Ideas for museum organization

[Dotti Huss]

We have a small family house museum in Ohio.  We currently have artifacts from all the family members since the house was built in 1830.  Would we better off selecting a particular time period, and furnishing the house as it would have looked in that time period?

Dotti Huss

[Erin Benz]

Our house museum was first used as a private family home from 1796 to 1920 and then as an African American YWCA from 1920-1965. When our organization received the house in 1965, we only interpreted the early American period of the house. It wasn't until ca. 2015 that we reinterpreted the museum to include the story of the YWCA. We have four rooms on the first floor of the museum and each room represents a different time period of the house (first owners from 1796-1840, second owners from 1840-1900, the early YW years from 1920-1940, and the later YW years from 1940-1965). We find this interpretation works well and allows us to discuss the whole history of the house. We did this without even having really any artifacts from the people that lived in or used the house. So I think you're already at an advantage to interpret different periods of your house museum. However, I think it also depends on what your mission is and what your constituents (current and future) may want. 

[Lori Botkin]

We have a house museum that was built in 1850 as a log house.  The family that gave the house to become a museum didn't move in until the late 1800's.  The house was then "Victorianized" by siding and a large porch.  We chose to strip the one front room back to log and display it as it would have been when constructed. Only one item in this room belongs to the family.  The rest of the house (living room, dining room, large parlor & 3 bedrooms) we set in the period when the family was prominent in the town in the 1920's.

On 3/5/2025 4:52 PM, 'Dotti Huss' via AASLH Historic House Museum Community wrote:

We have a small family house museum in Ohio.  We currently have artifacts from all the family members since the house was built in 1830.  Would we better off selecting a particular time period, and furnishing the house as it would have looked in that time period?

Dotti Huss

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[Donna Watts-Nunn]

Our museum was a private home of an avid art collector, philanthropist and anesthesiologist. The house is 150 years + old with Eastlake Victorian architecture, tucked away in a designated historic neighborhood. When the owner passed shortly after restoring the property, a County Commissioner who knew the family was able to purchase the house along with 250 pieces from his collection for the county's Library Department. The mission of the museum mirrored the theme, if you will, of the Doctor's collection, which was works from that of artists of the African Diaspora.  Depending on the season we produce 2-4 exhibits annually, we provide docent-led tours for groups, we offer different community/family inspired classes & activities. We also keep 1 gallery space staged with the furniture and drapery as it was when the Doctor lived in the house  and with art pieces from our permanent collection on view.  So here we are, thirty seven years later, and we continue that mission, we are a rental facility as well as we provide opportunities for training students in the visual art exhibiting space. (art administrators, curators, installers etc)

I would say let your mission/vision inform how you want to present the space to the public and be consistent with that message.

Hope this helps,

Donna

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Donna Watts-Nunn

She / Her

Managing Director

Hammonds House Museum

404-612-0481 (o)

[Sarah Griswold]

In my opinion, what you do depends on your mission and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

 I worked in A house museum that was mostly 18th century but had a 19th century room from a later inhabitant. It complicated the story telling. On the other hand, the reason why the house was turned into a museum was due to an event in 1783, so it made sense to interpret that house to that date. On yet still another  hand, the idea behind the event was arguably more interesting than the site as a home, so did the house have to be interpreted that way at all? Where I’m from (New England) wonderful historic houses are a dime a dozen and the (his)stories they tell are more interesting, usually, than what they contain. There are interesting books about the subject of house interpretation and some creative approaches to dealing with these issues. 

Sarah Griswold

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 6, 2025, at 1:39 PM, Donna Watts-Nunn <donna.wa...@hammondshouse.org> wrote:



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[Merrick County Historical Museum]

We got our "House" in the 1960's it was built in 1896, but the boards vision was to tell the stories of people in our County not just about the family who built the house. So with the 5 bedrooms upstairs, they made each room a theme. The church room, the library, one is set up as a bedroom of the time period and the "finds" room and a school room, with artifacts for each theme representing all the towns in our County. The downstairs has a kitchen, barber shop, parlor, living room and then a couple of offices. but again each room has a range of dated artifacts from all time periods.

Schavon Cordsen

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Schavon Cordsen

MCHM Director 

Merrick County Historical Museum

211 E Street

Central City, NE 68826

308-624-3367

[Martha Katz-Hyman]

Dotti,

These are the two books you'll want to read about interpreting historic house museums, if you haven't already done so:

Reimagining Historic House Museums: New Approaches and Proven Solutions, edited by Max van Balgooy and Ken Turino

Spaces that Tell Stories: Recreating Historical Environments, by Donna Braden

Both of them are excellent, and both are AASLH books, so you'll get a member discount.

Hope this is helpful.

Martha Katz-Hyman

Independent Curator