Maquet, Jacques, "Objects As Instruments, Objects As Signs" History From Things: Essays on Material Culture , editors Steven Lubar David Kingery (USA: Smithsonian Institution, 1993) 30-40.

Maquet's semiotically based methodology examines an object from two different perspectives: Instrument and Sign, within which he derives semiotic sub-categories which progress to become more culture-specific; instrument, symbol, image, indicator, referent.

Perception as instrument

• Wide understanding cross-culturally/nationally

Perception as sign

• The object (sign or signifier) stands for something else (its signified) yet may still be symbolic to outsiders, even in image form

A cultural insider's perception

• Indicators are metonymic and are specific to a culture
• Referents are completely arbitrary and even more culture-specific, requiring anthropological immersion in a culture

Maquet's model has much that is relevant to reading the lynching postcards; most obviously the fact that despite the horror and disgust they provoke now, they were once used to inspire a strong sense of identity.

On to Prown's Model