Matter Couplings in Supergravity. The first 10 years

Following the initial construction of pure supergravity in 1976, various methods were developed to couple supergravity with supersymmetric matter. This contribution to 'Half a century of supergravity' provides a personal perspective on the key steps, techniques and results developed in the first decade. These developments form the foundation for numerous applications in phenomenology, cosmology and string theories, while also revealing intriguing mathematical structures.