folklore, history, and environmental aesthetics, thus showcasing the multi-disciplinary interest that exists in exploring material culture. The approaches the authors present in this article move from a primarily object-based orientation to those that are more environmentally grounded. The authors utilize these approaches in their work with graduate and undergraduate students and by their students during their work in schools, museums, and community arts centers with children, youth, and adults. (Contains 2 endnotes.)