Research into the history of material culture Ruth-E. Mohrmann Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany My paper will deal with the developments in historically-orientated ethnological material culture research since the 1950s, especially in Germany historical Sachkulturforschung. The status and perspectives of the historical study of material culture in European ethnology will be brought into focus from the aspects of cultural anthropology and the wider context of the material turn.